Before I get into why wooden toys are the best, I’d like to say that there is a place for plastic- good recyclable, no toxic, Phthalate free eco-friendly PVC plastic, with no lead paint. I would even go as far as to say, there are many great plastic products on the market, one of which is ‘Green Toys’ who use 100% recycled plastic milk containers to create their toys. But their products are simple, classic and encourage children to use there imagination.

Play is an essential part of a child's learning and emotional development. The kind of plastic toys I think are not beneficial (in my opinion and many child psychologist’s opinion) are the kind that are called “Interactive Toys”. They are usually made of plastic and metal with buttons and bells and whistles and lights and alarms, that turn and bounce and rock and flip and spin etc etc...you get the picture. These are the opposite of “interactive” because the part of the brain that requires imagination is not working. The child presses buttons and watches or listens and the toy dictates the interaction. But really, the child should be the leader in his or her play, the child should dictate the direction of play. With toys the saying ‘less is more’ really fits here. 

Play time should be a time for discovery, creation, creativity and using your imagination through role play. A brown cardboard box would be far better than a plastic toy that flashes and sing the alphabet. Learning the alphabet and colours etc is far more beneficial when done with books and other visual aids as well as through everyday conversation. Play should be a very separate thing and should be free and self directed.

For me it’s all about the child and the best tool for the child’s development but apart from this there are many other reasons wooden toys are better.

• If we consider that eventually toys end up in land fill, then wood is clearly better for the environment. Plastics take hundreds of years to degrade whereas wood takes far less.
• If wooden toys are made from sustainable plantations they require fewer resources than plastic toys.
• Batteries not included. Apart from the chemical in batteries and the impact they have on our environment - we have heard so many times of the dangers of small children swallowing batteries with sometimes fatal consequences. No need to worry about this with wooden toys.
• Plastic toys can break easily and are less durable than wood- particularly cheaply made plastic.
• With proper care, quality wooden toys can last an entire childhood and even be passed down to their sibling and then their own children.

At A Whole Lot of Love we are dedicated to providing a great range of wooden toys. Here are some favourites.  

Kit Pax - Doll House by Tiger Tribe, Plan Toys- Wooden Helicopter, Areaware Cubebot Wooden Toy- Neutral Small, DJECO Zooblocks- Wooden Toy Rhino Roller, Plan Toys- My First Camera (Wooden Toy Kaleidoscope), Shape Sorter- Egmont Toys, Ridleys Kids Games- Wooden Tumbling Blocks