Kids Wooden Toys

Posts Tagged ‘Baby Toys’

Engaging The Young Minds

As most parents would agree, young children can be quite a handful. It often proves to be quite a task keeping them engaged for long hours at a stretch. A lot of companies have come up with numerous toys that not only attract the attention of the kids, but also eggs them on to discover new things and learn in the process.

Educational toys are a particular favorite of parents as they come as the perfect foil to keep the kids busy and educate them at the same time. A wide range of quality educational toys are available for children as young as 3 months. These toys are not only fun, but can also be quite unique. Here are some suggestions that might help you choose from the different educational toys available in the market.

Wooden Toys

These are popular with parents not only because they are cheap and safe, but also because they are durable and of good quality. Plus, they break the monotony of electronic and plastic toys. There are numerous options like wooden puzzles, bead sequencing sets, jigsaws, and buildings. Children distinguish the various shapes and colors, and may even learn their first alphabets and numericals from these games. Besides, a child will also develop hand-eye coordination, and problem solving skills.

Activity Kits

These include craft kits, organic stuffed animals, block games, memory games, and also cars. Such games are ideal for the more active kids as they require active participation. Construction toys and memory games help build the child’s imagination, strengthen the memory, and also teach him/ her social skills like participation and involvement.

Books and Electronic Games

Storybooks, drawing books, and music CDs are found to leave a deep impact on young fertile minds. They are designed to stimulate the child’s senses and curiosity, and help develop their thought processes. There are some unique options like “Baby Shakespeare Find-And-Rhyme” and “Baby Bach Touch ‘N Play Pipes” that incite the child to explore art, poetry, language, and music. There are also several preprogrammed educational games for the slightly older children that can be played by simply plugging it to the T.V. These games are often designed so as to promote math, logic and spelling skills.

Cartoons and Video Games

A lot of companies like the Warner Bros. produce toys and video games with the popular cartoon characters. These are a particular favorite with children as the characters are familiar and they can identify with them. Plus, these toys give them the freedom of acting out their fantasies and letting their imaginations run wild.

While choosing a toy, it is necessary to keep in mind the child’s age and learning level. The right kind of toy can be the perfect teacher in developing and nurturing the kid’s intellect.

All toy companies are eager to grow sales in a stagnant $22 billion market, they want to know which toys are “hot” for the year. Invariably, the toy trends for the year are strongly influenced by movies being released that year. This year, there are some awesome icons vying for our attention – Indiana Jones, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Batman. Aside from these superheroes, the hot toy trends for 2008 also include dinosaurs, robots, musical toys and of course, web connected toys!

Aside from these, “Electronics and the Internet. That’s what kids are obsessed about today,” said Jim Silver, editor and co-publisher of Toy Wishes magazine. “They have an iPod, they are on Facebook and some are e-mailing by age five.”

1. Web Connected Toys

IToysWe all know and love Webkinz, the pioneer of the “virtual toy” revolution. Webkinz is still doing very well and now has been joined by several other toy manufacturers. Russ’s Shining Stars, TY Girlz, Barbie and now even TY’s Beanie Babies. Aside from dolls and plush toys, there’s a brand new preschool game which nicely incorporates play and technology. It’s called Me2 from IToys. Also worth noting is Clickables, a wonderful line of toys from Technosource. Clickables integrates the virtual world of Disney Fairies with toys for girls. There are a lot of other web connected toys and dolls. My collegue, the Doll Collecting guide, has a great article up on the virtual doll trend.

2. Dinosaur Toys Dinosaurs have been around for a while now, (remember the very recent Pleo?), but they certainly made their presence felt at the Toy Fair! Here is one dinosaur which was hard to miss – Kota the Triceratops from Playskool. This friendly creature is pretty tall at approximately 40 feet and is equipped with sensors, which when activated, make him move his head, tail and horns. Kids will enjoy sitting on this playful (and very pricey) creature. Another dino in the spotlight comes to use from Mattel. D-Rex, a remote controlled dinosaur with a lot of different sounds and realistic motions aims to fascinate kids this year.

3. Indiana Jones Toys

HasbroIndiana Jones is really something to look forward to this year. The movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is slated to be one of the hot movies of 2008. It’s no wonder then, that Lego, Hasbro and the rest have jumped onto Indy’s bandwagon! The plot of the movie isn’t yet revealed fully. Still, Lego had some wonderful sets based on Indiana Jones. The Indiana Jones LEGO sets include Indiana Jones Temple Escape, Indiana Jones Race for the Stolen Treasure, Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb and Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase. Some of Hasbro’s Indiana Jones offerings include Mr Potato Head: Taters of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones Sound FX Whip and of course Indiana Jones action figures.

4. Science and Nature Related Toys

Jakks PacificI noticed a large variety of Science Kits and nature themed toys at this year’s Toy Fair. Elmers (the glue company) had some really cool science kits represented by Bill Nye, the science guy. Scientific Explorer had a lot of fun kits to offer where kids can experiment with fascinating stuff like bubbles, perfumes, volcanoes and more. The biggie in the science category is none other than EyeClops from Jakks Pacific, which has updated versions(read night vision and higher magnification) available. Also, Uncle Milton of the Ant Farm fame had some cool Indiana Jones based products to show.

5. Batman – The Dark Knight Toys

MattelThe new Batman movie, The Dark Knight is slated to be released later this year. Mattel has a host of Batman related toys and action figures up their sleeve. The Stealth Batmobile and the Wayne Tech Tri Fire Blaster are must haves. Apart from those two, there are a lot of pretend play options and Batman action figures from Mattel. Lego also has some great Batman themed construction sets for release this year.

6. Speed Racer Toys

MattelSpeed Racer is another big movie franchise on which Mattel has a great lineup of toys. I know that Hot Wheels has a Morph Mach 6 vehicle and an interactive helmet to offer as well as the Speed Racer Sky Jump Track Set among other toy vehicles. The movie should spark off a craze for racing and toy cars which is going to be huge. Lego also had some great Speed Racer kits on display at Toy Fair. Personally, I think this is THE franchise to watch out for.

7. Animated Toys/Robots

Fisher-PriceOk, so by now everyone must have heard of Elmo Live, right? Well, the animated toy trend seems to be very prevalent this year with Elmo Live, Hasbro’s Biscuit, Playskool’s Kota the Triceratops, Tomy’s ISobot and more. While I’m on the topic, let me mention that I just previewed an adorable duckling from Hasbro’s Furreal Friends line – it’s too cute for words. Just like me, it seems like everyone enjoys seeing animated animals nowadays!

8. Iron Man Toys

HasbroHasbro has a fantastic line of action figures based on the Iron Man. This is another movie franchise for this year which is going to be popular with Marvel fans.

9. Green Toys

It’s no wonder that everyone is focusing on healthy and safe play this year. The “green” theme is predominant with many toy firms promoting their eco-friendly products. One toy manufacturer which I really liked was Plan toys from Indonesia which had a wonderful lineup of natural wooden toys. There were some toys made out of recycled milk bottles from a company called Green Toys. They had tea sets, gardening sets and beach sand sets on display which looked very appealing. I also noticed the Kapla line of wooden construction planks which falls into the “green” category as well. 12. Classic Toys – Lots of Anniversaries!

10. The Incredible Hulk Toys

HasbroThe Hulk was at a lot of places at Toy Fair 2008. I specially loved the Kid Designs line of Hulk laptops and learning toys. Hasbro has a fantastic lineup of Hulk toys including the much awaited Hulk Smash Hands, a plush animated Hulk toy, conventional Hulk action figures, a Hulk power glow electronic mask, a Hulk dart blaster and much more. Looks like “green” is popular in more ways than one!

11. Musical Toys

KID Designs For the last couple of years, toys based on musical instruments have really grown in popularity. Remember Piano Wizard, Piano Made Easy, I Can Play Guitar, Guitar Hero and the other toys on similar lines? This, along with musical toys based on celebrities like Hannah Montana and hit TV shows like American Idol practically dominated the musical toy scene. This year, the trend continues with some more Hannah Montana toys, new DVD games based on American Idol (KIDDesigns has an awesome American Idol DVD game) and much more. Stay tuned. (pun not intended)

12. Keyboard for toddlers, Wallcrawler Spiderman

The portable DVD player is made to withstand a kid’s abuse. It features a 3.2-inch color TFT screen, rechargeable batteries with a two-hour lifespan, an anti-skip buffer, grip handles and a stand for hands-free viewing. The player, which plays DVDs and CDs, comes with a battery charger and wall power unit, a video output jack, and a headphone jack.

13. Wall Crawler Spider-Man

“Wall Crawler Spider-Man” is a standout innovation from Hasbro. The remote-controlled Spider-Man toy, which incorporates vacuum-pump technology, actually crawls ups and down walls.

Last, but not the least, classic toys are very much in the forefront. This year, many classics were celebrating their anniversaries. Hasbro’s My Little Pony celebrated their 25th anniversary with a lovely birthday party at the Hasbro showroom, complete with a cake cutting! Cabbage Patch Kids celebrates it’s 25th anniversary as well. The LEGO brick celebrates its 50th anniversary with a commemorative gold brick. Other brands celebrating this year include Scholastic’s Clifford, the big red dog, the Toy Company’s Wham-O and Mary Meyer (who is turning 75 this year). We’ll wind up with congratulating Hasbro’s Mr Potato Head who is turning 80 this year. Way to go!

Wooden toys are considered as of significance part of baby’s world since primitive times. But though today’s children got changed or are different from those of centuries, still many of their most desired baby toys can be found more or less much similar to those that have been around for thousands of years ago. If you look back in our historic ages, children & adults were used to play with weapons, horses & chariots but as a matter of fact in those ancient time toys discovered by archaeologist were made out from wood.

Wooden toys were always a main attraction for babies from centuries. In the 17th century, German toy manufacturers started crafting an array of wooden toys to sell mainly to children. Salesman would travel around the European to capture the market by wooden toys through advance orders for particular occasions. The art of crafting different kind of dolls & toys were becoming more popular for almost children all over Europe.

Over the next century, toy manufacturers now became more meticulous in their work, their praiseworthy wooden creation for especially designed for babies were getting populated the entire town. Wooden miniatures like toy rooms, theaters as well as wooden toy army were one of the favorites in children. Wooden toys influence more to babies because of their traditional & sharp features with bright and pleasing colors. Main wooden toys which had catch attention of baby’s were wooden train with wooden track, puzzle, animal shaped stuff, and black jack in a box.

A new turn of introducing new materials of plastic for the manufacturing industry was set up by the end of World War II. With the large scale production of toys on a massive scale, toy manufacturers started opting more on plastic. The output made by such production was cheap & affordable to all along with quality material. Thus, steadily production of wooden toys especially made for babies declined.

Things have changed now, as wooden toys comes out to be the odd one if found on shelves of customary toy stores. Wooden toymakers although on a vague way but still the attraction & demand of these childhood classics has kept them in business. Wooden toys online business helps you to get from mini appliances to little unique gifts and games.

Wooden baby toys are distinctively easy which persuade a child to use their imaginations. Wooden baby toys hold great educational importance because of its minimalism. Like say varied kind of wooden toys made for baby develops their mind. Wooden puzzles push up the mechanism of the baby. Wooden toys like bike or pedal car tends to increase the physical ability of a children. Other wooden play sets abet in development of social, cultural, emotional & other moral values.

Let’s see the distinguish features between plastic toys & wooden toys. Generally plastic toys are found to be less expensive than wooden toys. Plastic toys are considered safer as compared to wooden toys which can easily catch combustion or can hurt your baby if thrown or falling wooden toys. But a wooden toy does not contain noxious PVC like plastic toys do. And with no doubt, its durability can be checked right from ancient times.

In today’s world, you can find wooden toys with lots of creativity. For child’s educational advantage, it’s more reliable to opt for wooden toys for babies which last long. Many different wooden baby toys like miniature appliances of novelty gifts cheers small kiddies. To stress your mental power of baby wooden chess & checkers and puzzle, for physical games like ring toss can be found at ease.

Even the simpliest item or occurrence can be turned into a charming thing by a child’s imagination. A large cardboard box is all that is required for a trip to the moon, and a regular rock can easily become a racing car or a airplane. For children, playtime is made up of imaginary playtime. To help your child build necessary skills in development motivate him or her to participate in make believe and enlightening games. In dramatic play and pretend, young children take the new ideas and thoughts they are acquiring and practice using them in the real world.Kids not yet in school and beginning school ager’s will pretend a game called house to figure out how to react to situations they aren’t sure of that they may go through in the real world, such as visiting the doctor or when they are afraid. When a child absorbs interesting things about dinosaurs, they will use toy cubes and other toys trying to recreate the environment the dinosaurs lived in.Toys like tiny household items made of wood or play dollhouses with small furnishing invite children to explore various parts and gain their social and psychological attributes. Sympathy begins to emerge as children imagine to be a different person and deal with life in their shoes. Children learn to share and wait for their turn through imaginary and dramatic play, which also assists them with learning how to deal with problems.They will learn to problem solving skills as a team while playing together. Cooperative pretend play allows children experience at working together with others to reach a common goal and helps leadership skills emerge as well. Children boost their self-esteem and are more self-confident, by trying out new scenarios. Imaginary playtime also helps kids to be able to to tell the difference in fantasy and reality. Items like wooden doll furniture help children to develop speaking skills. As a foundation for reading,youngsters learn to develop their own stories during play and soon put together the similarities between written and spoken words. Youngsters are showed words specific to their interests and vocabulary will begin to expand as children learn uses for the new sounds. To help your child in reading and writing skills, it is recommended you provide books, crayons and paper, and many different toys that encourage the child to use their imagination in play. Helping your child build their math skills is as easy as giving them a toy cart and cash register, while they are playing like they are going to the store they will be using math to add up their purchases. Imaginary playtime helps children build their math skills. They will use their cognitive skills, as well as logic, to decide who plays what role or how to build an imaginary fort. Self control as well as good behavior will be acquired during pretend playtime. When they begin to use advanced abstract visualization skills, they will utilize one thing to represent another, like pretending a stone is actually food. The best toys for pretend play are those objects your child sees every day in their ordinary interaction. Children can let their imagination run rampant with a selection of wooden toys including farmyards, dollhouses and kitchen furniture. Small cars, ride-on toys, and rocking horses also provide imaginary play opportunities and are often made of wood. Wooden toys have shown to be a lot safer and withstand more punishment, which will allow your youngster many hours of developmentally appropriate play and also the generation of kids not yet born.

As we are becoming more and more green, all kinds of eco-friendly practices are becoming trendy. It’s now cool to recycle, shopping for organic food is chic, and ‘old skool’ fashion is now ‘new skool’.

Even parents have plenty of opportunities to make “green” buying decisions these days, from groceries to packaging to diapers. But does this new green mode of thought apply to kids and their toys? As with other walks of life, doesn’t plastic rule supreme? Plastic is the way to go isn’t it?

Toys made from plastics use non-renewable sources and can be difficult to recycle. Every bit of plastic that has ever been made still exists. It may have crumbled into small particles but it will never biodegrade.

Although some plastics can be recycled most actually require additional plastic to be added for recycling to be possible. Back in 1999 soft plastic teething rings, and other chewable plastic baby toys, were banned due to the content of potentially dangerous phthalates. Tests have shown that large amounts of phthalates, used to make PVC pliable, can cause damage to kidneys, liver and testicles. Makes you think twice about buying your baby gifts doesn’t it?

Not surprisingly many parents are now choosing traditional, wooden toys for their baby and kids toys. Traditional wooden toys are quickly becoming very fashionable as parents try to minimise their child’s exposure to potentially harmful materials and environmental awareness grows.

Purchasing natural, wooden toys made from sustainable resources means you’re not buying newly-manufactured plastics and all the petroleum by-products they entail. These toys are so durable that they will be in great condition when your child outgrows them, meaning you’ll recycle them as hand-me-downs.

Wooden toys are made from renewable, sustainable materials and are generally painted bright, appealing colours using non-toxic paint. There are clear health benefits to children due to the absence of phthalates, and there are environment benefits due to the use of renewable resources.

Buying natural, wooden toys means you can feel good about knowing you’re buying green products made from renewable resources, and your child will thoroughly enjoy learning from and playing with them.

So now you can consciously know you are protecting your child and the environment when purchasing the perfect baby gift this Christmas.

When it comes to your baby, toys should be of the highest quality and combine education with fun! Finding good infant toys can be a little problematic, though, when you consider the fact that not only should they be enjoyable and educational, they should also be safe. Whether you are buying a gift for niece or a nephew, or you are looking for something for your own son or daughter, make sure that you only purchase toys that you know are safe.

Wooden toys for babies are one way to make sure that your child does not have issues with small parts. With wooden toys, you also know that they will be durable; unlike plastic toys, they will not splinter or break into smaller parts. When you are looking for infant toys, one of the best toys you can start out with are wooden blocks. Far from being old fashioned or simple, wooden blocks facilitate all sorts of developmental baby games. You’ll find that your child is practicing hand-eye coordination as well as building up fine motor control when he or she builds up the blocks. You also foster a sense of creativity and industry when you buy your baby a set of blocks. Some blocks even come with painted letter designs, allowing your child to become familiar with the alphabet and with the written language.

Wooden puzzles are another way that baby toys can be educational. Think about large bulky wooden puzzle pieces. They’ll be a lot harder to lose and a great deal less frustrating for your child than smaller, more fragile cardboard puzzles. This is an excellent way to begin working with child when it comes to logical thinking and problem solving skills. Every child loves the end result of the finished puzzle and you can be sure that yours will enjoy having you help them put it together.

When looking for educational baby toys, also take a look at soft toys. Babies naturally gravitate towards soft toys, especially if they are colorful, and this is a great time to start teaching your child about colors. One wonderful toy for a baby is a set of stuffed trucks and cars. You can have your child start to identify these things as well as work with him or her colors and different sizes. Soft toys are also usually a good idea for children because they can’t hurt themselves on them. Your baby will be able to play as roughly as they please without the risk of having those toys break. Similarly, you can find soft toys that your child can build with, or that she can stack. Like the wooden toys mentioned above, she will be learning fine motor control and in the case of the soft toys, there will be less chance that she will injure herself on a sharp edge.

When you are looking for baby toys, remember that education and fun are not mutually exclusive. Check out wooden toys for babies and come up with your own developmental baby games!