Wooden Toys to Last for Generations
In our parent’s attic sits a box full of beautiful wooden toys we loved as children. A pull along dog with his wobbly tail, a ride on horse with cord mane that has seen a few “hair-cuts” in it’s time, a hand-painted counting stacker, our dolls house and the farm complete with soap dish animal enclosures and a tin foil pond. Some of these were made for us by our Grandad and others were bought for us from local toyshops but all have been well played with and much loved.
For my son’s second birthday he unwrapped our old wooden farm, the smile went from ear to ear. If my Grandad had still been with us I know he would have been over the moon to see his creation passed on to the next generation, ready to play its’ part in many more hours of fun.
When sourcing toys for our shop we knew that we wanted to find companies who shared the same love of the craftmanship that goes into wooden toys, who share our belief that less is more and in quality over quantity. Who strive to create beautiful, functional wooden toys that are produced with care, whilst always looking after this planet we call home. Veronica at Sarah and Bendrix and Danielle at Tenderleaf Toys both share this vision and we are delighted to be working with them.
We love curating our collection and are proud to have a selection of some of the nicest high quality wooden toys from all over the world.
Sarah and Bendrix provide us with (in our opinion) the best pull along toys you could possibly wish for, they are all interactive in some way without a single one of them needing to play obnoxious music or endless batteries!
New to the range is Delores, a seriously cool wooden pull along cat who plays her drum when your child pulls her around – you can hear the drum beats! Made from perfectly polished natural, untreated and unvarnished wood, with a metal drum, painted white and pink she is also seriously stylish.
Another favourite is Otto a fun sausage dog, his body is made of wooden balls connected by a metal string. When he is taken for a walk his body wiggles and his tail waggles! Beautifully hand-crafted from polished natural untreated wood he is unvarnished with white painted wheels.
A personal pet peeve, which I know is shared by many parents, is the endless plastic packaging that we can’t seem to avoid when unwrapping many children’s toys. So how do you think our Sarah and Bendrix toys are packaged. In just a simple cloth bag, that’s it!
Oh can we also take a moment to show you these adorable Wooden Sitting Animals which are also available in store or online, the perfect take-along toy to throw in the changing bag and they look beautiful perched on nursery shelves.
Tenderleaf toys are a new brand who create wooden toys designed to inspire creative and imaginative play in children, whilst developing cognitive and problem-solving skills. The natural textures of wooden toys stimulate the senses as they invite a child to touch, feel and explore. Their toys are crafted from sustainably felled rubber wood trees which are then hand finished using traditional methods and processes that are not only kind to the environment but which provide a skilled labour for a large local community in Indonesia.
With toys ranging from this cute “Toaster and Egg Set", to the beautiful “Friend Ship” and "Rocket Construction Set” there are lots of lovely options for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.
Wooden toys are an investment in something hand crafted and sustainable. We are passionate that even children’s toys can showcase good design that doesn’t have to be complicated and simple is beautiful.
All of our wooden toys are chosen in the hope that some of them will make it into that box in the attic, treasured family memories ready to make another generation smile from ear to ear at the thought of playing with them.