Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Best wooden toys

November 20, 11:57 AMEarly Childhood Parenting ExaminerAngele Sionna

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Wooden toys hearken back to a simpler time, but that doesn't mean they can't be loads of fun. My daughters love playing with wooden things. They spark imagination. And if you buy the right wooden toys they are environmentally friendly and generally safer choices than many of their plastic counterparts.

ImagiPLAY has several really cute wooden toys, all of great construction and quality. They’re made from eco-friendly plantation grown wood. They’re all natural and non-toxic too. Particularly of note – the Counting Bunnies, which consists of eight colorfully painted rabbits and two carrots with numbers that fit together (for ages three and up) and the PushAlong animals, with big wheels and bodies these are perfect for animal lovers that love to push things around (for ages one and up).

Cheekeyes Wooden Animal Sets and props are really cool and winners of a Oppenheim Toy Portfolio award. They exclusively sold in the US at the online toy store oompa.com (which has lots of other cool things too). There are several sets from dinosaurs to forest animals and you can buy wooden props like trees and caves too. We have the forest animals, trees and cave. I recommend buying the whole set in a series because the props really make this special. My 2.5 year old loves this and plays with it for long periods of time. I like it because in addition to its high quality and safety factors, I can really see her mind working when she's playing with it. Plus we often go on hikes in the forest and it is a nice toy to bring some of her real life experiences to her imaginary play world.

Plan Toys Dancing Alligator from the Discovery Store is a really fun and cute wooden pull toy. It's 100% old fashioned and filled with fun. Constructed of chemical-free rubberwood, it is a formaldehyde-free toy and painted using soy-based ink. My daughters love to run around the house chasing each other and the alligator as he dances along behind them. It's made for 18 months and up, but would be fine for any child who can walk and pull this behind them.

Jack Rabbit Creations Barnyard Sort and Play This was one of the first toys created by Jack Rabbit Creations ten years ago and it's still one of their most popular. It comes with a set of animals and a shape sorting box. It's nice because young kids can easily drop the animals in the slots without getting frustrated but older kids can find the right animals for each side, so it can grow with kids.

North Star Toys Little Rollie Vehicles – Hazelnutkids.com sells this great set of wooden vehicles, made for kids 3 and up. The set of five includes a car, train, truck, bus, and airplane. These are cool looking and loads of fun.

Also at Hazelnut Kids, Animalz Wooden creatures. These are so cute and fun to play with. They're mostly made of organic maple wood with some other soft bendable parts as well. There's a whole zoo of choices in animals to be had! A nice bonus that Hazelnut Kids has for its shoppers, 1% of sales are donated to land conservancies and one tree is planted for each item purchased. That's a gift to the planet on top of the gift for kids! 

Teething Rings By HABA These German-made wooden teething rings are made with 100% non-toxic water based stains and are available in a variety of designs from bears to flowers. These are super cool looking, safe, and innovative for little ones! HABA makes all sorts of great wooden toys too.