Wooden Toys For Working Brains

Wooden toys are much simpler plaything for children and yet, many children tend to favour them over the more complicated toys made from synthetic materials. It often infuriates parents who spend close to a fortune on the most popular toy on the market only to have their child spend roughly five minutes poking at it before returning to the tried and true wooden blocks they've had since they were born. There are a number of benefits to investing in wooden toys for your children:

Wooden toys are far more durable than their plastic counterparts. Wooden toys can be thrown, dropped, kicked and rolled. They can be used as steps and foundation pieces for any feat of the imagination. They can withstand a great deal of weight and pressure and through it all, they never lose their lustre. You can do just about anything to a wooden toy and after all of your child's experimentation he or she will still have a wooden toy.

Wooden toys are often toys that stimulate a child’s cognitive and motor development. Typically wooden toys are made in the form of blocks (everybody had a set of alphabet toys as a child) and simple puzzles. There are wooden pull toys and wooden trains that children can roll around.

These are simple toys that are for major accomplishments. The blocks can be used both to teach shapes and colours. As a child grows up, they will use the blocks to figure out how to build things and how to make their constructions stronger. A simple wooden puzzle will encourage children to use their cognitive skills to figure out how to fit the puzzle together. Fitting the pieces again and again strengthens the memory skills. A wooden pull toy is pulled along behind a small toddler racing across a floor, working his muscles and developing his motor skills.

All of these actions don't seem so incredible when looking at them from an adult's point of view. From the view of your child, however, you will find a new way to understand the workings of the world.

Gary is an authority on children's toys and owner of Monkeyshine, the UK's online traditional toy shop.