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The benefits of wooden toys

Join Dr Diane Boyd to read about the benefits of using wooden toys with our children in Early Years.

Posted on Thursday 23rd January 2025

In this article, Dr Diane Boyd, discusses the benefits of using wooden toys/resources with our children in Early Years. This blog is broken down into the following sections:

  • Introduction
  • Holistic Sensorial Benefits
  • Creativity
  • The Beauty of Wooden Toys
  • Advantages of Wooden Toys
  • Sustainable Benefits.

Introduction

This article will provide all the necessary information to you as either parents or practitioners on the importance of wood as a product for toys in early childhood. Babies and toddlers need plenty of sensorial experiences that will engage all areas of development. Consider the three prime areas of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Reflect upon how wooden toys will support all three.

  • Physically –  Children will enjoy playing with wooden toys using both gross and fine motor movements.
  • Emotionally –  Wood is a caring material and supports good health.
  • Socially –  Wooden toys will provide endless opportunities for early literacy and early maths. Both key elements of child development and closing the attainment gap.

Holistic Sensorial Benefits

Early childhood development is holistic, incorporating all areas of learning and promoting all of the five main senses. Research has demonstrated that wood, as a natural source for toys, can have a positive effect on good health and mental wellbeing. As we know, these are key requirements for strong child development.

Wooden resources and toys are associated visually with the natural green environment. They create images of calm open spaces. This can have a soothing effect on both the mind and body of the child. This natural link is highlighted even more dramatically if the setting also uses pastel colours on the walls and green foliage in the nursery. Historical pioneer Rudolph Steiner advocated that in early childhood, children should not be exposed to bright colours. By doing so, it can over stimulate their minds.  Instead he promoted the use of calming pastel colours and the use of wood for all resources. Children also enjoy not just the visual natural beauty of wood, but textually it is a wonderful smooth material to feel. Visually wood also offers children the wonder and awe of outside ‘inside’. It provides opportunities to observe the natural patterns and different textures that wooden resources offer. Encourage them to consider the shades, tones, and the grains in the wood, highlighting to young children the beauty of their natural planet.

 

Creativity

Wooden toys promote simple uncomplicated holistic play. Unlike plastic toys, there are no batteries or buttons to press and stimulate. Instead rely on children to use imagination, excitement and develop fine motor skills. Wooden toys also support children’s role play. They provide multiple opportunities rather than plastic toys that have one ‘play’ purpose. This supports their development in expressive arts and design.

Intergenerationally some wooden toys have a story attached to them. Some Grandparents will recall the toys they played with and share their stories and experiences. These memories and tales can then be passed down the generations.

Wooden bricks for example have been around a long time reflecting both Frederick Froebel’s gifts and Caroline Pratts blocks. Froebel believed children needed to play with simple bricks to create and plan intricate and amazing structures, which they would reflect upon, evaluate, and recreate into different structures. This is the beginning of architecture and engineering. Children will work out how to successfully create strong structures that to them have a story to tell and a purpose to give.  This is Froebel’s idea of creativity in early childhood.

Pioneer Maria Montessori in her prepared learning environment, advocated for visually pleasing and wooden resources that do not over stimulate the young child but help them to absorb their world through their five senses. Through this play children are:

  • Engaging with their peers
  • Developing social skills
  • Promoting language development due to their creative and imaginative play.

For example, consider the language as children roll the ball down a shoot, the excitement as they predict where the ball may end up and their sense of wellbeing as they are emotionally engaged in the learning process.

Beauty of Wooden Toys

The craftsmanship of TTS wooden toys is excellent, and the true beauty of the wood is a feature. The shading of the grain in the products provides children with multiple opportunities. They can observe the wood aesthetically, enhancing their oral language skills in detailing the lines in the wood, or the different shadings of brown. Not one piece of wood is the same and this will support children’s awareness of the beauty of their natural world. Conversations about the direction of grain too will support early language developing their visual discrimination ability and social communications.

Early numeracy will be enhanced with descriptions using mathematical language of the shapes – square, circle, sizing, with thickness and depth of shape and positional language of order. Fine motor skills are supported with tricky manipulations using the shapes and creativity, imagination, and cognitive thinking skills when building and planning where to put the individual pieces on the wooden stack and build blocks.

Advantages of Wooden Toys

Wood evokes children to reflect a sense of warmth in comparison to plastic materials which are harsh and hard. Historical pioneer Elinor Goldschmied, champion of heuristic play, also encouraged practitioners to move away from plastic as a resource and focus on natural materials. Research has demonstrated that this can help reduce blood pressure, stress, and anxiety. Research published in 2017 demonstrated the physiological effects of wood touching the palm of participants’ hands. It was concluding that it reduced nervous anxiety and promoted relaxation. Its clean lines are also safe surfaces for little hands to play and investigate with providing parents and practitioners with toys that are durable, educational, and safe.

Safe for Babies and Children

Wood provides all these benefits naturally. We all know little hands like to put toys into their mouths. Unlike plastic where bits can come away causing a choking hazard, wood is safe. Additionally, plastic toys contain harmful toxins, so it can be a hazardous jungle for parents and practitioners to know which manufacturer is sustainable and safe. Research conducted by the Technical University of Denmark found in plastic toys 126 substances that could potentially harm children’s health. This highlights again the natural benefits of using wooden toys for babies and young children.

Sustainable Benefits

We are all aware of climate action and the need to promote a greener and more ecological world, using wood is a simple first step towards a greener future for your children and the planet. Wood is beneficial to the health of both humans and the non-human world, as it is a champion of sustainable renewable products. Trees are grown naturally and remove carbon from the atmosphere and wooden products absorb carbon emissions from the atmosphere, so it is a real climate change material. Using wood also supports all aspects of the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals as using it produces a significantly lower carbon footprint in production. Wood is also biodegradable, reducing landfill waste.

Durability of Wood

Wood is a sturdy product which children can be encouraged to look after and maintain. Plastic toys break and become a danger to the non-human world when they are thrown away into landfill sites. Rudolph Steiner advocated that all children understand the need to care for their resources and if they break to mend them sustainably. Wood is an easier material to maintain. However, wood can be sometimes considered to be more expensive initially but it is important to remember that by teaching children to care for their wooden toys they will prove to be more durable in the long run, therefore purchasing them is a positive benefit not a negative.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog, why not take a look at the document Sustainability Matters In Early Years written by Dr Diane BoydThis download has a range of activities, questions to discuss with the children and story book suggestions surrounding sustainability. Download the document by clicking on this link – Sustainability Matters In Early Years

Dr Diane Boyd has worked in HE for the last 18 years. She supported students in understanding child development and teaching experiences with a strong education for sustainability focus. Diane challenged students to become climate activists and empower agency in young children. She was involved with the DfE leading up to COP 26 and was personally invited to the launch of the DfE Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. Diane has worked with Eco Schools England developing their Early Years platform and resources. Diane is currently promoting early childhood sustainability through the DfE Stronger Hub for the Northwest of England. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at Hull University.