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ShawnaB
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| Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 1:52pm | IP Logged
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As Christmas approaches, and catalogues fill my mailbox, I start getting dreamy-eyed as I view the beautiful wooden toy offerings of catalgues such as Magic Cabin.
But here's my dilema...we have wooden toys, and truly, I can't determine whether my children actually prefer them to the cheaper plastic versions!
Sometimes I think they prefer the plastic, especially when it comes to figures, such as playmobile or schleich vs. the rounded, wooden people and animals. Ds 2 loves matchbox cars more than anything in the world, and has shown little interest in the beautiful Ryans' Room wooden bulldozer he received for his birthday.
So I wonder if my dream of an all-wood playroom is more about me and my preferences, or those of my children. I'm looking to add more figures to our playthings, and possibly a Tree House that can serve for a variety of pretend-play scenarious. What do you find to be the case in your homes? Do your children prefer the beauty of wood to other materials? For those of you who have a lot of wooden toys, have you eliminated much of the plastic? What has been the result?
Thanks so much!
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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stefoodie
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We couldn't do without plastic even if I wanted to. There are just too many beautiful toys that are plastic -- the good quality ones, I mean. Like Lego, Schleich, Playmobil, etc. and we do keep those here. They do love their wooden blocks and use them for everything, plus several other wooden toys, but I wouldn't say there's a real preference for wood. Whatever works for their particular purpose at the moment.... that's what they pick.
And please don't throw tomatoes -- I *loved* wooden toys esp. when they were preschoolers, and bought a bunch of them, but boy, do they hurt when they throw wooden balls at you, or pound your fingers with wooden mallets, etc. Love that toddler, but with wooden toys in hand, coupled with still-developing motor coordination.... OUCH! I didn't hate the toys, but I still remember the pain  .
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stef
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Mary Chris
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| Posted: Oct 13 2007 at 2:18pm | IP Logged
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I have a funny story about this.....well I think it is funny  . Back when Carter was turning 3, he was two months into his chemothrepy protocol, I wanted his birthday to be incredible. I poured over catalogs and websites showing him the wooden pirate ships. He kept pointing to Playmobil  . We bought him the Playmobil pirate ship. At his little party we carried the ship out and he said, "YEAH IT'S PLASTIC!!!!!" We still have some wooden toys but for the most part we invested heavily in Playmobil, Schleich, and LEGO.
The wooden dollhouse dolls just did not compare with the Playmobil ones for my dd. That was 8-10 years ago and the wooden dollhouse figures have come a long way since then.
I will say I love the beauty of wooden but my dc love plastic.
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Cheryl
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We went to a museum yesterday and my ds 6 loved this wooden dollhouse that was in the library. He asked a few times if we could make people like the ones that came with it. I thought about getting it for my family for Christmas. Then I thought about the plastic dollhouse we have already. We're on our second one. It gets played with regularly by everyone from ds 8 to dd 1. I wondered if the wooden one was so fun for ds 6 because it was one of the few toys there. At home it would probably get passed by with plastic Woody and Buzz, Legos, cars, etc. around. So I'd love to hear more answers to your questions. I think my preference wouldn't be wood over plastic, it would be fewer toys!
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Cheryl
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SeaStar
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Yes, fewer toys would be the way to go, LOL.
I love wooden toys, especially Melissa and Doug items, but truthfully- I have to admit they are not my kids' favorites. We have several wooden toys (MandD postbox, Ryan's Room firehouse, a wooden ferry boat with wooden cars) that see very little play time. My ds loves cars and trucks more, and my dd likes FP LIttle People.
I can't explain it, but I do know I have to stop buying wooden toys they don't play with much.
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: Oct 16 2007 at 9:52pm | IP Logged
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OK, so I guess my kids aren't that unique in prefering brightly colored plastic! I am the one who really loves wood toys.
I do wonder, though, if limiting the number of toys in general, and then having only natural material play things, no media, etc., as Waldforf recommends, does lead to more creativity. Our God daughter attended a Waldorf preschool and now a Waldorf elementary school, and I must say, the classroom environment is very beautiful and very, very simple. In the yard of the preschool there was a sand box with some metal dishes, a basket of large, sturdy fabric pieces, a variety of worn wooden sticks...and thats about it! And the kids played, and played, and played. And our God daughter is extraordinarily creative, although its hard to know how much of that is just her personality.
Problem is, around here, its hard to eliminate the flashier toys completely, even though I don't keep a lot of toys in general, and I don't do the over-stimulating, lights and sound stuff at all. We will probably always have a little bit of media around too, and so when my kids have options available, the wooden stuff is just not terribly popular.
I do think that for some items, like pretend play food, shape sorters, puzzles, push toys, etc., the wood stuff does outlast the plastic, and my kids do play with those things.
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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Cay Gibson
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We love Melissa and Doug items. Can't seem to have enough.
My girls also love their dollhouse which I use to develop a taste for beauty and longevity and care by furnishing it with wooden dollhouse furniture.
I still find legos and plastics dollies residing in it...or perhaps they're only visiting. I also find silver sewing thimbles filled with clay and fake flowers dotting the rooms. But when we do spring and fall cleaning, everything must go except the appropriate dollhouse furniture. I've become a bit of a snob with the toys I expect to have on hand for my grandchildren. The dollhouse and mini-wood-burning stove and cupboard set are a few of these items.
Speaking of wooden toys...check out the Nov./Dec. '07 Faith and Family issue. There is an article concerning this very topic.
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SeaStar
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I think that's a great point about how they would play with things more if they had less. I think I am going to make a raid on my toy closet and put away some of the "marginal players". If the kids don't ask for them after a few months I am giving them away.
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florasita
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well if you count real sticks and chunks of drift wood toys like I do then yes all the way . I gave the boys drift wood for Christmas 2 yrs ago and large flat limestone pieces . within 3 days all the plastic stuff from everyone else was tossed aside .
I also give prayer sticks to all my friends , nieces , nephews etc. the kids help collect them .
we make wooden beads out of branches using our dremol . Indigo loves his wood burning kit he got last yr and used it to make everyone gifts .
I've not bought the expensive wooden toys just don't have the budget . we've found a few wooden cars , trucks trains at the MCC thrift store but really our kids love the real wooden toys that are totally free willow branches make the best bows and arrows too . Birch bark and moss make great landscape materials for all kinds of adventures .
if you can't affrod those wooden figures for play kids make characters up out of sticks stones etc. you can make really inexensive little felt robinhood type dolls from felt from the local craft store only about .25 a sheet of felt and buy a cheap bag of poly fill as well or even better take apart an old pillow .
I personally think the kids like the homemade handpicked items much more then the bought pieces .
But yes we all love wood here
Much Love , Roxie
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JenniferS
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I raided my boys' room yesterday. We have way too much. They were allowed to keep cars, blocks, a few choice stuffed animals, and books. That's it. We put the rest in big heavy duty trashbags to put in storage for a month, then we will prbably get rid of them when we realize we don't need any of them. At first the boys FREAKED out, but then they kind of got into getting rid of stuff. I think we'll do dd's room tomorrow and another room Friday. Anyway...they seem to gravitate to the leggos, match box cars, cherry wood blocks, and the other wooden block sets. We kept those. It's amazing how much bigger their room seems, and they have to be more comfortable with less stuff.
Oh, and my guys do seem to like their wooden toys better. I don't know why, but we have a tendency to lose leggos more easily than the wooden blocks.
Jen
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CrunchyMom
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ShawnaB wrote:
| I do wonder, though, if limiting the number of toys in general, and then having only natural material play things, no media, etc., as Waldforf recommends, does lead to more creativity. |
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I wonder this as well. How much of toy choice are we to base entirely on our dc's preferences? For instance, when I cook meals, I love cooking things that my children love to eat, but I also strive to nourish them with healthy things. The same argument could apply to toys. So, for argument's sake, say that flashy plastic toys are the equivalent of donuts. If I consistently offered donuts for breakfast alongside oatmeal or eggs, my children might very well choose donuts every time. Though, when donuts aren't an option, they eat the healthy choices and are better off for it.
I am starting to think that fewer (as a previous post stated) and more beautiful toys are better for my child--instilling that creativity and appreciation. In the same way that offering a variety of healthy foods helps develop my children's pallet for appreciating healthy foods, wouldn't having beautiful toys also develop appreciation for beauty and imagination.
Just rambling. Ask me again in a couple of years when my child can actually request plastic toys, lol. But, I do think it might be something that goes beyond the child's preferences, if that makes sense. We had a friend from out of town whose 5 year old thought our house was boring (compared to his gameboy or whatever its called now), but my boys are never bored, and other visiting children have managed to amuse themselves easily.
We do have a lot of duplo, too, so I'm not labeling all plastic as evil! I just wonder how much my child's preferences should play into the toys I choose carefully for my home, yk?
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TracyFD
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I think of it that way too, Crunchy Mom. I liken plastic toys to candy or white bread. Wooden ones are like whole grain bread and soup. We have our fair share of plastic toys, despite my occasional raids. But mostly I see that when I weed out the plastic that and play with wooden toys their play is more creative, loving and fanciful.
However, when they do play with plastic toys, I feel guilty for spending $$$ on _______ (dollhouse, castle, farm) and frustrated when they aren't being used. I am not against a balance - but I find that the more purist I am about getting rid of the plastic, the more use the wooden ones get. I feel bad in a way that I almost have to force them to play with the wooden ones by providing no other option, but they seem happier and I am too.
So, for me it seems best to err on the side of austerity (wooden toys) even though they actually cost more!
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jugglingpaynes
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stefoodie wrote:
| I *loved* wooden toys esp. when they were preschoolers, and bought a bunch of them, but boy, do they hurt when they throw wooden balls at you, or pound your fingers with wooden mallets, etc. Love that toddler, but with wooden toys in hand, coupled with still-developing motor coordination.... OUCH! I didn't hate the toys, but I still remember the pain . |
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LOL!
My kids go through waves. Right now, my youngest enjoys the wooden train set (and yes, I've already gone through our trains for recalls). She spent time with the plastic dollhouse and the wooden dollhouse accessories we found at a tag sale. We have two zoos worth of animal figures. I have had the misfortune of well meaning family members bringing the plastic kids meal toys into the house. They are usually the first to go when I declutter. In the Spring, they all keep busy in our yard, building fairy houses. (I agree with Roxie, nature produces the best toys. Sand, sticks and rocks are very versatile!)
My little one reads my mind. Whenever I consider tossing a toy, it suddenly becomes The Most Favored Object in the Toybox. And a warning to anyone who wants to get rid of toys, never let your child see the Toy Story movies.
My older two tend to make their own toys now. My daughter knits and makes miniatures and my son uses any piece of cardboard and yards of tape for his creations. If I had my way, we would have only the simplest toys and they would only get craft supplies, cardboard tubes and boxes for Christmas!
Peace and Laughter,
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SallyT
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Ha, somebody beat me to "well, if 'sticks' count as toys!" Yeah, my kids LOVE wooden toys, straight off the tree.
Mine actually have liked wooden toys quite a bit. Both girls have had wooden dollhouses -- my teenager still has her Plan Toys dollhouse in her room, in fact, and gives every appearance of still playing with it from time to time. Both boys have adored Brio trains, and have far preferred them to the plastic-track alternatives. We have a big set of wooden blocks which my brother made them for Christmas some years back -- he's a woodworker, so maybe this is all genetic -- and those get played with a good bit, though not as much as the Lego.
We do have relatives who load us up with a lot of plastic garbage -- or "plastic future garbage" -- at Christmas and birthdays. One dear aunt in particular really does subscribe to "more is better," and just exudes junky-toy karma, which is her way of saying "I love you" . . . the kids love what she gives them for a little while, until it breaks and/or I purge it when their backs are turned. And then they don't miss it.
I love having a crafty knitting child -- all she wants is yarn and beads and wire! I've been known to put packs of pipe cleaners in Christmas stockings, or little boxes of buttons.
My favorite Waldorf-y wooden thing that we own is a set of "matching game" tiles -- little wooden tiles with beautiful pictures on, that you play "Concentration" with, or else just build things or tell stories with them. We got them when our teenager was about 2, and we still have most of them, and the current little kids love to play "matching game." Maybe it's everyone's favorite game because it's the one we've bothered to keep up with and not lose all the pieces, because it seems more like art than a toy.
On the other hand, the real favorite imaginative toy in our house is a basket of tiny plastic animals from the dollar store. That's the number-one "would you please get it down" toy around here. Purple giraffes, can't beat 'em. Put 'em in Noah's Ark, put 'em on an animal train, make 'em be in Narnia . . . They really are just cheap little plastic things in weird colors, but they aren't out of a Happy Meal or connected with a movie or television show, and they didn't come with names, so they can be whatever anybody needs them to be in a given game -- which I think is the real test of a good toy, even more than what it's made of.
Pax,
Sally
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monica
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i am so glad to see this post as i have been struggling with the same thing. we have beautiful wooden melissa and doug toys that go untouched and "good" plastic toys (legos, play mobil)that get played with again and again. so should i get rid of the wooden ones even though they are expensive and beautiful????? they are just sitting around, and i hate to have them unused.
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Tina P.
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 11:45am | IP Logged
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ShawnaB wrote:
we have wooden toys, and truly, I can't determine whether my children actually prefer them to the cheaper plastic versions!
Sometimes I think they prefer the plastic, especially when it comes to figures, such as playmobile or schleich |
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Wow. Your question struck me so much that I had to respond without even reading the responses. Last year, I bought my children a wooden car track, something that could be attached to our train tracks. My husband bought them a Hot Wheels track. I don't know what it was that made the kids decide, because we left both out for them to play with, but they never even opened the HotWheels track box!
*I* even prefer the more realistic Schleich animals and the kids absolutely *love* their playmobil and they combine their playmobil people with their wooden train set ... That's a tough one, Shawna. I guess I wouldn't limit toys to either wooden or plastic. My vote is to have a stimulating combination. I'm not much help, am I?
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florasita
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I think simlicity really is keyy . we have not many toys anyway but we do have two kinds of lastic toys lego and magnetix . I think overdoing anything to access exes ? axes ? ( did I spell that right ) where is my brain ?
yes so simplicity regardless if it is platic or wood . we are all very capable of slowly adding stuff into our lives to filling the spaces we do it to our children thinking they need or want all these things etc. we do it to ourselves with books etc.
so when the boys may like a little new set of magnetix well ok its been 5 months or longer since they had one do they need more shouls I add to it . If I do then buy just the plain set .Don't buy all the gimics that go with it . Can I control my purchasing to that rule ? I broke and bought a dinosaur megnetic . the eices are all half lost they only layed with the thing for maybe 3 days that was the end of it . Where yes the real magnetix themselves are played with almost everyday .
For me I am trying to not purchase story books . We have a wonderful inner city library I'd like to support . Plus I see my mother & grandmother survived reading only a few books per yr why do I need 40
so Yes I purchase books I constantly use as refernece like earthways , aboriginal plant use of the boreal forest etc. but children's story books I only buy now as gifts for Christmas and birthdays . Thats it and no more then two books as a gift as well
It works but I do even slip up and add afr to many library books to my life to fill in the spaces at times . when that happens I then get my library list back down to 10 books out at a time no more then that .
I'm not sure if simplicity is an actula virtue but it sure is great to practice it in my life .
Much Love , Roxie
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May I have the Heart & Mind of a Child in my Depth
May I forever remember to be a Light
May Peace Love & Hope be My Sight
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Topic: Do your kids REALLY love wooden toys?
