Wooden toys have always been very popular. But with pedagogies like Montessori and Reggio Emilia gaining traction globally, an explosion of shops promoting the benefits of wooden toys emerged. A quick search in Amazon, and you will see that any toy made of wood marketed as a “Montessori” or “Reggio”.
And since I, too, am a fan of the Montessori approach, my social media feeds have became equally bombarded. Many of influencer-moms actively practicing the Montessori approach also markedly promote wooden toys (and furniture). IKEA could never have been happier!
Personally, my home is decorated in the “Japandi” theme, which is a mix of Scandinavian and Asian themes. As my Instagram’s algorithm correctly predicts, I do favour wooden toys (and furniture) for their aesthetics! However, are wooden toys really better?
Well, as one of the many parents who discuss this topic amongst themselves, I say, it depends. Having amassed quite a variety of toys with the aim of keeping Bee occupied independently as long as possible, Here is my take on the different types of toys, wooden or not:
Comparing Wooden and Non-Wooden Toys: My Experience
There are many types of toys out in the market to entertain our infants and toddlers nowadays. However, for ease of comparison, I will discuss toys that are commonly adopted to help support open-ended play, which is an important component in the Montessori approach. They are grouped as follows:
- Stacking Blocks (Any Shape)
- Musical Instruments
- Life Simulation
- Fine Motor Skills
I also add 5. Puzzles into this list of comparison, even though puzzles are actually a form of ‘close-ended’ play. However, I find them very helpful in introducing numeracy concepts and in the building of skills such as observation and logic for Bee, and many of them are also available in wood material.
For each group I will provide my comments and also provide a score for Wooden versus Non-Wooden toys of either 1 or 2. At the end of the discussion, I will total the scores so that we have a quantified comparison of the two.
Group 1: Stacking Blocks (Any Shape): Wooden vs Foam
I purchased both wooden blocks and colourful foam blocks. I got the wooden ones since Bee was about 6 months old, the foam ones when she was about 14 months old. My observation is that she is happy stacking (and knocking over!) with either of them; she did not seem to particularly favour one over the other. And she was just as proficient in stacking tall block towers (8 blocks and more) with either material, which is actually more impressive to me in my opinion, when she used foam blocks, as they are much lighter and harder to balance.
Wooden Toys: 1 Non-wooden Toys: 2
Group 2: Musical Instruments: Wooden vs Plastic
Bee has a set of simple music instruments, namely, a drum, music shakers, and rhythm sticks made of wood. She also has a plastic toy drum and keyboard that give out different beats and music when hit or played.
If you strictly compare the wooden drum versus the plastic toy drum, of course the plastic drum ended up holding her attention more, by virtue of the number of interesting sounds/music it makes. But to teach a basic sense of beat and the concept of making music using tools, the wooden instruments fare better, as they do not distract Bee from paying attention.
So, which to choose depends on your objective(s).
Wooden Toys: 1 Non-wooden Toys: 1
Group 3: Life Simulation Toys: Wooden vs Plastic
By ‘life-simulation toys’, I am referring to toys such as a miniature kitchen, cooking utensils, fake food and groceries, cleaning tools and so on. Most of my life-simulation toys are actually made of colorful plastic. The reason is because i wanted Bee to clearly differentiate between utensils for “pretend play” and utensils used for real-life cooking or eating. I also did not want to confuse her between “real” and “fake food”, since she was in her “mouthing” stage at the time!
In addition, I observed that Bee did not really seem to care whether a toy is made of plastic, wood, or other kinds of material; she is more interested in their form and what she can do with them instead.
Finally, plastic toys tend to be (though not always!) cheaper, and my aim was to expose her to as many different types of “tools” possible. So
I got a plastic mini kitchen that came with cooking simulation sounds and an inbuilt tap, even though I really wanted a wooden one. The IKEA one looks really pretty and would have matched my home’s decor perfectly! But I wanted to see how often Bee would play with it before I invest in the more expensive and space-consuming wooden kitchen.
So my opinion is that it is more about aesthetic preferences when it comes to material of such toys. Wood, paper, rubber or plastic- any material is ok, and is a novelty experience. Pick the ones that fit your interior decorating preference and/or budget.
Wooden Toys: 1 Non-wooden Toys: 1
Group 4: Fine-motor Skill Toys: Wooden vs Plastic
By ‘fine motor skill toys”, I am referring to coin-slotting boxes, fishing, stick slotting etc. Bee loves fine motor toys. I have a plastic LeapFrog toy cash register that makes some commentary whenever Bee slots in a coin, and a wooden coin box. She spends an equal amount of time with both toys.
She also has a wooden IKEA fishing game, and a fishing game set complete with plastic fish, nets and tiny fishing rods. In this case, Bee seemed to prefer the IKEA one more, likely because of the colours and that it is easier to “fish” with. I also like that it is compact to store compared to the loose pieces of the plastic set.
The wooden coin box also doubled as a stick slotting and carrot “planting box”. I have another carrot “planting” box made of cloth and plastic but Bee was not interested in either. As for stick slotting, I don’t have any equivalent made with other materials but Bee preferred this toy over any DIY items I improvised from straws. Making it the best toy I have invested in to date!
Wooden Toys: 2 Non-wooden Toys: 1
Group 5: Puzzles: Wooden versus Cardboard
I have a great love for puzzle toys and amassed quite a few to stimulate little Bee’s brain. They include jigsaw puzzles, shadow-matching puzzles, shape-matching puzzles, number/alphabet-matching-puzzles, ‘paper dolls’, tangrams and ‘replicate the picture scenario’ puzzles.
For each puzzle type, I have both wooden and cardboard-based types. Once again, both mediums provide a different sensory experience for Bee, and Bee showed an equal interest to both.
I personally prefer cardboard based puzzles which are bound together like a book, as it provides more variety and are less bulky to store. Also known as “Busy Books” or “Quiet Books”, they are also lightweight and hence very portable to bring for travel trips! In addition, Bee loves the additional challenge of pulling and sticking back of the velcro cardboard puzzle pieces, as well as the sounds they make. A great plus for a child who loves fine-motor activity!
However, cardboard IS a choking hazard and even though Bee usually doesn’t put them into her mouth, I had caught her more than once, trying to eat the “pretend-food” pieces. So, if you choose to purchase anything made of cardboard, do keep your child under close supervision! There are books made of felt or fabric which are less of a choking hazard, which can be an option for infants, but you would need to check if the dye would stay after washing.
The wooden puzzles of course, are much safer and durable. They too, make a sound when ‘clicked’ in place, but Bee wasn’t as fascinated with them. Shape-matching puzzles were too easy for her, but Animal versions with uneven edges were too difficult, so she gave up once she couldn’t get it right the first go (lol).
Ultimately, it depends on your child’s interests and their development stage (mouthing or not). Otherwise, if storage and portability are not considerations, wooden pieces are much for preferable for independent, unsupervised play.
Wooden Toys: 2 Non-wooden Toys: 1
Scoring Conclusion
Based on the above’s simple scoring board, here are the results:
Wooden toys: 7 points Non-wooden toys: 7 points
As you can see, it is a tie!
Wooden toys can be aesthetically pleasing and for some children, less stimulating. However, which kind of toy to pick much depends on one’s objective for their child. We don’t necessarily have to hop on the trend bandwagon just because we believe in a particular pedagogy. Your child will most likely find toys of all textures just as fun and exciting, especially if it is something he/she has not played with before!
But What About The Other Reasons for Supporting Wooden Toys?
Some parents believe that wooden toys are better because they are:
- More durable
- Environmentally friendly (bio-degradable)
- Toxin-free
- Safety
- Better quality
My honest view if one’s concerns are about child safety, then one would then have to do additional due diligence to make sure that what they pay for is what they are looking for.
Durability, Safety and Toxicity
Wooden toys can be made of softwood and hardwood. It is important to check on the type of wood used, as some types are more prone to splintering than others. Hardwood toys are typically more durable than the ones made of softwood. But hardwood that are less prone to splintering are also usually more expensive.
Wooden toys for children should be made using untreated wood, as most treated wood are toxic when ingested. It is also equally important to check the kind of varnishing and paints used, especially if the toys are for infants and toddlers, who put everything in their mouths!
Plastic toys on the other hand, can be equally, if not more, durable. And since we are not likely to heat our toys, concerns on plastic-leeching are relatively inconsequential. They also tend to be more inexpensive, and being a much more malleable material, can provide more variety to a child’s play experience.
Most importantly, we can disinfect plastic toys by washing with warm soapy water, especially when we are dealing with episodes like HMFD and Covid. Good quality plastic toys can be disinfected using commercial disinfectants and/or wipes. Wooden toys on the other hand are much more challenging to disinfect. Unvarnished wood is porous and bacterial can get trapped in between tiny holes and natural-occurring grooves. And you will need to check with the maker on what to use for cleaning toys that have been varnished or painted.
Quality and Bio-degradability
From experience, both wooden and non-wooden toys can be equally well or poorly made. Wooden toys however, tend to appeal to adults more, since most of us probably grew up surrounded by plastic toys, back in the 80s to early 2000s. As a child, nearly every toy I owned came from Mattel, where “Life is Plastic, It’s Fantastic!”
And because many wooden toys were hand-crafted by artisans, they were often priced at a premium, at least in the Singapore market place anyway. Wooden toys also give a rustic, European feel, which appeal very much to Asian millennials like me, who grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton, Hans Christen Anderson fairy tales. Or for the younger ones, Harry Potter! What would we not give, to relive our childhood once again? All this, adds on the ‘illusion’ on the ‘quality’ or ‘superiority’ of wooden toys.
But there is certainly one thing that wooden toys are far superior than plastic ones – wooden toys are biodegradable. In a time whereby global warming is a threat to our future generations, it may be wise to support toy makers that persist in making environmentally-sustainable toys.
Conclusion
So, are wooden toys really better? In truth, they are relatively on-par with non-wooden ones, especially those made of plastic. Wooden toys tend to appeal to us more aesthetically, are less likely to be over-stimulating for infants and toddlers, provide interesting textures and sounds, and very environmentally-friendly. However, they may be tricky to clean and/or disinfect, which is important during periods when you are trying to fight infections like HFMD and Covid.
Ultimately, which kind of toy to choose depends largely on your objective(s) and budget. To your child, every and any toy, is an adventure to be explored!
Do you agree with this post? Let me know in the comment section below!