I have been re-thinking the toys I want for Capri. I bought this set of toys a few months ago because they were cheap. Well so far they kind of suck and are not good at all. I would rather spend a little more money and her have fewer toys that will last longer and be more natural than have crappy toys that will break soon and contain so much plastic.
I have also been thinking about how I want her to deal with material possessions. I want to raise a child who is aware of the needs of others and that she is very fortunate to be in a home that can provide wants and not just needs.
I have been toying with the idea of selling a large majority of her toys (the plastic ones mainly) and buying her more natural toys: like these
I actually have a wooden horse like the one above from my childhood that I plan on giving Capri. I love Melissa and Doug toys because of their high quality and many of their toys are not plastic. They are kind of pricey but for the quality they are worth it. We currently do not own any of these toys but I would love to.
I want Capri to respect her toys. I have heard of other girls that cut and drew on and destroyed their dolls and Barbie’s, but I was never that child. All of my Barbie’s still have their hair and their clothes and are in great condition. My dolls were well taken care of because they were my babies and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. So I want Capri to have toys that are worth respecting and something she can keep for a long time.
What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment and let me know. I would love to hear what great toys are out there that are worth the money. What do you think of me selling her plastic toys?
Hi Deborah,
Well, Samuel adores his wooden abacus, although we purchased one made by Imaginarium (only sold at Toys R Us). He also has a wooden rocking horse made by my father for his first birthday, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! He’s also a very big fan of Holtztiger wooden animals and his little felt animals, too. I don’t remember the company for the felt animals but I purchased them at : http://www.3littlemonkeysottawa.com/products.php?cat=Felt+Animals
What else…hmmm. Well, we’ve always had great success with Cate and Levi puppets, which are handmade in Canada from reclaimed wool. And if you like Melissa and Doug toys, we have their wooden train set and it has gone over very well in this house. In the less expensive category (that’s a problem with a lot of natural toys – the price) Samuel has played very well with simple wooden blocks from Walmart or a silk peek-a-boo scarf.
Thanks for the suggestions, those all sound great. I will have to look into some of them.
We do a combination. All of our plastic toys are secondhand and I’m fairly choosey about them. Leaching plastics are a concern but I’m not totally obsessive. It is harder with girls because all of the mainstream dolls are made with PVC and the like. Not to say that boys don’t have dolls but honestly, I’m doubting Sebastian will play with as many dolls as Capri. Hopefully by the time our babies are old enough to ask for specific toys we will have more options as the market is changing.
I really want some music sets, maybe Melissa & Doug. Sebastian has a hand-me-down wooden baby piano that he LOVES (He plays it every single day, usually naked) and I prefer that to his Fisher Price noisemakers. Although I will admit that watching him use his noisy little plastic laptop is very cute!
I would love to do only wooden and Montessori style toys but babies (at least my baby) get bored of things pretty easily and it would be very, very expensive to have no plastic whatsoever. When he is older and starts with creative play, I am hoping we will have a lot less toys that can be given many uses.
I have looked at the wooden pianos…wow are they expensive. that is a lucky hand me down. Yeah it is hard to find organic non plastic dolls (that I can afford).