by Adriana Noton

A child who is playing with a toy, some might argue, is a child learning. Nevertheless, many parents and experts maintain that wooden educational toys are the best toys to teach children when compared to plastic toys.

Wooden toys offer many benefits to the consumer. A quality wooden toy is durable enough to withstand decades of play. Before too long what was once a toy might become a treasured family heirloom.

Wooden toys are much more earth friendly than plastic toys. Wood is an earthly phenomenon, whereas plastic is a human endeavor. This signifies that wooden toy production has a gentler impact on the environment and produces less waste, making a healthier world for all the world's inhabitants. However, the healthy benefits of wooden toys do not end with the environment.

Many wooden toys come untreated or are finished with non-toxic paints. In comparison, recent studies indicate that some plastics can have harmful effects on human health. In addition, wood has antibacterial properties, in fact, a wooden toy in the same room as a plastic toy is said to have less germs. This is important to many parents who understand that their infants chew on toys as often as they touch them.

It is possible to further enumerate the advantages of wooden toys. Dense, grainy, or smooth, many children enjoy touching wooden toys. Some children are drawn to the natural warmth exhibited by the toys, even to the extent that they are soothed and drawn to them. This inherent quality, some might assert, heightens the educational experience of a child, because they might play with a wooden toy more frequently and for longer periods of time. However, wooden toys not only appeal to the sense of touch but also to the sense of smell. Many wooden toys are carved from aromatic woods and thus provided further sensory stimulation for children.

There are numerous wooden toys said to promote learning. Toys for learning are meant to encompass the social, intellectual, emotional, and physical growth of a child. An infant might first play with a chew toy or a rattle. This experience begins to develop the their motor-skills and sensory levels.

There are toys geared towards older infants and toddlers. At this age children are beginning to understand spatial relationships between objects and to identify colors and shapes, in addition, they are still developing coordination. Wooden sorting toys or wooden stacking games are perfect to engage these skills. Moreover, children can gain awareness of balance and hand and eye coordination though play with large building blocks (later on they will graduate to basic building blocks).

For children who are a little older there is a wide variety of wooden toys to choose from. These children will enjoy learning about animals on the farm, at the zoo or in the wilderness by playing with wooden animal sets. They may even feel like they have traveled to all those places. They can also better understand everyday life within their house and community when they place with housekeeping, baking and building sets. Wooden number and letter sets develop language and counting skills. Also, these children might still want to engage with wooden toys geared towards younger children: rattles and stacking games. Just as they might want to adventure out towards more analytical toys, such as puzzles and mazes.

Many older children want the challenge of toys that engage their analytical skills. Whether they enjoy puzzles, mazes and labyrinths, model building or play sets, wooden toy makers will likely have something to engage their imaginations and challenge their critical thinking skills. Regardless of a child's age, some experts and parents agree that wooden educational toys promote a child's confidence, encourage the use of their imagination, and create fun.

Buying baby toys isn't just to provide your child with a fun activity - it's also to help them learn! Shopping at local toy stores will provide you with educational toys that are both enlightening and fun, all at the same time!