Tegu magnetic wooden blocks

You know that moment you see something and think, ‘What an excellent idea. Why didn’t I come up with that?’ Well, I’m experiencing that over Tegu magnetic (yes, magnetic!) wooden blocks. Handcrafted in Honduras from sustainable woods the ‘blocks’ are actually a mix of cubes and planks containing inaccessible magnets within.  There are three different [...]

Wishes and Whimsies Storytelling Dice

I absolutely love this idea. Four little wooden blocks stamped with images – fairies, raindrops, a tortoise, a teacup – packaged in a cute cardboard box. Roll the dice and make up a story using the pictures that land face up – great for encouraging your child’s creativity. Perfect for travelling – a little easier [...]

From A Tree Blocks in a Box

I fell in love with these blocks when I visited MADE, Brighton’s Craft and Design Fair, in November last year. From A Tree is a furniture-making company and the blocks are made from offcuts. Hand-crafted from maple, oak, walnut and cherry wood, they come in beautiful boxes made from reclaimed beech (large) and satinwood and [...]

Bambino Goodies Christmas Gift Guide: Soft & wooden blocks for babies & toddlers

Blocks rock and whether you’ve got a baby or a toddler, there’s something to suit all age groups. They’re great for stimulation and encouraging co-ordination, understanding balance and shapes, as well as promoting learning about colours, numbers, the alphabet or even animals. From soft, to wooden, to traditional, to quirky, here are nine hot buys [...]

MillerGoodman PlayShapes

I play with, look at and write about a huge amount of toys and I think that if I were to pick the most inspirational it would be The ShapeMaker from MillerGoodman. I can’t wait to get one for my daughter, if you’re not convinced check out this animation. I honestly didn’t think they could top it [...]

Little Saplings

If you’re looking for a simple, classic, yet not unaffordable wooden toy for a baby, make Little Sapling Toys your first stop. From the adorable Songbird Grasping and Teething Toy, $12, to the Tri-wood Blocks in walnut, cherry and maple, a bargainous $19 for 27, everything is sanded to a silky finish so is safe [...]

Zenblocks

Let’s face it, kids’ building blocks aren’t generally the most stylish of items – coloured plastic just doesn’t cut it on a cream carpet. Which is why zenblocks are so completely fabulous. Made in Idaho, the quirkily shaped and incredibly tactile wooden blocks are harvested from sustainable urban stocks and finished with child-friendly mineral oil. [...]

Rockin’ Blocks

Building blocks are always a welcome gift for a new baby, but what if the recipient’s parents are less-than-traditional hipster urbanites? No problem. Head for Brooklyn-based Beebles’ Etsy store, where you’ll find the rather fabulous Rockin’ Blocks, which can be snapped up for $40, plus $14 shipping to the UK. Inspired by graf art, the [...]

The ShapeMaker

Sometimes a toy comes along that’s just too good for kids. The ShapeMaker, created by Brighton-based duo Zoe Miller and David Goodman of design consultancy Silence is one such example. The super-stylish boxed set consists of 25 rubberwood cubes, hand-printed with geometric designs, that can be arranged into giant (pixel) images. The brightly coloured building [...]

Classic Alphabet Blocks

Natalie writes… I definitely have a thing about wooden alphabet blocks and I love this set of Classic Alphabet Blocks from Urchin which have a vintage look and feel about them. They’re really gorgeous and embossed with letters and numbers surrounded by decorative borders on some sides, and then stimulating black and white letters, numbers, [...]

Brilliant value eco friendly baby blocks

A while back I featured the ABC Wooden Blocks from The Green Apple, a fab little haven full of bang on trend eco friendly products and I had a quick peek over there and discovered that they have some brilliant baby blocks, both sets for well under a tenner. At £4.50, the BABY blocks set [...]