10 wonderful Natural Toys for 3-4 year olds.

There are so many reasons to pick natural toys before all others. Of course they are amazing and beautiful, and many will last a very long time, longer than seasonal plastic in most cases. If they are being sold by most of the small toy shops you can bet that they are safe and well researched. If you care about voting with your money, you can shop small and keep small business going and your community. Natural toys bring play to life, they let imagination run free and wild, as it should. While you will find plastic toys in my home, we get natural ones first and try not to get the plastic, though it always does seem to find it’s way in. If you also love natural toys you might know what I mean.

So here it my top 10 list for 3 and 4 year olds. You might see some that are in other age lists as well. The wonderful thing about natural toys is that they are not as limited as many of the plastic ones that are marketed these days. This is not to say all plastic is evil, but a toy has to be extra special if it is not a natural one for me to buy it for my children.

Play Silks!
I am not sure you can have too many of these. By this age I like to have at least 4 large ones.
I have ordered from the shop that makes the above silks in the photo before. http://www.etsy.com/shop/waldorfcocoon and they where very quick and easy to work with. I got some mixed color silks to use as wrapping paper and of course perfect play toys after too for my November babies with birthdays. Our play silks seem to last about 6 years, it would be longer but one of children is extra hard on them these days, they get so so much play from our 4 year old.

Nesting toys!

While you might have a few nesting blocks or cups and they are still wonderful, you can step it up a little. Our little children are specially connecting to animals. Giving them nesting animals might be perfect for them. Maybe sure your 3 year old is not still trying to eat everything though as some pieces can be small.

Rainbow Streamers
I didn’t expect so much play from these but there is just something mesmerizing about them. Unlike kites, it can snowing out and still the kids will have these fluttering behind them gleefully. Not very costly and a great gift. Children this age need to MOVE, not be stuck in front of a screen.

Wooden Cars
These are a hit and they last longer than most plastic ones we have had in the past. They are smooth and fit well together. They are strong and can handle the hard play of this age group. These are great for outside in the sand or in the house on a rainy day.

Wooden Houses!
I specially love this house. It is solid and again this is important if you have a little one that plays hard. My two olders didn’t but my third one sure does. She adores this set as you can see if you look at other photos in my blog. We do not have the whole set, we started with just the wooden house and fairy people. Slowly we are giving her more of the sets to go in it and around it. Don’t go all out with such toys, leave a lot to imagination and by not getting all the sets to start with you can renew the love of the toy and refresh the play time by gifting small sets at the times you gift normally. This house is not small but not too large either. We take it with us when we travel even as it is a loved toy.

Wooden Play Kitchens
First, if your not expecting it, the prices of these can be a bit of a shock. There is good reason for it. They are crafted to last, to be passed on the grand children. They are safe, and hand made and not contaminated in a factory. They are worth every penny. I know some people get the cheap “china” wooden ones you can get in some big box stores for cheaper but they really are not worth it.

Wooden play food!
Now with play foods for the wooden kitchen sets they don’t need to wooden, felt and knitted ones are wonderful too! Texture is something that we love to share with our children so don’t feel like your stuck with just wooden. Be careful with Melissa and Doug sets, some have been recalled, some are made in china and many are known for flaking paint.

Canopies!
Children like to nest, play house, have special places of their own to take care of. These provide that space. We had a cotton one before but it didn’t last. We hope to get one of these soon. If you search online you can see beautiful set ups with these.

Little Gnomes!
Now that our littles are past the “trying to eat everything” phase they can handle these adorable little gnomes. I love them. The ones in the photo I made but you can get them in many places. Math gnomes are often used in Waldorf schooling, these let children start their stories and connections with them. Adorable!

Waldorf Doll
Children love to watch others doing things, and love to copy them. That seems specially true when it comes to babies. Your 3 or 4 year old might have a new brother or sister, or cousin and a doll of their own would help work out what it is like to have a baby. Dolls are important for both boys and girls research shows so if you don’t have at least one, now is the time to get one if you think your child can handle treating it kindly. There are so many shops that have these, and many work at home mothers who craft them. Have fun trying to find the one you think your child would like most, or better yet, make one yourself!

Thanks for looking at my list. As always, if you have something on your top 10 list that you think I should not have overlooked, let me know! 🙂

While my favorite Natural Toy shop is atoygarden.com as I have been buying from them for years (and my only connection to them is as a customer) some of the photos here are taken from http://www.hazelnutkids.com/ and I have yet to buy from them but it looks like a very cute shop with a wide selection.(And sales too!) Not every store has every item of course, so you might want to have a few favorite shops!