Wooden toys teach cause and effect in two different ways, the most notable being taking the time to build things. Your children may realize that if they build their sets the way they want, things will have a cause and an effect. Wooden toys are interesting to look at and to the touch. They are aesthetically beautiful and stimulating and are comfortable to handle with your hands, and offer different textures.
The game ends up being extremely healthy, as it stimulates fine motor coordination and also eye and hand coordination. This is essential for the child to develop well. Many plastic toys are unrealistically cupped or dense versions of what they're designed to look like. When a child plays with wooden toys, there are different weights, densities and sizes.
This increases awareness of the world around them, allowing their perception of the different elements that surround them to expand and be more realistic. Simple wooden toys teach quiet and peaceful lessons in physics, cause and effect, object permanence, creativity, problem solving and many other fundamental topics. Using wooden toy fruits and vegetables and creating a grocery store, which also involves a real-life environment. However, wooden toys offer more beneficial open play, since they allow the child's brain to form new neural pathways as they interact with the toy in whatever way their developing brain makes sense of it.
Wooden toys are a natural choice for these spaces, as they are often stackable, easy to clean and attractive to display. More specifically, touching wood physically calms children down, meaning that playing with wooden toys can have a neurological impact on a child's brain. The use of traditional toys also encourages greater creative thinking and free play, in which children use toys and other additional accessories to create imaginative scenes. In this way, wooden toys open up a whole avenue of exploration for the child and allow him to take control of how and what he plays.
Did you know that wooden toys are the original STEM toy, which can teach math and physics to your children in many different ways? Wooden toys are valued because they come from the earth and, in turn, create a deeper connection with the elements that surround them. Because wooden toys tend to be simpler, they also help cognitive milestones in ways that flashy toys simply can't. Montessori classrooms allow children great autonomy and wooden toys prepare them for success. In fact, wooden toys have been proven to allow your child to concentrate better, since playing with wood is both relaxing and stimulating.
A simple, beautifully designed wooden toy can capture a child's interest without overwhelming them and inspire their imagination without directing it. Wooden toys also offer a beautiful, tactile and open “blank canvas” for the child to explore at their own pace and on their own terms. There are also social skills that can be learned by playing with wooden toys, since children often use their own voices and imaginations to find uses for a silent toy that is, for all intents and purposes, a wooden block carved into shape, whether it's a spoon, a wheel, a bucket or a stick.
