Grimms, Grapat and everything in between. Chat for open ended play and wooden toy lovers.

Ooh, placemarking. I love wooden toys and I don't even have my own kids, just a gang of nieces and nephews.
Currently scouring charity shops for old wooden toys to upcycle with fresh paint etc but no joy so far.
I love the Grimms rainbows etc but haven't got one. I have heard that you can sometimes get lucky and find good toy brands (Babipur etc, not sure about Grimms) in T K Maxx for cheaper, but again I've had no luck.

I always check out TK Maxx. I've had some great bargains including Tegu which is usually at half price. I also often nose on eBay and Facebook but the chance of a bargain is very few and far between I think. These brands do well at second hand market value so bargains are rare. I have heard of people finding some absolute beauties in charity shops though.

So this is what Christmas 2019 looks like. But after a new piece arrived the other day, I left the cardboard box in the middle of the playroom. So GDG arrived Friday and quickly unboxed them 🙈🙈. I've gave he's little trial run then hid them away when she went to bed. Good news is she absolutely loved them and they were played with all day. Hopefully we will have a good few more pieces by then 😊😊

That's gorgeous Startaler.

I love them but my kids seem a bit less impressed. Dd who is 1 plays quite a bit with the holztiger animals but ds who is 4 is less keen. Our rainbow gets a lot of play though. I'm tempted to get a bigger one for Christmas.

I'm planning on getting them some of the Ostheimer fairytale bits for Christmas as ds is fairytale obsessed, hoping that will lure him in. Little Red Riding Hood is his absolute favourite so going to start there and then possibly Hansel and Gretel. I do love the witch you have.

Dinosauratemydaffodils I was so unsure about whether to start collecting the people. I wondered whether they would be loved or lay forgotten about. But DGD loves them. She has just begun to play with her Grimms friends too so maybe it's just that she's hit a stage in development. She loves putting everything into her house and then taking them out.

I love these toys but don't have any yet. Dds 9,3 and almost 2 here and wooden building blocks are a firm favourite. Where do you find your bits @startaler, I know they are investment pieces but the initial outlay seems quiet expensive.

Please remember that you don't have to have just branded toys. Flexibility of use and sensory experiences are key.

Do you follow 'The Curiosity Approach' on social media? Great for ideas including reusing and repurposing household items for play.

Forgive me, I don't know your background, so apologies if I am adding info that you already know. Just reading back to OP's last post - putting things in and taking them out - this is a 'schema' - a pattern of play.

Reading up on schema will help you identify the patterns in your child's play and provide appropriate toys/items to support.

My DS loved putting toys inside other things. We bought a wooden trike for him but chose a particular one because it had an open 'boot' where he could pack his treasures inside and take them with him.

I'm passionate about helping parents to help their child learn, especially through play.

Info re: schema
http://www.ndna.org.uk/AsiCommon/Controls/BSA/Downloader.aspx

leaderoftheaream You're right, they are not not cheap. We just started with a few bits to see how we got on. This was on her first birthday 18 months ago. The beauty is, those first few bits are still played with every week. I think if we had bought regular toys for a one year old, they would be gathering dust or been passed on by now. There are a few stockist such as Babipur, YesBebe, Babame. You can often get discount if you join their Facebook pages so that's worth considering, and don't worry about the big expensive sets, a few small sets will give you a good idea. Also, things like peg dolls, you can buy cheap unpainted.

Anyaed I also have an early years background. Dgd definitely displays schematic play. She's had a strong enveloping schema for at least a year. I began following The Curiosity Approach on Facebook. I love their philosophy of using everyday items but I became disheartened quite quickly because I felt they were more about pushing their accreditation than sharing actual real play/learning. I do love my emails from Community Playthings though. They've written some beautiful articles about all sorts of early learning.