Holiday Gift Guide Part Six: Toys for Babies

This year, we've created handy gift guides with toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in store or browse our website for more gift ideas. 

Part 6: Toys for Babies

We have high standards for our baby toys. Quality and safety are of the highest importance. Any toy you give a baby is going to be constantly chewed on, dropped, and even thrown. But a toy should also stimulate a baby's senses through sight, sound, or texture (our favorites are great at all three). And, a toy should be easy to hold and to chew on.

Babies are changing month to month, though. As their abilities and interests develop, the toys they'll be interested in will, too.

0-6 months: For the first few months, toys are hardly needed as babies are just beginning to learn how to control their hand and focus their sight. Once they're able to grasp, however, a soft and easy to hold toy like Sophie the Giraffe, an Apple Park organic cloth toy, or a Kathe Kruse Towel Doll makes a perfect first toy.

At six months, babies love to lie on their back and play with toys hanging above them. A lambskin is perfect for this age of back play, as is a Skip Hop Activity Gym or a Haba Wooden Play Gym. Also consider choosing a teething toy at this age, such as our Kleynimals Stainless Steel Keys or our large selection of natural wood or silicone teethers.

Around nine or ten months, babies can sit up and play with toys in their laps. Larger grasping toy like the natural Skwish or the Haba Little Leaf House are perfect for this age.

At one years old, babies are just learning to crawl and walk. Toys that develop their hand/eye coordination are great at this age. Plan Toy's Punch and Drop, for example, is a longtime favorite. One year olds love how the balls play peek-a-boo. Our Uncle Goose Blocks, which are handmade in Michigan and available in many languages, are another excellent choice to teach stacking skills and colors. Later on, they're a great toy for teaching reading.

See more gift ideas on our website, or just stop into our store!

Holiday Gift Guide Part Five: Toys for 4-6 Year Olds

This year, we've created handy gift guides with toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in store or browse our website for more gift ideas. 

Part 5: Toys for 4-6 Year Olds

At this age, kids are bombarded with media sales pitches at almost every turn. A high percentage of toys for 4-6 year olds that you'll find in big box stores feature licensed characters with their own video games and TV shows. Kids need to know that their imagination matters! Help them to unplug and create their own ideas.

Art kits like our wonderful selections from Faber-Castell are a great place to start. Sarah's Silk play cloths can be used for hundreds of purposes from a super hero cape to a homemade parachute toy. And our Dress-Up Mice or Bears sets make great travel toys that irresistibly promote storytelling. Likewise, our handmade Treehouse by The Original Tree Swing is a beautiful platform for open-ended play.

Big kids also need toys that'll help get the wiggles out on a cold or rainy afternoon. Our Yoga Garden Game is a perfect answer--players have to hold a Yoga pose until their turn comes again. It's also a great birthday party game.

Another longtime rainy day favorite is our Ping Pong Carapult. This will likely be our last holiday season with this toy because our toymaker in Oregon has retired. So, pick one up while they last!

Finally, games are great for this age, especially tactile games like Haba's Animal Upon Animal, Janod's Stacking Tower, our our hilarious Flying Pixies game. All three will make you and your kid laugh!

Whatever you choose, we recommend letting Batman and Barbie fend for themselves this Holiday Season. Let kids tell their own stories!

Holiday Gift Guide Part Four: Toys for Two Year Olds

This year, we've created handy gift guides with our best toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in the store or browse our website for more gift ideas.

Part Four in this Series: Toys for 2 Year Olds

It's really fun to watch a two year old play with a toy. All of a sudden, it's like their imagination takes over and a whole new world of exploring opens up.

Be careful when choosing gifts for a two year old, though. Try not to choose toys designed for older kids. Let them explore simpler toys so that they'll still have plenty to grow into.
Two year olds like tactile toys that help them explore their new power of imagination, in particular toys that help them pretend to do adult tasks that they see their parents doing. Kitchen play sets from Green Toys Cutable Fruits and Veggies sets from Plan Toys are perfect examples. Our Wooden Shopping Cart Toy from Hape, and the Haba Play Tent are two other toys that will ignite a two year old's imagination

Two year olds also really like to create art! We love our BEKA Ultimate Easel for this age because it's low enough for a two year old and has the option to add leg extenders as your child grows.

Along with the easel, try some finger paints! We can't imagine a better set than than our Edible Finger Paints by Wee Can Too, which are made from food ingredients and fruit and vegetable dyes.

Finally, two year olds love to make noise! A sturdy drum, shaker, or xylophone is a perfect gift. (And not just for other people's children!)

Check our our complete list of Two Year Old Gifts on our website. Or, better yet, stop in to the store!

Holiday Gift Guide Part Three: Toys For Little Kids Ages 3+

This year, we've created handy gift guides with our best toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in the store or browse our website for more gift ideas.

Part Three in this series: Toys for Little Kids Ages 3+

Three to five year olds have a wonderful array of toys available to them. At three, kids can now be trusted with small parts. But they've also developed a wonderful imagination and a strong sense of their own potential. Suddenly, it seems like they can't grow up fast enough.

Encourage their imagination with toys like the Hape Cash Register so they can play store. Or Holztiger wooden animals, so they can build a story-filled zoo. Hobby Horses and puppets encourage dramatic play. Dollhouses and Brio wooden train sets are also perfect gifts--we recommend each for both boys and girls.

Toys like the Kazam Balance Bike, which will put them on an early track to bike riding, will boost their confidence in their big kid abilities. Likewise, toys like the Hape Tool Bench, preschool games from eeboo or Peaceable Kingdom, and floor puzzles will teach valuable life skills through play.

This is truly a fun age to be a kid. Try a few different types of toys and see which ones they like best.

Check our our complete list of Little Kid gift ideas on our website. Or, better yet, stop in to the store!

Holiday Gift Guide Part Two: Toys for Big Kids 6 and Up

This year, we've created handy gift guides with our best toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in the store or browse our website for more gift ideas.

Part One in this series: Toys for Big Kids Ages 6+

Older kids these days have a lot of distractions. Many spend a lot of time interacting with various electronic devices, which is fine as far as it goes. But almost every kid still thirsts to create real world objects that require imagination. An engaging toy can be a powerful antidote to a plugged-in world.

The YOXO Construction Toy, Haba Marble Runs (aka Kuglebahns), Djeco Paper Craft Kits, Potholder Loom kits, and KEVA Planks are all excellent building and creating toys for this age. Each is an invitation to fire up imagination and create something new that didn't exist before (in the case of the potholder loom, kids can actually create something useful and appreciated!).  Each of these toys will challenge an older child's manual dexterity in different ways.

Older kids also like physically challenging toys that create a thrill when mastered. Sweets Kendamas, for example, is a portable ball and cup toy from Japan that offers almost infinite levels of challenges.

For an outdoor physical challenge, we recommend our Slacklines and Ziplines. Our kids have spent hours playing with both. We love them because they offer low-risk opportunities to be physically daring. All you need is two sturdy trees in a back yard.

Older kids appreciate a toy that speaks to their own special interests, whether that's a 98 piece anatomy puzzle, a build your own trebuchet kit, binoculars for outdoor exploring, an all-natural facepaint kit, or an aeronautics science kit.

If all else fails, try a wooden sword. Always a hit in our house!

Holiday Gift Guide Part One: Toddler Toys

This year, we've created handy gift guides with our best toy suggestions for different age groups at various price points. Ask for one in the store or browse our website for more gift ideas.

Part One in this series: Toddler Toys

From the age of 12 months up until 2 or 2 1/2 years old, toddlers are learning how to move their bodies through the world. Crawling, walking, pushing, pulling, jumping, balancing and running are all skills that toddler are learning. Toddlers also need to exercise their boundless energy, and a good toy can help a lot.

Some of our favorite gross motor toddler toys include the Rody Riding Horse (we recommend this with supervised play at this age), Papa Don's Rainbow Push Toy, The Hape Scoot Around, Wheely Bugs, and the Plan Toys Pull Along Snail, all of which will delight an active toddler.

Toddlers are also learning to hone their fine motor skills while developing their imaginations. Ball run toys like the Switchback Racetrack, pounding toys like Plan Toy's Punch and Drop, and building toys like Haba Fantasy Blocks are all great for developing hand eye coordination while also encouraging imaginative play.

Also, be on the lookout for toys that will grow with your toddler. Folkmanis Puppets, for example, are a lot of fun for younger kids when grownups use the puppets, but will also be used by older kids to create their own stories. Likewise, Green Toys vehicles are great for a toddler to push around, but will also make a perfect sand box toy for a 5 year old. And BEKA Maple Unit Blocks are perfect for making towers with toddlers and awesome for making bridges and castles with 4 year olds.

Check our our complete list of Toddler gift ideas on our website. Or, better yet, stop in to the store!

Wrap Anything @ Our Extreme Gift Wrap Event December 7, Benefiting the Childbirth Collective

On Saturday, December 7, our neighborhood of St. Anthony Park will bring out its Holiday finest! Shops and restaurants up and down Como and Raymond Avenues will be offering a wide variety of holiday cheer!

For our part, our professional gift wrappers (Millie and Dan, mostly) will wrap any present purchased anywhere for a $2 donation to the Childbirth Collective, a fabulous local support group for new and expecting women and families. Bring what you've got and see how quick we can wrap it! (After 14 years of offering free in-store gift wrapping, we're pretty darn quick!)

12/4 UPDATE: We'll be matching all gift wrapping donations up to $300! Now that's twice as sweet!

 So, whether you're gifting tools, chocolates, or books, get them wrapped all at once and help out a great cause! (Note: Really big stuff may cost more.) And, of course, there will be free hot cider!

But wait, there's more! 

December 7 in Saint Anthony Park

Visit our neighbors for reindeer-pulled sleigh rides and Santa photo-ops at Sunrise Banks, cookie decorating at Tim and Tom’s Speedy Market, a wine tasting at the Little Wine Shoppe, and an artisan market at Milton Square. Bungalow Pottery will host candle-dipping for children with Gibbs Museum and Micawber’s Books will donate a portion of the day’s sales to St. Anthony Park Elementary School. Muffuletta will be serving mulled wine on the deck, Complexions on Carter will have skincare specials and sell jewelry and stationery from local artists, and Lady Elegant’s Tea Room will offer discounts in the shop. If you spend $5 or more at Finnish Bistro you get a free chocolate chip cookie.

And if you need a festive cap to the day’s festivities, Santa will be on hand at 5:15 p.m. Saturday to light the tree in Milton Square. Visit the Park Bugle for the full schedule of the day's events.

Here's a few great Holiday gift ideas:

Rock N Ride Wooden Rocking Horse by Hape	YOXO To Go 3D Construction Toy Kit Made in MN	Lela Lassig Natural Rubber Squeaky Teething Toy
Rainbow Rolling Wheel Rattle by Grimm's	My First Ball Track Set by Haba - Wooden Ball Run	Hape Pound and Tap Bench