safe toys Archives - Easy Mommy Life

Finding the most age appropriate toys for little ones is what every parent wants. We want our children to learn through play since it is the most effective way to help a child understand concepts. If you are wondering how to select such age appropriate toys for your children you can check my last blog post on the same.

This post is sponsored by Skola Toys. But all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Skola Toys is one such wooden learning toys company that is known to make developmentally appropriate toys. They have developed toys that take the child through learning journeys designed as play. The different learning journeys explored by Skola Toys are Dexterity, Environment, Language, Numbers, Our World, and Cognition.

Review Skola Toys Pull Along Bus

I am always looking for age appropriate toys for my little one so I was quite excited to receive the Skola Toys Pull Along Shape Bus to review. This toy belongs to the learning journey through Motion. And is best suited for a 2-year-old.

Packaging

The first thing I noticed was the box the toy was sent in. It had lovely doodle design all over. The box itself is so decorative and fun, I imagine buying a Skola toy and gifting a child the same without any gift wrapping needed, just this lovely box. You also get a complimentary set of crayons with your toy along with an instruction manual on how to use the toy in different ways. All these simple touches add to the customer experience when receiving the product.

What I like about the Skola Toys Pull Along Bus

The pull along toy is a bright orange colored bus that is made of lightweight wood. The fact that the wood is light in weight is important because my son finds it easier to maneuver the bus. The color orange is also quite attractive to a toddler.
Skola toys are made of wood, sourced from renewable sources, making them natural and environment-friendly. The toys are compliant with international safety standards and paints used, conform to European EN-71 Part-3 guidelines for toys. If you want to know why it is important to consider these things when buying wooden toys you can read my post on toys for toddlers, where I speak about safe wooden materials for toys.
The bus has rounded edges and no sharp parts that can scratch my son.
The child learns about motion by applying external stimuli to set a toy in motion. This age group of children is just learning how they can cause an effect on things. By gripping on to the toy and pulling it along they learn about their role in setting a bus into motion. Pulling a toy and walking is challenging, but this type of challenge brings excitement to the child.
This bus also doubles up as a shape sorter. The bright red colored shapes caught my son’s eyes immediately.

What can be changed

I am happy that we have companies like Skola Toys that are striving to provide quality learning toys for kids. On receiving this product I can see the thought that has gone into designing such a toy.

The only thing I would change about this toy will be the length of the thread. The thread is long for a 2-year-old to be able to maneuver around. I tied up a portion of the thread just to make the length more manageable for my son.

Everything else, from the wood to the paint and build quality of the toy was on the mark for me.

Ways to play with the pull along bus

The same toy can be used in four different ways to encourage the child’s creativity and imagination.

Activity 1: Triggering Movement

Show the child how to hold the thread and pull the toy. Children start to try different variations of force to trigger the pull and put the shapes inside the box then removing them outside again to see how this changes things. All these variations teach them about cause and effect along with encouraging them to play more creatively.

Activity 2: Pull Along

The activity of pulling the toy and walking requires a lot of balance and skill. When the child looks back to see the bus follow, it excites them. They try harder eventually learning to pull along without toppling the bus over.

Activity 3: 2D-3D Connection

Trying to put the correct shapes in requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. An analysis and clear understanding of 2D and 3D association of shapes are needed.

Activity 4: Name Game

You can ask the child to name the different shapes as they get familiar with them.

Such type of open-ended toys allows the child to explore the toy in an in-depth manner making use of their own mental resources in order to work with the toy.

Price

₹945

Available at

Skola Toys website and Amazon

How do you select age appropriate toys for your little ones? Which toy is their favorite? Let me know in the comments below.

This post is sponsored by Skola Toys. But all views and opinions expressed are my own. I only review products that I would buy for my own family or have used in the past and loved.

This blogpost contains affiliate links. These links provide me with a small percentage commission but don’t cost you anything extra.

As a mother I am very particular about the kind of products I expose my son to. Be it baby care products or clothing. So toys are no different. In-fact children below the age of 2 often mouth toys, which directly exposes them to the chemicals in plastic and coloring agents used on toys. That is why toys along with baby care items and clothing are the categories where I don’t compromise on quality and try to invest in safe and sturdy materials.

I try and stick to wood toys made of hard woods. Avoiding cheaper quality wooden toys made with MDF materials.

MDF and Ply-wood are commonly bonded using toxic glues and adhesives.This can sometimes include the toxic chemicals like Formaldehyde. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), classified formaldehyde as a “known human carcinogen”. Furthermore, if the wooden toy is coated with cheap paint and lacquer which possibly contains lead, the wooden toy is just as bad as any plastic toy.

If a wooden toy is not available I choose cloth toys and trusted brand name plastic toys. Also note, when a plastic toy starts to wear off, it is time to discard the same, and don’t use second hand and old plastic toys as there may be possibility of chemicals leaching out and the toy not meeting the current toy safety standards.

Don’t just think about material when you think of safe toys; the shape and size of the toys are also important. Check that there are no sharp edges to the toy and that it passes the sizing standards for that age group. Especially with children below age of 2, there is always a risk of choking on toys. It’s best to stay away from toys that contain tiny parts.

When you start investing in good quality toys it becomes about quality over quantity. So your child will have a smaller collection but one that can last him/her through childhood.

Again, these are just basic guidelines for you as a parent when you choose a toy; I don’t mean to preach by any means. I too have a collection of toys for my son that are a mix of largely wooden, few plastic and cloth toys. In the end it’s about having an understanding about the chemicals in our children’s toys and being thoughtful about our choices.

Now getting to the list of toys that I found most age appropriate between 1-2 years of age. Some of the toys from my previous list of toys for baby’s first year are still relevant to this age group e.g, stacking rings, blocks, pull along toys, books etc. So we carry those forward into the toddler years.

Only toys you need for your toddler 1-2 years

Mega Blocks: Once the child gets the hang of stacking, he/she will move onto building. Mega Blocks are easy to use for those tiny toddler palms that are not yet very adept with fine motor skills.

Recommendations:

Fisher Price Big Building Bag

Balls: This is the perfect age group for them to start understanding the concept of throwing balls. They have just started running and jumping and a ball is the perfect play companion to them. This one is a must buy.

Recommendation:

Kipsta Green Blue Ball

Books: Once they enter toddler years kids get really excited about books, especially if you already have a routine that incorporates reading. Try and find a variety of themes and storybooks. Some board books, a few pop up books, interactive books, paperbacks etc. Let them get exposed to a variety of formats. Some of our favorites are:

Kitchen set: Pretend play becomes a huge developmental activity in this period. Toddlers pick up on the nuances of what cooking looks like, trying their hands at stirring pots, serving on plates etc. I looked everywhere for a steel set or a wooden one and finally found one by Hape Toys. I will highly recommend this set. My son loves it a lot, it is one toy he is found playing with everyday. If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen this set in the many pictures I have put up there.

Recommendations:

Hape Gourmet Wooden Starters Kitchen Set

Hape Wooden Tea Set For Two

Vehicles: Kids at this age love the pretend play concept of cars, trains, airplanes, construction vehicles. They are now aware of their surroundings and observing the vehicles on the road, this helps them connect the real world physical objects they see through playtime.

Recommendations:

Maya Organic Wooden Pull Along Engine

Shumee Tow Truck

Shumee Blue Race Car

Musical toys: At this age children start enjoying music and want to participate in it by dancing, playing musical instruments. Introducing an xylophone is great for this age. They enjoy the process of creating music. I like the ones that come with a single stick unit rather than ones that have a tiny ball attached at the end. Because if the ball falls off, it can pose a choking risk. You can even buy other musical instruments more suited to their age like a baby casio, drums etc.

Recommendations:

Hape Wooden Xylophone

Plan Toy’s Wooden Xylophone

Coloring books and pencils: Coloring is a great activity to enhance your child’s fine motor skills. Also helps hone their creativity. They learn about colors and textures through coloring activities. There is no real need to buy special coloring books, you can just give them blank papers or old diary’s, notebooks lying around the house. Look for age appropriate crayons especially if your toddler still mouths his crayons. Crayons made of natural materials like soy or beeswax are most suited to this age group. I like the ones by Azafran Crayons as they are made of organic waxes of palm, soya, soya butter and food grade colors.

Recommendation:

Azafran Crayons

Animal Set/Fruit Set/Vegetable Set: Through books, observation and conversation toddlers start picking up names of animals, fruits, and vegetables. Buying them play sets of the same becomes a new pretend play activity for them. They soon have their own favorites among these. I found that my son picked up names of a lot of animals, fruits and vegetables when he saw them in such a toy format.

Recommendations:

K’s Kids Take Along Playset – Jungle

Shumee Safari Truck

Hape Wooden Fruit

I hope you found this list useful. Its always great to have an age wise compilation like this at hand when you want to gift a toy or have forgotten what you used for your previous baby. Which toys does your child love? Leave me a comment below. If you liked what you read follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for more ideas.

This blogpost contains affiliate links. These links provide me with a small percentage commission but don’t cost you anything extra.