Why Wooden Animals are so Great

Have you heard of Holztiger or Ostheimer? These are just two brilliant companies that make the most gorgeous wooden animals. If you are looking to add more environmentally friendly toys to your collection then these brands should be investigated!

I asked friends and family to hand paint peg dolls for my twin babies’ first birthday so we would have something wonderfully personal that wouldn’t take up too much space. A few people insisted that they wanted to get something else as well – so I directed them towards Holztiger.

Like other brands that make wooden animals, Holztiger toys are stunning. They are small (although there is some scaling so things like elephants are bigger) and lovingly crafted. They feel nice to hold, and have a charmingly rustic quality to them. In our family collection we now have a number of animals that boast tails made out of rope, which the babies love to hold onto – the piglet being the favourite of these this week.

I have seen many parents incorporating wooden animals into story sacks to accompany their favourite children’s book. This is a brilliant way of encouraging identification and association of animals and I plan on making a story sack for one of our favourite books; ‘Dear Zoo’!

Another brand of wooden animals worth mentioning is Lanka Kade. A slightly different style, the Lanka Kade animals are designed to be stackable. This means hours and hours can be spent building towers of animals! Lanka Kade also make stackable pieces representing people in different professions, and a few other fun things too.

If anyone has any different brands to suggest, I would love to hear about them so please comment!