Great Baby / Kid Toys & Room Decorations
I wanted to start out with fun stuff. Here are are few sites I have found to be very helpful when finding toys/gifts for my daughter, family and friends. They can be hard to find even in NYC or when I have found them they are more expensive than ordering online. I also like them as many of the toys are more unique and have a longer ‘self life’ of play time. I don’t care for the branded toys so much like Elmo, or Thomas the Train, although the kids really do.
Many of the sites have searches by age. This is helpful but have found depending on the kid they are ready for certain skill sets of playing much before the recommended age. But you do have to watch for them putting things in their mouth thus why they age recommendation may be older. When buying for a smaller child I try to buy toys that the kids might not yet be ready for so they have time to grow into them instead of having them be ready for them and don’t get much play time from them after a few months.
This site ( above) is one of my favorites. It has a large selection of wooden toys and many cool arts and crafts as the kids get older, more for 3 years to about 10-12 years old. (For younger I have found Crayola Wonder No Mess markers and finger paints to be great! But hard to find refills.) I love to give this kind of gift to older kids as they may have tons of toys and are a bit picker by then…arts & crafts if they like them, get used up so never a bad idea. One of the best things about the site is you can add items to the cart and if you are registered it will remember them for later (much like gap.com). I usually put things in until I hit the $65 amount where you then get free shipping. Sites that have this functionality are great for busy or scattered shoppers. This way you don’t have to keep re-searching for things. Amazon.com is also great for this kind of shopping as you can make a wish list to save items you want to think about, research more, look for best prices. Anything you find on the sites mentioned you can check to see if Amazon might find a better price. I really love Amazon for books and dvds.
Petit Baby has many of the same brands as Moolka but sometimes a few different options. I would say after age 3-4 this site doesn’t have as many options. The cart doesn’t work the same with saving things to a cart but they do ship pretty fast. It is best for stuffed/cuddle animals and I mainly have bought the wooden Australian toys Anamalz from here. They have the best selection. These are great toys! Highly recommended as you can give one or a few and the kids will love them. I started buying them for my daughter when she was starting to talk and would give her one as she learned how to say the animals in either French or English. It makes it a fun game but also spreads out the fun as each new animal gets the “new” factor as she’s learning the words. I’ve given them as gifts as well and always get great feedback that not only the kids love them but the parents do too.
Oompa.com is a great site, much like Moolka. It has the best/biggest selection of pretend food items. I usually check here for what they have but them have often ordered from Moolka as the prices tend to be a little cheaper.
With many European toys or wooden toys I have found that bigger Gap stores are starting to carry some items but they are much higher priced but ok if you need something quick and don’t have time to order. Also in NYC ABC Home at 888 Broadway New York, NY 10003 – (212) 473-3000 has a great children’s section but VERY expensive. Many of the toys you see there can be found on these three sites above. I briefly lived in Brooklyn and know there are many children stores that carry some brands like Haba but you won’t find the variety you can find online.Heights Kids on 85 Pineapple Walk, Brooklyn, NY – (718) 222-4271, did have a good variety from new baby to about 12 year old toys but hard to get to if you have a stroller and are taking the subway as their is no elevators nearby.
Here are a few of my favorite brands. You can look them up and do your own research:
Djeco-wooden toys, board games, wall stickers for decoration, arts & crafts (below)
Haba-some many things…toomany to list, smart great brand overall for all young ages
Lilliputiens-great soft toys (below)
Kaloo-great soft/cuddle toys
Plan Toys-great wooden toys made from rubber trees that no longer provide latex (below)
Melissa & Doug-great wooden toys at a reasonable price, a lot of pretend play toys
Sevi-great wooden toys
Vilac-great puzzels, & wooden cars (below)
Nuchi- very nice wooden train sets…My research as led me to understand that all wooden train set brands can be mixed and matched but I love this all wooden set my daughter got as a birthday gift. (below)
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