About Us
We are a family run business living on the outskirts of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
The beautiful village we live in enjoys the wonders of nature and times gone by.
Our house rests at the bottom of an ancient woodland forest called Forest Fawr. Nestling in the forest
hillside is the enchanting Castell Coch. At the base of our village we have a wonderful river passing through
connecting Cardiff to The Brecon Beacons.
This aesthetic setting is the perfect stage for enjoying the ‘school of nature’.
Crunching on twigs and crisp leaves, stomping through muddy puddles and collecting pine cones,
waiting patiently to hear the drumming noise of woodpeckers and the thrill to see squirrels play
chase through the trees are such simple pleasures and yet great examples of the lessons Mother Nature has to offer.
By living in harmony with nature and considering our impact on the environment, we try to live accordingly.
We believe that by providing our daughters with natural wood toys, we offer her a more peaceful world.
Sian and Terry
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it is attached to the rest of the world."- John Muir
Child Development
Sian has worked as a qualified Nursery Nurse in the Child Care and Development field for 16 years.
She promotes Child Development with enthusiasm, with an emphasis on quality play.
Sian also holds an Advanced Diploma
in Childcare and Education and is particularly interested in
behaviour management and emotional development. She has
been passionate about the benefits of wooden toys for many years and is now able to offer these products to you.
The Wooden Toy Company was established in 2002. The toys we offer have been expertly selected by Sian with creativity
and development in mind. Each toy is described on its learning merits and chosen
for these reasons.
You can have complete
peace of mind knowing that all of our toys comply with EC Toy Safety
regulations and where appropriate carry a CE mark.
Our web site has been designed to offer practical advice and sound information for each area of play
and development.
Throughout, you are presented with expert opinion. Our aim is to allow you to make informed choices, taking an active
role in your child’s development.
Wood so Good
Ask yourself this…..would you prefer to sit at a chunky solid oak table or a plastic alternative
with a cold and shiny
veneer top?
As adults we are drawn in by the feel of wood and as we pass an
oak table we automatically put our hand out to touch it.
It is the same for our children, wood grabs
and draws them in, engaging their attention during play.
Wood offers such a rewarding and tactile experience it is sensual to the touch and captivates children’s attention.
Sensual, quality product
Wood feels so great to the touch. It is calming to the senses and yet stimulating too! Each wood species has its
own unique texture, grain and weight. The temperature of
the wood warms to the touch as we hold it. According to
Montessori teachings a child surrounded by beautiful things will develop increased self worth.
Environment
By choosing wood you are introducing less broken plastic toys and batteries to land fill. Wooden toys are likely
to last longer than plastic toys and if wooden toys break they generally don’t create sharp edges and you can fix them.
So they should last for your children and maybe your grandchildren.
As a customer you can have confidence in knowing that our rubber-wood comes from managed plantations. Ageing rubber-wood
trees are harvested when they stop producing latex for commercial
use and new trees are planted in their place.
Antibac
Wood has a naturally occurring anti bacterial property. This is a reassuring thought and a
great reason for offering
wood rattles to teething tots.
PVC free
Greenpeace have expressed concerns about chemicals found in plastics and run a ‘toxic toys campaign’. PVC is the
main concern and this is due to the group of chemicals called phthalates which
are added during the
manufacturing process.
When babies and young children chew on these plastic toys, the toxins may leach out and be ingested. It is thought
that they can harm the reproductive system and health.
Greenpeace first showed that children were being exposed to high levels of these chemicals in 1997, when it tested
a wide range of popular PVC plastic toys such as bath ducks, dolls and baby's teethers!
Laws have improved recently, however on the Greenpeace web site you will read that they are encouraging parents not
to buy anything made from PVC or vinyl because laws are still not tight enough to prevent this plastic damaging our
health and environment.
(Click here) Greenpeace- report.
Wood toys offer play that is open ended and without pre set boundaries. Children who play in this way are encouraged
to think ‘outside of the box’ and studies show that they are often better at solving problems that have more than one
answer. This kind of imaginative play in early childhood provides a
solid foundation for later academic learning.
Wood toys will grow with your family and can be passed down from child to child.
(That’s when the tool chest that
was once a shape sorting house is no longer in use!)
Sian Hockridge NNEB ADCE.
Early Learning Goals
Early Learning Goals are a set of expectations suggested by our government for most children to reach by the
time they have completed the end of their Foundation Stage.
The Foundation Stage is specified as age 3, up to the end of the reception year.
Parents and Child care/education professionals can encourage children to make good progress towards and where
appropriate beyond the Early Learning Goals.
The Goals are split into 6 main areas:-
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*Personal, Social and Emotional development |
PSE |
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*Communication, language and literacy |
CLL |
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*Mathematical development |
M |
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*Knowledge and understanding of the world |
Kn + U |
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*Physical development |
Ph |
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*Creative development |
C |
You will see that we have made reference to the
Early Learning Goals in the form of their initial letter
key code. For each product,
we have indicated the potential Early Learning Goal areas that
can be encourage.
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