Our Favourite Toys for Toddlers from Oskar’s Wooden Ark

It’s no secret that toddlers LOVE toys and it’s very easy to sudden find yourself living in a house with quite literally THOUSANDS of toys that never or rarely get played with. We all talk about fast fashion, but can we take a minute to think about fast toys. The amount of plastic junk toys that end up in landfill each year is mind boggling so we’re making a concerted effort to promote quality, long lasting toys that grow with your kids and can then be handed down when they’re finished with them.

Oskar’s Wooden Ark are an Adelaide based toy store that is quite literally bursting from the seams with toys that fit this exact description. We’ve chosen a few of our favourite toys for toddlers from their huge range and put them to the test. 

MOOV Rock Climbing Ramp Slide

Attention parents of climbing kids! Firstly, we are sorry. We understand the constant fear of ‘why is it quiet? What are they climbing on now?’ and how terrifying it can be. But you also want to encourage their development and see them flourish right! Well a while back we grabbed the Moov folding Pikler triangle and little baby Jack has taken to it like a monkey to a swinging vine. A fabulously built (and insanely strong) climbing aparatus, but we felt we neeeded that little bit extra to encourage the next stage of Jack’s devleopment. Enter the Moov Rock Climbing Ramp Slide.

At 1.2m long, the extremely sturdy ramp (weighted to 100kgs..but recommended to keep it under 50kg) is built from Aussie timber and it is just a beautiful add on to our Pikler Triangle (not required of course, it can be used with a lounge or anything really) and our little tester just flies up it. We love how well made and sturdy it is, I mean when you pick it up you can feel that this is a solid piece of kit. The hand grips are just like what you would find at a proper rock climbing centre, excpet sized perfectly for little hands. It is great for their sensory develoment, feeling for and grabbing the coloured holds and it can be placed as high or low as your anxiety levels allow! Perfect!

But wait there is more! Flip it over and you have yourself a ready made slide. With no climbing holds, your little crew can climb up and slide down as often as they like. We have used this with both our little baby and a boisterous 7 year old with absolutely no issues. Perfect for indoors and out (just keep it out of the elements), we can’t wait to build onto the set as our little guy grows with it.

Click here to check out the fantastic range of MOOV products available at Oskar’s Wooden Ark

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Way to Play Highway

A flexible, durable, easily cleaned (yes!) toy road set that can be built on any surface and pretty much go in any direction (including up furniture!)? Yes please!

Toy car tracks have been around for years, and  we have all had those hard plastic sets in our toy boxes from time to time, so it was really refreshing to try out something we hadn’t seen before. The Highway flexible toy road is perfect for all ages, with our not-so-little-anymore baby able to crawl around the track (it is so easy to put together and makes for great sensory play with your little crew) with his little cars and absorb all the shapes and bright lane markings.

The tracks are reversible, which opens up countless options for track configuration, including utilising the flexible rubber material and bending the track over whatever obstacle your kids imagination can create. We can’t wait to see our little one grow with this set, which is impeccably made and can be used with whatever other toys are in your collection already, but we also love how is adaptable for use by our 7 year old boy for his crazy car games. Suitable for indoor or outdoor use, this fabulous set is exactly what you are after. Fun, great quality, durable, great for open ended play, easy to clean and perfect for all ages!

Click here to check out the Way to Play range at Oskar’s Wooden Ark

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Magnetic Tiles

If you’ve been contemplating magnetic tiles, there is so many on the market and it’s hard to know if it’s worth investing in some decent quality ones. I can assure you after giving these tiles a solid test run that it is 100% worth the investment! As soon as we opened these up you could instantly feel that there was a lot of sturdiness to the tiles. The plastic did not feel soft and thin like some others, and the other noticeable difference was the strength of the magnets inside, they were super strong!!

This particular pack includes 110 pieces and there is a huge assortment of shapes so that you can let your imagination run wild and create pretty much anything. It also includes a car base which makes for some great car races. There is also a brochure included with lot’s of great building ideas and the visuals also help the younger ones with how to create.

After going through a few of the cheaper quality ones quite often I’m very glad to have made the investment into these long lasting gems! Our four year old would often get annoyed or quickly lose interest when the magnets wouldn’t stick and with these I’m mind blown with all the different creations he is constantly coming up with and we can’t get him to put them down.

Overall I can see these tiles being a part of our everyday fun for many years to come!

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Wobbel Board

If you’re after a toy that’s a little bit different. Something that will grow with your child and can be used for a huge range of play time activities the Wobbel Board is it!

What’s a Wobbel Board you ask? Well in theory there’s not much to it really……it’s a balance board BUT it’s just JUST a balance board. You can rock on it, you can balance on top of it, you can use it as a tunnel, you can lie in it, you can sit on it, you can use it as a see-saw, a dolls bed, a toy car ramp, a slide – the play opportunities really are endless! Give a kid a simple piece of equipment like this and it is amazing what they come up with.

Wobbel Boards are made from many layers of the best European beech wood and they are S-T-R-O-N-G. Can us parents play on it? YES absolutely, it’s can take weight up to 200kgs. Can babies play with it? Yes absolutely, babies will love using it to help stand up, to roll things off of it, and hide under it. Just make sure to watch little fingers and toes.

My 9 year old likes to use it as a rocker and see how fast and high she can go. She also likes to throw her ball up and down while balancing on it – so good for hand eye co-ordination.
My 2 year old loves to lie in it with her blankie and watch her favourite tv show. Better than any couch or boring old chair. She also uses it to put her “babies” to bed, as a car ramp, and a hiding spot.

There’s a great range of styles and colours available on the Oskar’s Wooden Ark website. Choose different wood types, colours and felt or no felt (felt is good for hard floors). Click here to check out the full range and buy online

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Find out more about the range of beautiful toys for toddlers available from Oskar’s Wooden Ark and shop online from their website www.oskarswoodenark.com.au

The toys mentioned above we received free of charge for the purpose of this review however as for all reviews from Kids in Adelaide the above is honest and in our own words.