A Plastic-Free Toy Guide for Babies, Preschoolers, and Big Kids

All alphabet puzzles are not created equal. This Hape puzzle’s unusually chunky pieces are solid wood, giving them heft and allowing them to stand up and stack. The pieces were constant playthings for our little ones.

Alphabet blocks have been around for centuries. This classic version is made in Michigan by a family-owned business. I appreciate that they are on a mission to keep wooden-toy craftsmanship from becoming a fully lost art in the United States.

Senger, the premier all-natural German soft toys brand has just the thing for those who want a more classic take on the teddy. In fact it has more than a bit in common with theoriginal teddy bear. Senger’sunusually compelling materials pageis worth a read.

If you’re in the market for a niche animal to complement an existing menagerie, my children went wild for theSenger Organic Cotton Goose. It’s a popular Senger item in the U.S. for a reason: It’s lovably floppy and large enough to have the presence of a new sibling. Its belly has an all-natural cherry stone or spelt insert that can be warmed in the oven.

Music boxes with intricate, small parts are a tempting gift for a new baby, but they have short lifespans in the presence of curious fingers. This polished model will resist dismemberment and play nicely with whatever nursery aesthetic the new parents have chosen. It adds a certain romance knowing it was made in a small workshop in the Black Forest, the moody German woodlands that inspired Grimm’s fairy tales.

Most readers will recognize “unit blocks,” long a mainstay of the kindergarten classrooms. They lend themselves to many sturdy configurations because they are built around multiples of a standard unit.
Perhaps less well known is that this particular style of blocks were created by progressive education luminary Caroline Pratt, who in 1914 founded a school in Greenwich Village, and created the blocks to support her curriculum.

With unit blocks, the thing to look for is quality hardwood without unnecessary dyes or other finishes. This set made from Everwood Friends fits the bill. Everwood makes a range of unit and other wooden blocks in Minnesota, using solid hard maple, with smooth finishes and gentle, rounded corners.

These eggs are solid wood and come with a delightfully realistic carton. One of the eggs comes with a surprise — you can crack it open to reveal a felt yoke. Made of wood and cotton.

The crayon-maker Filana pours its crayons in small batches using organic beeswax in rural Western Colorado. Beeswax is an alternative to traditional paraffin wax crayons, which are made from petroleum and can contain plastics, such as glitter or as binders.

The skin-tone collection also comes inblock shape($20.95).Classic rainbow colors are also available.

Tame the art-table clutter with this attractive hardwood crayon holder. The crayon holder is made by Treasures from Jennifer, an outfit founded by a mom of five in Missouri who taught herself woodworking to create things for her children. The holder is also compatible with Stockmar, another leading Waldorf crayon brand.

Kumihimo is a traditional Japanese braiding technique. The Waldorf-inspired Grow Creative has created a beginner-friendly kit containing a wooden kumi wheel to facilitate the braiding, along with cotton thread. Use the results as friendship bracelets or as plastic-free lanyard alternatives.

I met a 10-year-old around town last year who was carrying his whittling knife. He was proud to tell me of his creations (there’s such a thing as too many spoons, said his dad); but he perhaps took even more delight in displaying a number of tiny purple scars on his hands from whittling nicks. At the time, my children had only handled knives fit to cut bananas. Once home, I discovered this kit from Opinel, the Savoyard specialists who have been furnishing us with pocketknives since 1890. Just the right amount of risk! And if you want, you can always throw inchildren’s safety carving gloves.

Pickling is a great fit for kids and easy on parents: minimal mess, stove supervision not required, and no debates about limits on the number of chocolate-chip cookies they can have in one sitting. This kit contains one stainless steel ChouAmi fermentation device that facilitates natural, raw fermentation; and a compatible one-liter Le Parfait Familia glass jar.

When my eldest turned 6, I began to hear the siren song of American Girl, whose story-dense pre-Mattel acquisition catalogues made history nerds out of a generation of girls. For those who feel the pull of bestowing “that one special doll” as a rite of passage but want to skip the plastic, mainstream options won’t help.

However, there is a niche of the toy market that has long been committed to doll-making with natural materials: Waldorf dolls. Within that world, the German brand Nanchen’s 15-inch dress-up dolls are the closest to a natural answer to American girls. The line offers a variety of skin tones, hair colors, and textures — although the representation options are not as vast as at American Girl (the Strategistalso a doll roundup with several creatively inclusive doll lines). A child can choose a doll that reflects how he looks, or one representing a beloved character (the Lena doll, above, is givingZoey and Sassafrass;this oneserves as my child’s Anne Shirley).

Nanchen was originally founded in 1983 by a husband-and-wife team, but was taken over by two friends committed to maintaining the company’s conscious craft legacy. The dolls are still handmade and hand-painted in their German workshop, so each face has its own unique character. They are stuffed with organic, virgin German wool.

Sometimes the situation calls for a soulmate doll that does not check a stereotypically gendered box or adhere to traditional beauty ideals (the rosebud-lips on the Waldorf dolls have not escaped our notice). For such a time, the doll-maker Camie Wiles offers us heirloom-quality animal dolls that allow children to fill in their own blanks. Most come in traditionally feminine clothes, but you can get thisappealing frog in a unisex ensemble.

The dolls are hand-made by Wiles on her farm in Maine. On her Etsy, she describes her doll-making as rooted in a lifelong interest in Amish tradition. (The Amish have their ownstriking style of rag doll.) The Woolgrass Farms dolls are made from 100 percent natural fibers sourced from American farms.

If you check the fine print on many expensive dollhouses, you will find they are made from lower-quality materials, like engineered wood and plywood. Milton & Goose, a mom-founded brand that started out making high-end, solid-wood nontoxic play kitchens in second-generation Amish workshops, has also taken on the dollhouse. Their aesthetically adaptable Hudson model is crafted in the USA from solid birch and maple.

For children whose aesthetic leans more toward whimsy, the small business Camden Rose makesdollhouses from solid maplein which both fairies and gnomes would feel right at home.

Pattern blocks are beloved by math educators because they have what educators call “a low floor and high ceiling” — meaning they are instantly fun for beginners but can provide increasingly advanced challenges.

Math for Love is an independent toymaker founded by a dad on a mission to make math both rigorousandfun for kids. Their Upscale Pattern Blocks make it easy to give kids challenges that teach math with the fun of solving a puzzle: Which large shapes can be made with smaller copies of themselves? How many different ways are there to make a hexagon? Unlike plastic sets, these pieces feel good in the hand and make a soft click-clack as children push them about. The site also includes tips on how toplayandteachat home.

Nobuyuki “Nob” Yoshigahara was a legendary Japanese puzzle creator and critic who invented the popular game that is known in the U.S. asRush Hour— sadly only available in plastic. A pleasing, solid-wood take on this classic sliding-block puzzle comes from architect turned girl-dad toymaker Vlad Drǎgușin, who created a version with solid beechwood cars in his company CandyLab’s vibrant mid-century style.

The designer Panisa Khunprasert grew up in her parents’ wooden-toy factory in Thailand and trained in both industrial design and fine arts. After working in product design at MoMA, she went back to Thailand and began producing striking wooden toys under her own line, Panisa, which are available through MoMA’s shop.

The rounded, solid-wood pieces of this chess set are easy on the hand and eyes — we get compliments on our set all the time. Parents will also be glad the pieces can be packed away and tucked onto a bookshelf.

Panisa also hasa cheerful wooden alternative toConnect Four.

Despite what box stores’ inventory suggests, there’s no need for a plastic starter skateboard toy. Canada’s family-owned Banwood, known for its nostalgic children’s bikes, makes a handsome children’s model in maple that’s suitable for ages 3 and up.