Our Favorite Handmade Wooden Toys (+ a discount for you!)

Even before I was pregnant with Sophie, I was pretty adamant that my home wouldn’t be filled with mounds of electronic toys. While I have calmed down a bit in regards to that idea (for instance, Sophie has a play gym with an owl that plays songs)…something in me still remains such a fan of the more handmade category of toys.

Thank you to Bannor Toys for these toys! (I partnered with Bannor Toys on Instagram, but because I’m so impressed, I also wanted to share about the company here on the blog!)

It’s important to me that Sophie learns to use her imagination and her own problem-solving skills as she plays. Even though I’m almost always playing music in the house, I don’t want all of my daughter’s toys to have sirens or voices or (sorry!) obnoxious songs going off all the time! The occasional electronic toy is okay, but basically, I don’t want my living room to be full of things that require batteries. I also don’t like replacing batteries all the time, haha. I’d rather Sophie makes the noises for a truck herself, or makes her dolls talk to each other, as opposed to pressing a button or squeezing them and they say a pre-programmed phrase over and over.

Bannor Toys

When I came across Bannor Toys, I was seriously impressed! First of all, it’s fun that they’re a company found in Iowa, which is in our neck of the woods! Second, I love that they’re focused on making beautiful, handmade wooden toys with the aim of helping our children stretch their imagination!

I love how they describe this goal – it mirrors my thoughts exactly: “Playing with modern wooden toys can inspire children to use their imagination and to develop their mind in a way that toys with manuals will not.”

You don’t always need a loud, supposedly extra-exciting toy! But children do thrive on having toys available that will make them think!

Sophie has a couple awesome toys from Bannor Toys, and she already loves them, though I know she’ll grow to love one of them even more as she gets older.

One of the toys is a special wooden heart-shaped teether, personalized with her name! Sometimes I even hang this from her play gym, so she can keep playing with it without losing it! 🙂

It came with a beautiful clip, too. I just love personalized items!!

Sophie also has a wooden shape puzzle from Bannor Toys. Isn’t it gorgeous? Puzzles are hugely important for children’s cognitive development – even simple shape puzzles! At the moment, Sophie enjoys turning the shapes over in her hands and examining (and chewing on) them, but I know she’ll be so proud of herself in the future when she learns to determine which shape fits in which space!

Bannor also makes stunning wooden baby blocks (both for the alphabet and for numbers), and other really cute teethers! I have my eye on this one – it’s a Limited Edition Classic Teether!

And I can’t get over how darling these state-shaped rattles are! There are personalization options for these, too. The Minnesota rattle is so great!

Whether you’re looking for teethers or for personalized products, Bannor Toys carries so many items that make awesome gifts! I know any new mom would be excited to receive a beautiful toy from this company.

Bannor Toys is graciously offering my blog readers a discount!

From now till April 21, you can get 10% off your entire purchase with code JUSTBEE10 — Enjoy!! (Offer excludes the Bannor Limited Toys, the furniture line, and Bannor Boxes.)

Do you like having wooden toys for your kids? How do you help your children stretch their imagination when they play?