I have a funny old relationship with wooden toys. Four years ago when I had a newborn, I thought they were pretentious and so utterly middle class that I’d try to avoid at all costs. Now (ahem) I’ve totally changed my tune. Perhaps it’s a symptom of having spent the last four years wading through a sea of primary-coloured plastic, but if I can choose a beautiful wooden toy over a plastic version, I’ll opt for it every time.
One problem? They can be more expensive than their plasticky friends. Yep, you gotta pay to have a home that isn’t drowning in plastic tat, folks.
Or so I thought. I’m genuinely surprised and delighted that George at Home have launched a range of wooden kids’ toys. Just in time for Christmas – hurrah!
They have a seriously impressive range from a shop (£35) and a pirate ship (£25) to a kitchen (£40) and a farm set (£20).
We were asked to road test one of the toys and we went for the wooden dolls house (£35). The four year old doesn’t have a proper dolls house, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to treat her to one.
She was SO EXCITED when she saw it. Like, properly. “Can I play with it NOW PLEASE?” she asked. It was breakfast time so we let her have ten minutes of playing and then totally used it as a bribe. “If you do lots of listening and helping at pre-school today, you can play with it tonight” (Mum.Of.The.Year.)
She immediately started carefully placing the dolls house furniture (£15) in the house and pretended that the dolls were getting up, having breakfast and going off to work. So cute!
But back to the basics: the dolls house comes in flat pack form, but it took me Mr P around half an hour to build it. He said it was really straight forward (it must have been – I heard no swearing coming from the living room as he put it together.) The roof lifts up and the front opens up to reveal the inside of the house, which is on three floors and has five rooms.
For a £35 house, there are lots of sweet details like butterfly shutters on the windows, ivy and flowers climbing up the wall, and a front door that opens and closes. There are even small window plants that you can take out and dot along the front (although as Mr P warned me, they do help to hold the house together so carefully does it…) The furniture set comes with furniture for the kitchen, living room and two bedrooms as well as four people.
My only criticism of the house – and it’s a small one – is that it’s quite sugary pink. A couple of the pieces of furniture are green, so it might have been nice to have a green roof on the house to balance out the PINKNESS. But that aside, I can’t recommend this dolls house enough. Total bargain for the brilliant quality and charm.
It is beautiful. Mia asked for a dolls house last year and i saw this in our local asda. When we went to buy it, they had sold out and also online as they said it was so popular. I was gutted as it is so so beautiful and amazing value for money but i wasn’t really surprised. We ended up finding another one but still lust after this one x
Well I never! Good for Asda. I do prefer wooden toys too but like you say they’re pricey (and heavy!). The kitchen is seriously cute as is that dolls house. Such a good price too! x
I love wooden toys, they are so much nicer. We do have lots of plastic too but it will the wooden stuff I put aside to keep for them. That doll’s house looks great and I LOVE the shop.
OK, I want the kitchen for myself, is that bad! Thanks for sharing these, always on the lookout for more toys! xxx
We have that house too …good old Asda!
I stumbled across these the other week, I had no idea they sold wooden toys before. Lovely choice, and such a bargain price! x
Ah Tiger would love the farm and pirate boat! Wooden toys are fab, although Cherry had a wooden doll’s house once and never played with it, give her some plastic though and she’s happy 😉 x
I’m really pleasantly surprised! Love the dolls house and the grocery shop! x
I saw these and love them! I’ve got to say, all the toys we’ve kept from when F was tiny are the wooden ones. I was looking through them in the loft the other day and the plastic tat hasn’t held its value or quality it all, but the wooden bits are timeless. In fact, much of F’s fave wooden toys from when she was a toddler are still beloved by her now. Baby E will have to fight her for each and every one when she’s big enough to get the hand-me-downs!
Very sweet. My in-laws still have lovely wooden toys from when Laurence and his brothers were little. I’d love to get a wooden doll’s house for my girls but I’m wondering whether that might be nice for when Ophelia is a bit older and can appreciate it as hers.
Lucky lucky girl this is such a beautiful little house! I love wooden toys not only because they look nice but they really do stand the test of time. Some of our wooden toys will be over sixteen years old now and still going strong 🙂
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