Tips For Choosing The Perfect Toy

Having owned a Toy Store for 13 years,  I have come up with a few questions that help to direct us to the right toy.   Now, we have created a little guide to help you choose the right toy using the same process we have used for years.

These are the questions we ask when we are helping people shop for their loved ones.

1 – What is the age of the child?

When kids are little the variation of their abilities, interests and attention is vast.  

The age rating of a toy is based on the safety of the toy as well as the skill level of children of that age.  It's not always a hard and fast rule, but shopping by age is a great place to start!

Toys that are for under 3 years have to be tested based on strict rules, size, ensuring they are not sharp and many other criteria.  And a one year old would be bored with a toy for a 3 year old!  

A one year old will be playing with rattles, clutching toys and sensory exploration.

Brands that are great in this age group are Papoose, Jellystone Designs, Kalloo, Lilliputiens.

A two year old will be able to enjoy some of the toys for matching, music, mazes and larger toys.

We love Indigo Jamm, Fagus, Djeco and more.

Three years and older the toys are all for fine motor skills, puzzles and amazing educational fun.

You can Shop By Age to find toys that are suitable by age.

2 – Do you have a budget?

It’s a fact of life. There is usually a budget. It is nice to dream about the big shiny toy, yet realistically we often have a budget to shop to.  If we didnt we would be buying the realistic ride on dinosaur with lights and sound! 

So, let's focus on the price range you have in your head.  A gift with a smaller budget can be just as fun!

Shop by Price allows you to see the beautiful toys available for you with a collection for under $10, under $30 all the way up to the larger gifts.  

3 – How does the child enjoy playing?

Now that we have the logical framework in place, what does your little person enjoy doing? 

Are they an indoor, quiet player, a creative child full of stories, or are they bouncing around outside? 

Also - what sort of lifestyle do the family have? Are they often at the beach,  do they have siblings, so that they already have a lot of toys!?

Shop the Toys by Collection. We have collected the toy into Games, Movement, Beach Toys, Dress up, Sensory fun or crafts and so many more.  So you can choose from the collection that suits your play.

4 – A short cut to fun

The short cut is always going for the heart. Choosing something that they love based on the interests of the child.   Children are interested in different things, just like adults, so let's get them something we know they enjoy.

When Lucas was little he was always interested in cars, which meant that puzzles with cars, games with cars, anything that had wheels was of interest.  His friends loved Bugs, and anything nature based.  Their favourite toys were very different! 

What about a book about their favourite topic? A Puzzle, magnets or a game. Dinosaur lover will love something with dinosaurs on it.

Shop by Theme to find the toys in the theme that sparks their interst.

Not sure what their interest is?  Try the Trending toys collection to see what others are buying.  It's a great spot for inspiration.

Now Put it all together!

Each collection can be further Filtered!   Looking at a collection - Filter it by Age and price.