Last updated on August 19th, 2022 at 11:37 pm
I was looking around my house not long ago and wondering how I ended up with so many plastic toys. It shows up and it accumulates. My biggest peeve with most plastic toys is not that it may not be recyclable or clog up a landfill, but that many times the plastic stuff only entertains them for a short period of time.
The bells and whistles and sounds and automatic features don’t really challenge a kids imagination much. It might keep them busy for a few minutes. The toys that keep my two boys busy the longest, are the ones that rely on their imagination like blocks and building toys.
I was recently introduced to Pure Play Kids which specializes in just that. Toys that are designed to spark the imagination and learning through play time with natural toys and games. For review they sent us a set of City Planner Blocks by Haba for the boys to check out. I love blocks and my kids do too, so I knew these would be a big hit. The blocks are made in Europe with beech hardwood and finished with natural water-based lacquers.
The set includes the basic blocks needed to create all kinds of towering cities or low lying structures, and it includes people, trees, dogs and benches to complete the scene. All the pieces are fun (though some are small so the set is recommended for kids 3 and up) but if your kids are like mine, they always come up with their own ways of using building supplies to fit their scenario. My older son (5) created a winding labyrinth of roads to park small cars in and drive through.
On another play day he used them in conjunction with another set of plain blocks we have to enhance a long tunnel into a construction site. They are still in regular rotation around here because they have more possibilities than the Handy Manny Workshop he begged for and used maybe twice. The City Planner Blocks have provided tons of playtime and fun for my son. I will forever stick by my conviction that simple toys are the best investment.
Pure Play Kids has a great selection of toys that are selected because of their safety and their ability to bring out their creativity and imagination at play time rather than just keeping them busy. But the beauty of that is this style of toys will do both. You can expect to see Pure Play Kids on this years Toy Guide come the holidays.
Get Them: You can order the City Planner Blocks set or any of their great toys from Pure Play Kids!