Saturday, May 30, 2009

Georgian Wood Toys-A Review

Recently, I was lucky enough to discover Georgian Wood Toys. When I say lucky, I really mean it.  Being able to see, feel, and enjoy the toys this company offers is absolutely an enjoyable experience.  Since 2002, this company has been the sole provider of these toys imported from Georgia in North America.  The store invites visitors to their website to “come in, become a little child again, and share our enthusiasm.” If you take them up on their offer, you will not be disappointed.

Ooh and I love their mission! Their aim is for their toys to all have meaning, be artistic, and be of quality. 

I’ve obviously reviewed several companies that have wooden toys. What I appreciate about this company is that they explain just why wooden toys are so special:

  • The child touches natural substances receiving the subtle nurturing qualities of warmth vs. the  numbing forces of cold received through synthetic substances.
  • Allows space for the growth of the creative imagination.
  • Toys of natural substances radiate beauty.
  • Non-toxic finishes

This wonderful company sent me a family of bendy dolls to review. These are the most precious little dolls ever! The details are so splendid. All the little hand painted details make these not just dolls, but art.  Their little handmade clothing makes me so happy. Folks, these aren’t just dolls to be thrown about-they are heirlooms.  They are called bendy dolls because the material used to make their hands and legs can be bent and shaped to do all kinds of activities.  Below is a picture of Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, little girl, and little boy. They each retail for $18.70.

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Here is a pic of the Grandma doll riding one of the turtles they sent. Notice all of grandma’s little details.   She has her painted on hair in a bun,glasses, sweet pink little cheeks. I just love her.

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Here is a picture of the Dad doll. Because they are handmade there might be slight differences. The top one is the doll I have. 

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dadHere is the mama doll. Mine looks a little different from this one but I didn’t have a good enough picture of mine to show you close up.

400_003[1]  Here is the grandpa doll. I love his little handmade vest. 

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Isn’t the little girl sweet? I just love her little hat.

400_00[1] Look at the sweet little boy!

400_01[1] There are so many ways these little dolls can be played with.  Every child has a story to tell and these dolls are the perfect tools to tell the stories. Just today, we used the dolls to tell the story of Hansel and Gretel!

The next items I was sent to review are these cute little monkeys.  Georgian Toys describes this set as “Mother Monkey teaching her baby how to look for food.” Sells for $11.95 a piece or $28.00 for the family. My daughter loves playing with the monkeys and making them swing from imaginary treetops.  The wood is so smooth it provides a delightful sensory experience for your little one. 

monkeys

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Next up, we have this family of turtles. Today, we used them to reenact the story of the turtle and the hare. 

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This is just one of those stores where I have to share as much as possible.  So…I’m going to go through each of their categories and show you my favorite picks. However, I encourage you to visit their website yourself to find your own favorite. Several different types are offered under each category.

Biblical Toys:

Wow, I’m so excited about these toys!

Here is the Adam, Eve, tree, and snake toy.

adam

Domestic animals:

Several different animals are offered by my favorite is this set with a dog, doghouse, dish, and bone. Imagine the creative play this could bring!

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Wild Animals:

My favorite is this elephant family.

georgianfamily2 Small Animals:

What cute little squirrels.

georgian3 Wild Birds:

I love this peacock so much!

georgian4 Ethnic Toys:

The items are so unique!

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georgian7 House and Furniture:

Have you ever seen a toy well before? I haven’t!

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Action Toys:

I just adore this swing for the bendy dolls-

513Transportation:

Train set on bridge-

train_on_bridge_sm  Fairy Tale: This is my favorite of all the categories.

Here are tree people-

1 Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs-

10 Little Red Riding Hood-

100 Knights and Warriors:

50001 They also have some wonderful wooden puzzle toys such as these:

snail_paintedpuzzel_89100 turtle_coloredpuzzel_89100 They also have felt toys on their website. Here are my faves-

Mushroom

Click here to be taken directly to their website.  Here shortly I will be having a giveaway for one of these items. The company was sweet enough to pass these on to me and I plan to pass along the love (though the toy will be oh so hard to part with!)  I’d love to hear what you think of them.  I’ve noticed that reviews with giveaways get so many more comments than those without giveaways. When I do a review, the companies read the comments. If you appreciate companies offering these types of toys, be sure to leave a comment so the companies know how you feel!  When I do have that giveaway, what I’m going to do is give anyone who enters 5 extra entries for commenting on this post! Stay tuned for the giveaway in a few weeks.Comments will be closed on this post in 2 weeks to be fair.

7 comments:

Lauranie said...

I love all of the puzzle animals, and the helicopter!! My dad's best friend does wood carved items and I love them! Something about the smoothness! Thanks for visiting my blog, I'll be back later to look around more! I am a junior standing Pysch student...circa 1999, when we moved the semester was in progress so "i'll start back next semester..." Custody of 2 almost teens, 3 babies and 1 MIL with Hydrocephalis later...NO DEGREE!! I am very envious... :D

Amy from Occupation: Mommy said...

I just love those little dolls. They are adorable, and so open-ended!

Threads of Inspiration said...

These toys are beautiful. I especially like the monkey! Thank you for stopping by my blog during the sew mama sew giveaway. Come back again sometime...I just posted a sweet childs doll I made from a vintage 1938 pattern. Susan

DangAndBlast! said...

I love wooden toys; I used to live in Germany, which is probably where I picked it up. I always give a little one at baby showers (along with something the mom-to-be has actually asked for), and, when it's my turn, I'm going to be so glad I have a German sister who can get me so many good things from there!

Erin said...

What beautiful toys! Makes me proud to be a Georgian!

Erin said...

Oops, just went to their website and realized it's not Georgia in the USA, lol.

Toodles said...

Really love the toys especially the dolls. Think I'll get some to add to my collection of budkins which I blog about http://budkins.blogspot.com/
If you like the dolls I think you will like my collection!!