Wooden toys: What is the maximum age our toys are suitable for?
Here at Indigo Jamm we are often asked by our customers:
“What is the maximum age our sustainable wooden toys are suitable for?”
This is often a tricky question as safety testing specifies the youngest age that's appropriate according to the child's development, but this doesn't give us a basis to a maximum age. At Indigo Jamm it’s our mission to create long lasting wooden toys that can be passed down generations, enabling them to serve a multitude of age groups.
“Is my child too old for this now?”
It's fair to say each child has their own views on play and what they like to play with. Over time we have had the opportunity to observe this through our children. Being children of owners of a toy company they have pretty much had every product released by Indigo Jamm.
Here are a few examples of what we have observed between the ages of 12 months+ (which is the youngest suitable age for our toys) until ages 6 and 9.
Our Jamm Scooters and Bernie Ride on Bus, although very popular at their intended target age of 12 months+, over the years have increased in popularity with our children and their friends. Their play and imagination has developed over time, so it's now about obstacle course races, time trials, stunts or simply crashing into each other (another reason why we do not use weaker materials such as MDF in their construction).
A lot of our toys have been scaled accordingly as children grow older.
If we use my daughter and the Hascombe House as an example, the wooden peg people have now been evicted and replaced with Sylvanian Families or Disney princesses. Unfortunately for my wallet this was only realised after spending hundreds of pounds on the accompanying plastic detailed buildings intended for these characters! Our children are becoming more aware of environmental concerns and the use of damaging plastics and it's really lovely to see them choosing plastic-free, sustainable natural wooden toys instead of these alternatives.
The house itself has also had a bit of a refurb thanks to the talents of grandparents. It now has rugs and bunting to name but a few of the upgrades.
As a designer there is nothing more satisfying than watching Indigo Jamm toys truly grow up with our children and to observe them being used in ways I never imagined myself is a great feeling.
