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As a parent, navigating the world of baby products can feel like hacking your way through a jungle. There are thousands of options to sort through, each promising to be the best for your little one.
To help make your decision easier — at least when it comes to play gyms — I’ve collected my five favorite options. I recommend opting for wooden play gyms over plastic ones, as they have many benefits over their plastic counterparts, along with a timeless and natural appeal.
Here are my top picks for non-toxic wooden baby play gyms, followed by some more details about why wood toys are better than plastic ones.
5 Best Non-Toxic Wooden Play Gyms for Babies
Here are my top picks for the best non-toxic wood play gyms for babies and toddlers. You can use the mats that come with some of these wooden play gyms, or you can put them directly on top of a non-toxic nursery rug.
1. Aden and Anais ($89)
This baby play gym is made by one of my favorite baby companies, Aden and Anais. Aden and Anais makes beautiful, lightweight organic baby blankets and pajamas, Their non-toxic wood play gym is a thoughtfully crafted developmental tool designed to support infants through their first year. The play gym offers a rich environment for newborns to explore, learn, and reach important developmental milestones.
This play gym focuses on promoting key areas of development, including sensory exploration, cognitive growth, and motor skills. It includes three soft muslin toys that encourage sensory engagement and tactile exploration.
One of the nicest features of the play gym is its oversized tummy time mat, made from breathable 100% cotton muslin (even though some babies hate it at first, tummy time is super important for developing neck strength, moms and dads!).
Assembling this play gym is simple and straightforward. It comes with handcrafted birchwood arches and a machine washable cotton muslin mat. The three little toys that come with it are pretty adorable, too.
2. Baby Meets Leaf ($66)
This toy from Baby Meets Leaf is one of the most cheerful looking ones out there, and it offers a safe non-toxic environment for infants. Crafted from solid and natural beechwood and adorned with four different hanging toys, this gym offers babies fun and stimulation.
It comes with a durable wooden leaf teether with beads that offers relief for teething discomfort. It also has rainbow and sun attachments and a wooden ring to help develop baby’s motor skills as they reach for their favorite toy.
Note that this play gym does not come with its own mat, so you’ll need to set it up on a soft rug or play mat in your home (a yoga mat works well, too).
3. HABA ($89)
HABA has been one of my favorite wooden toy companies since my kids were infants, and their Click-Clack Wooden Play Gym is as delightful as many of their other beautiful wooden toys and non-toxic teethers. It’s made from beech wood and birch plywood, designed in Germany, and built in Bulgaria.
From the clinking of the wooden disks along the side of the play gym to the charming frog toy hanging on the discovery bar, this adorable play gym is a full of sensory delight. You can easily add other toys for your kiddo to play with (I recommend rotating them on a daily basis for extra fun).
You can also adjust the height of the discovery bar easily on this play gym, so the gym grows with your baby’s developmental milestones.
Haba also makes a space-saving wooden play gym ($49) if space is tight:
It measures 29.5″ in length, 17″ in width, and 21″ in height when assembled, and features eight slots to hang toys and dangling elements (hanging toys are sold separately).
4. Plan Toys ($72)
Plan Toys is another of my favorite wood toy manufacturers. Their Baby Activity Gym is designed to engage and stimulate. It’s made in Thailand from chemical-free rubberwood.
This play gym is designed to prevent rocking so it’s more stable. It comes with two suspended toys — these are different depending on the model you go with — to encourage babies to reach for them. These toys can be detached once baby’s moved past the play gym stage of their development and wants to play with them in new ways.
The rubberwood for Plan Toys’ products is sourced from rubber trees that are no longer producing latex, so no trees are cut down that don’t need to be. Their manufacturing process is non-toxic as well, as they utilize only formaldehyde-free glue, organic color pigments, and water-based dyes, all of which meet or exceed European (EN71) and American (ASTM) safety requirements.
5. Lovevery ($140)
This play gym from Lovevery is perhaps the most versatile of the wooden play gyms you’ll find. It’s designed to last past infanthood and into toddlerhood, and it transforms into a cute little fort-like structure for kids to crawl into and out of once they’re older.
Lovevery’s play gym comes with five detachable toys and three sets of cards to keep kids entertained. It’s made out of FSC-certified wood, silicone, organic cotton, and polyester. Its cover is machine washable.
The Problem With Plastic Toys
You might be wondering why many parents are opting for wood toys these days over plastic ones. The answer lies in the problems with plastic. While convenient, colorful, and inexpensive, plastic toys come with a host of concerns.
Many plastics contain additives like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, which are linked to a range of health issues, including hormone imbalances, developmental delays, and even cancer. These chemicals can leach out of toys over time, especially when exposed to heat or sunlight, posing a significant risk to our little ones.
Plastic toys are easier to break than wood, so they can also be a choking hazard. Small parts and detachable components can easily break off or become stuck in a baby’s throat.
The environmental impact of plastic toys is also a concern. Plastic production contributes to pollution, an increase in microplastics in our ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions, and the depletion of important resources.
Many plastic toys end up in landfills, where they can take centuries to decompose. The cycle continues as new plastic toys are manufactured to replace the old ones, perpetuating a vicious cycle of waste and environmental degradation.
The Benefits of Wooden Toys
Wooden toys and baby play gyms, on the other hand, offer a safer alternative for babies and toddlers without compromising on fun. Crafted from natural materials and finished with child-safe paints, they’re free from the harmful chemicals and dyes commonly found in plastic toys.
Plus, these eco-friendly toys are great at stimulating little ones’ senses. There’s something inherently charming about the rustic elegance of wooden toys that simply can’t be matched with plastic toys.
By opting for non-toxic wood baby play gyms and other non-toxic toys instead of their plastic counterparts, we can help mimimize the issues associated with plastic toys and create a safer, more sustainable future for our kids.
Wooden Play Gyms for Babies: Final Thoughts
My babies both loved their play gyms from when they were just a few weeks old until they were able to sit up on their own and reach for the dangling toys. Play gyms are a great way to entertain your baby while encouraging them to reach for new objects and explore the world around them.
Plus, they’re helpful for doing tummy time and learning to roll over and eventually crawl. On top of this, opting for a wooden play gyms means you’re providing them with a safe and sustainable play environment as they grow.
