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With every new arrival to the 100 Toys household (we’re now on baby number four), I become more convinced of the importance of the so-called fourth trimester. The fourth trimester is another name for the first few months of a baby’s life; its proponents believe that when human babies are born they’re pretty unprepared for […]

People have been making toys long before shops existed to buy them. It’s not all just marketing. Children need toys to help them tell stories, to make sense of the world. The toys that survive from pre-history are often little figures, carved from stone or shaped from clay. Stick figures would also have been used.

How many toys does your child actually need? If you’ve read our toy guides for babies, toddlers and preschoolers, you’ll know that there are a lot to choose from. But how many are really necessary? After all, how many toys did Socrates have? Or our palaeolithic ancestors? Toys help to break down complicated concepts into

You played it in the womb. It was right there at the very beginning, millions of years ago, when life began. Without it, no other learning would be possible. It’s the most fundamental skill. Pre-schoolers love to play it. You’ll find it in every children’s magazine. Have you guessed? Spot the difference. Light and dark;

Just like us, babies have a mental model of how they think the world works. When something unexpected happens, it challenges what they’d previously believed. So they have to take in new information that will enable them to piece together a more accurate picture. It’s why you’ll see them repeat actions many times. They’re testing

We all keep essentials in our kitchen store cupboards – tomatoes and rice, pasta and beans – those trusted ingredients we know we can reach for at a moment’s notice, to whip up something nourishing. Many of us buy wardrobe staples – a pair of jeans and a few well-fitting t-shirts, some trainers and a

Supporting exploration German toy manufacturers HABA have been making their tough outdoor toys and forest school accessories for many generations. Their mission is to stimulate children’s natural curiosity and innate drive to explore, with toys that support them on their adventures in the natural world. HABA dinosaur carving blanks are cut from wood soft enough

You’ll often hear us say children don’t really need toys. In fact it’s one of the big ideas at the heart of our mission: we believe play is about so much more than entertainment, for children it’s about learning through their own investigations. By supporting them in their explorations, not only with toys but with

Tell us about your family I’m married and live in London with my wife and four children aged 7, 6, 4 & 2. I run One Hundred Toys from home and, like most families, we are engaged in the constant juggling of work and childcare. We have a lot of early starts. What are the

Children using real tools is a nerve-wracking prospect for parents. But there are some very real benefits for children in using these seemingly hazardous items, not only in the practical sense, but also in terms of self-esteem, confidence and other characteristics, such as perseverance. As grown-ups, we automatically expect the worst – give a child