Grimms toys came into our life 3 years ago, and I’m so happy they did. It all started with a wooden rainbow and 12 colorful friends. We discovered a new way to play and learned much more than we expected. These beautiful open-ended toys give wings to everyone’s imagination and creativity (from little children to not so little people but children at heart). They are simply brilliant and feel so lovely to the touch.
At home, we mix and match all kinds of toys and play. We play with plastic toys, wooden toys, stuffed animals, open-ended, close-ended… all types of toys! And my children are having a lot of fun discovering the world through them. Personally, I feel it is good for them to balance and experience all types of materials and play. For example, my son loves his Buzz Lightyear and loves stacking the Rainbow or making tunnels when he feels like it.
Through the years, we’ve added more Grimms toys to our collection, and they are so wonderful that I wanted to share our experience and our favorites with you.
In this post…
- About Grimms toys
- Our Grimms toys collection
- How do we play?
- Our Grimms toys ranking
- How to clean Grimms toys
- Where to buy?
- Why you should add Grimms toys to your play time
About Grimms toys
Before I dive in, I wanted to share a bit about the company behind all these toys.
Grimms Spiel und Holz Design is a sustainable wood German manufacturer located at the foot of the Swabian Alb. They produce beautiful natural, high-quality, safe toys from alder, linden, beech, and maple wood. Each toy is uniquely hand-made with its unique footprint from nature.
When designing their toys, they say they are guided by the principles of Waldorf education and other reform pedagogical approaches such as Montessori.
Our Grimms toys collection
We have 10 toys from Grimms Spiel und Holz Design. They are a bit pricey but totally worth it. Therefore, we have saved to acquire the toys for special occasions. They’ve been birthday presents, Christmas gifts, and a couple just because. After 3 years and 2 children, I am happy to share our collection.
Large wooden Rainbow
I had seen the Rainbow on Pinterest for some and thought it was fascinating. All the things that you could do with it had me in awe. So when my son was born, I put it down on the baby gift list (since he was our second child, we already had a lot of stuff that we would reuse). Even though he would not be using it right away, I thought it could be something he would someday enjoy.
My daughter was 3 at the time and was blown away. She asked her brother for permission to play with it, and we started exploring. We found so many ideas that we loved that we started playing by replicating. After a bit, we started innovating and getting creative. And then is when the magic really happens. happens.
Since then, my son has joined in, and we’ve done so many things together. From stacking towers, rainbow tunnels, circuits for the balls, creating animals, sculptures, pretending they were mermaids, and so much more.
As you can see, you can combine them as well with many of the other toys from Grimms or that you might have at home. It opens the possibility to hours of endless fun.
Rainbow friends
They were also a birth gift, and he enjoyed them from an early age. These tiny peg dolls come in a set of 12 and match the colors of the Large Rainbow. They were great for his tiny hands when he started gripping. They also went into his mouth when teething, and they have all survived with not many scars.
We’ve used them a lot for color matching the Rainbow after creating structures and then matching each friend with an arch. We’ve also placed them in the rainbow stacking tower and used them for color sorting as well. Finally, of course, we’ve used them like little dolls playing around, riding on the truck, and living in their little towns with roads.
Houses
These little houses come in a set of 15 on a board that is a base to keep them organized. These tiny houses come in a set of 15 on a base to keep them organized. We play with them in different ways.
We play with them as a puzzle, finding new ways to place them on the board. After taking them out the first time, we discovered the board is not entirely square, so depending on the orientation of the pieces, they do not always fit. So we took it as a challenge, and we always tried to make it fit on our first attempt.
Of course, we use them as houses when we create small worlds with roads and animals and little people. We’ve also used them for color sorting activities.
But I believe that what we like best is building towers with them. It’s not as versatile as the rainbow, but we’ve come up with a few.
They are amusing to play with.
Small truck
The small blue truck is lovely. It fits two rainbow friends or whatever little things you want to place there. We’ve used it to play around the house or on tracks.
Rainbow balls
These wooden balls come in a set of 6 with the primary rainbow colors: yellow, orange, red, green, blue, and purple. I loved that they came in an egg carton. We stored them there for a long time.
They are great for marble runs.
We also pretend they are food (for example, fruits or ice cream), and we also use them in our animal designs as eyes or spots or to play some games.
They are hard wooden balls. When my son was little, he did not understand that they were not bouncy balls. Therefore I had them stored away for some time. Now he’s 3, and he has grasped that they are not for throwing. As a result, we have them around again, and we love them.
Rainbow beads grasper
We got this when my son was 7 months, and he liked it straight away. The colors caught his attention, and it was good for him to practice grabbing, grasping, and changing things from one hand to the other. Meanwhile, my daughter used it as a bracelet, and she sometimes still does.
Small set of stacking boxes
These boxes are a small version and come in a set of 5 painted with warm colors. They have been great for sorting, stacking, and building rockets and apartment buildings.
Rainbow semi circles
Having the Rainbow, adding the semicircles felt like an obvious next step. It’s a set of 11 semicircles that match the Rainbow’s arches.
We use these to build towers, for color sorting, creating designs, and small world play. They are great to have.
Small pastel wooden beads
These beads are clearly for older children because of their small size. We played with them when my children were over 3, and they’ve been great to work on fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Sorry, the ones in the picture are the ones that remain after all these years.
We’ve made bracelets and necklaces that we’ve gifted to family and friends. We’ve used them for “threading” on pipe cleaners, in sensory bottles, and as ingredients when pretend to play in the kitchen. The lovely pastel shades are beautiful.
If you’d like to check out other ideas that we’ve made with colored rice, visit this post for more inspiration.
Rainbow forest
Now, this is a set of 12 cones in the colors of the rainbow. I love how they look in small worlds pretending they are trees. You can even put them on the rainbow, use them for sorting, or imagine they are some delicious ice creams or food (like my son likes to pretend).
How do we play?
These toys are an invitation to exploration and creativity. Some children may have more practice at open-ended play than others. Some children may be more used to letting their imaginations fly than others. So it depends on your child, really, but I would make an effort to step back and let them explore themselves.
In our case, first, I simply presented the toy and let them explore and see what they came up with without suggesting anything. For instance, my daughter started taking the Rainbow apart and then trying to put it back together. At one point, she took the most miniature arch and held it to her ear. “Hello?”. I had never thought of it as a telephone.
Afterward, when I saw they had gotten in a way stuck with the same things, I showed them a new way to play with it. For example, I created an animal design or showed them they could build a tower, and then they wanted to replicate it. As a result, they wanted to make more animals and towers, and the results were surprising. (Check out my daughter’s leopard – I am so proud, and I would have never come up with it).
Finally, we started searching together for some ideas on Pinterest and the internet. Then, after seeing them and replicating them, we started inventing new things together, like our race car.
There are many reasons to play with Grimm’s toys. Their high-quality, their beauty, the fact that they are sustainable, that it’s for all ages, and their philosophy. Above all, at least for me, is the invitation to creative play that inspires them to come up with ideas and solutions to problems they would probably have not encountered before.
Our Grimms toys ranking
So after 3 years of playing with these toys, I will rank them in order of the most played and least played by my children. This is not a ranking considering ALL toys from Grimm’s, just the ones we have at home.
- Large Rainbow
- Rainbow friends
- Semi circles
- Wooden balls
- Cubes
- Stackable houses
- Little truck
- Wooden Beads
- Rainbow ball gripper
- Rainbow forest
How to clean Grimms toys
This is advice directly taken from their website:
TIP: If you want to remove dirt from our products, simply wipe it off with a damp cloth and a little soapy water (if necessary). Please do not place it on the heater when drying; otherwise, cracks may appear in the wood, but allow it to dry at room temperature. Please do not under any circumstances clean our products with disinfectants, hot water, or the like!
Where to buy Grimms toys?
You most likely will find them in wooden toy shops or Waldorf and Montessori-style stores. However, you might have some in your city that you can explore and will probably be captivated by everything they have in there.
If you don’t have any stores like this nearby, you can find stores online. Of course, you have Amazon, but it might not have what you are looking for, depending on the country. I am sharing other web pages I have bought from while living in the UK and Spain (some are local, but others have international deliveries). For this reason, I’m listing all in case one can be most helpful to you.
Store with International deliveries
- Babipur.co.uk – You’ll find a fantastic offer of Grimm’s products, and they deliver worldwide. If your country might have issues receiving delivieries from UK because of Brexit it might be best to find an alternative.
Store with delivery in the UK
- Babipur.co.uk – You’ll find a fantastic offer of Grimm’s products, and they deliver worldwide.
Stores with delivery in Spain and Portugal
- Jugar i jugar – Their toy portfolio is beautiful. A great option if you are local with fantastic customer service. If you purchase before 2pm, you get your delivery the next day.
- mumuchu.com – Also a very nice online store; however, unfortunately only local.
Why you should add Grimms toys to your play time
You might be specifically looking for Waldorf toys or just looking for toys that will inspire creativity and have endless possibilities. Whichever the reason, Grimms is definitely a brand you must check out.
I genuinely believe that every household should have a rainbow. This is not a sponsored post. You can not imagine how inspiring it can be until you’ve played with it with your own children. And the Grimms rainbow is beautiful, high quality, and unique.
Yes, there are other rainbows from other brands out there that will spark creativity as well. But, nevertheless, if you can afford it, this one is an investment that I don’t think you’ll regret.
All in all, check them out and have a look at the Rainbow. I know that it makes me feel like a better mom because I feel like a child when I play with them with these toys. I feel like I am learning and exploring as well, and not just looking at them. But, of course, my children feel it as well, and these moments spent together are priceless.
Happy rainbow playtime!*
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