Winter break is the perfect time for kids to unwind from the school routine, explore new hobbies, and enjoy quality family time. With colder weather and holiday festivities, keeping children […]
2024 Holiday Gift Guide for Children
As the holiday season approaches, finding the perfect gift for your children becomes a delightful journey filled with endless possibilities. This year, with the continued emphasis on screen-free, high-quality playtime, […]
10 Ways to Keep Halloween Safe and Fun for Children
Halloween is one of the most exciting times of the year for children. With its spooky costumes, trick-or-treating, and pumpkin-filled festivities, it’s a holiday that brings joy to kids of […]
How to Keep Your Child Active After School: Fun Ideas and Practical Tips
Keeping children active after school can be challenging in today’s digital age. With the lure of video games, social media, and streaming platforms, many kids are more inclined to spend […]
Preparing Your Child for the First Day of School: A Comprehensive Guide
As summer winds down and the days grow shorter, the anticipation of a new school year begins to build. For many parents, the back-to-school season brings excitement and anxiety, especially […]
Essential Tips and Must-Haves for Decorating a Nursery
Creating a nursery for your new baby is an exciting and joyful experience. You’re creating a unique space where your little one will spend significant time, so making it comfortable, […]
Keeping Toys Organized: Tips and Tricks for a Tidy Play Space
Toys are vital to a child’s development, providing opportunities for learning, creativity, and fun. However, they can also quickly overwhelm your home if not kept in check. Here are some […]
The Importance of Following Toy Safety Instructions
In the colorful world of childhood, where every toy is an adventure waiting to happen, safety should always come first. As parents and caregivers, ensuring the well-being of our little […]
Summer Activities for You and Your Kids
Summer is nearly here, providing the perfect time to make unforgettable memories with your little ones. With the warm weather and longer days ahead, there’s no shortage of fun activities. […]
Family Vacation Survival Tips
With the arrival of spring break (and summer soon to follow), the season for family vacations officially begins! If you’ve traveled with your family before, you know how even a […]
Creative Ways to Learn Through Play
Children are intuitively creative, and for good reason: the American Academy of Pediatrics research has found play essential to child development, contributing to a child’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being. While […]
How To Prepare Your Child For Becoming A Sibling
Are you expecting any new editions to your family this year? A child’s birth is an exciting and joyful time for the whole family. However, the transition can be overwhelming […]
How To Teach Children the Importance of Reading
Now more than ever, it’s evident that children who are strong readers have the opportunity for a bright future ahead of them. Many factors come into play regarding a child’s […]
Last-Minute Holiday Gift Guide for Kids and Families
The holiday rush is here! Although many retailers start holiday campaigns and sales earlier in the fall, consumer retail activity ramps up at the beginning of November. Creating gift lists […]
Preparing Children For The Holidays
The last few months of the year can be a whirlwind for all of us, especially families with children. No matter which holiday(s) your family celebrates, the season consistently brings […]
The Importance of Daily Routines for Kids
As parents, we strive to provide the best environment for our children to grow and thrive. One powerful tool that often gets overlooked is the establishment of routines. Routines may […]
5 Tips To Prepare For Preschool
Most of us don’t remember our first day of school, but if you ask your parents, they likely do! The first day of preschool or kindergarten is a significant early […]
Alternatives to Screen Time For Kids
The middle of summer break with kids can be challenging. You’ve already exhausted your list of activities, they’ve already gone to camp, and they’re even getting tired of playing with […]
How Parents Can Encourage Learning at Home
Parenting is a remarkable journey filled with opportunities to shape a child’s growth and development. As parents, we play a vital role in fostering a love for learning in our […]
Tips for Decluttering Toys Around Your House
Some days, it seems like the only thing kids love more than toys is to leave said toys all over the house without putting them away. Having toy clutter in […]
The Environmental Impact of Toys
As parents, we all want the best for our children, including the toys we give them to play with. However, have you ever considered the environmental impact of the toys […]
The Guide to Decorating a Child’s Room
When a baby is on the way, endless tasks must be done before their arrival. Shopping for baby clothes, stocking up on diapers, and baby-proofing the house all take time […]
Indoor Winter Activities for Kids
The winter season after the holidays can feel long and dreary, especially if you live in an area with cold weather. Spring is on its way, but folks in the […]
Best Travel Toys for Kids
With the new year upon us, you may be planning family trips for this year. Traveling with younger children can be tricky, but the benefits of young minds seeing new […]
How to Teach Collaborative Play With Puzzles
It’s no secret that children learn through play as they grow. Unstructured playtime in a safe environment gives children the agency to build skills and imagination. Specifically, collaborative play with […]
Five Reasons to Support a Small Business This Holiday Season
As the holiday season begins, many people who give gifts during this time start making their lists. While it can be easy to fall back on large corporations and big […]
The Benefits of Puzzles for All Ages
There are few toys and games that have stood the test of time in the same way that puzzles have. No matter your age, you likely remember playing with puzzles […]
Five Reasons Why a Puzzle Stool Should Be Your Next Gift
Buying a gift for someone can be challenging. When buying a gift for a toddler or young child, getting the right gift can be even more difficult. You might find […]
Sibling Gift Ideas
Adding a new edition to the family is generally an exciting time, but it’s also full of transition and change for older siblings. Keeping them involved with the new baby’s […]
Do Wooden Toys Help With Learning?
Compared to flashy technology and noisy plastic toys, wooden toys are less expensive and last longer, making them a wise investment that can easily pay for itself. Wooden toys are […]
Why Should You Choose Wooden Toys?
There’s no shortage of video games, mobile devices, and technology that kids would love to receive as a gift. However, some of the longest-lasting and most valuable gifts stand the […]
Developing Motor Skills for Toddlers
Learning how to walk is just the beginning when it comes to your children finding their independence. It’s a part of gross motor skill development and the precursor to developing […]
How to Prevent the Summer Slide
Do you know about the “summer slide”? It’s what happens to your children’s reading skills over the summer if they’re not exploring books and building reading comprehension. With the help […]
Benefits of Choosing Sustainable Wooden Toys
If your parents (or grandparents) are of a certain age, they may remember a time when the only toys available for children were made of wood. Before brightly colored plastic […]
COVID-Safe Kid Birthday Party Ideas
The events over the last year have presented plenty of challenges, including how to safely celebrate our kids’ birthdays. Traditionally, kids’ birthday parties are all about gathering friends and family […]
Fun Family Holiday Ideas
It’s no secret that the holidays will look a little different these days, with many people staying home with their families instead of traveling — but you know what they […]
Summer Camp Alternatives
Summer is in full swing, which means many families are having to make alternative plans now that summer camps and seasonal vacations have been canceled. Parents are struggling to find […]
Toy Cleaning and Disinfecting Tips
Does your kid have that special toy they carry everywhere? When they eat, sleep, and play outside with their prized belonging, it can get germy, grimy, and downright gross. Learn […]
We Are Open For Business
With so much happening around us due to the Coronavirus, we’ve had a lot of calls from customers who want to know if we’re still open. The short answer is “yes”, but […]
Screen Time Alternatives
Every family is unique, and however you decide to tackle screen time for your children is up to you. Sometimes, though, it’s nice to have activities ready just in case […]
Activities to do With Your Grandkids
There’s no doubt that today’s grandparents are more involved in their grandkids’ lives than ever before. Many are even part-time and full-time caregivers, childcare providers, and live-in family members. For […]
The Benefits of Wooden Toys and How to Care for Them
There’s a reason (several, actually) that wooden toys have been around for generations. Even the newest, flashiest electronic gadgets can’t claim the developmental benefits of wooden toys — especially when […]
The Importance of Chores for Toddlers
Toddlers may not be able to read or write, but as they develop fine and gross motor skills they’re certainly able to help with age-appropriate chores around the house. In […]
Organizing Kids’ Playrooms
There’s no getting around it: When you have kids in the house, you’ll accumulate toys and other “stuff” quicker than you can clean it up. If you’re anything like us, […]
Holiday Gift Guide for Everyone in Your Family
While it may seem like you still have plenty of time before holiday gift-giving season, it’s a great time to start shopping now — especially if you’re looking for a […]
Unique Baby Shower Ideas
Planning a baby shower for those special parents-to-be in your life? Don’t stress — you can still pull off the perfect shower without being a professional event planner! From themes […]
Tips for Teaching Toddlers the Alphabet
It’s never too early to start teaching children the alphabet! Although they may not be ready for school, toddlers can learn plenty by engaging in fun activities that help lay […]
Top Tips for Decorating Your First Home
Congratulations on your first home! Whether you’re upgrading from a rental, moving across the country, or starting a new life together, moving into your first home can be exciting — […]
How Many Puzzle Pieces Can My Toddler Handle?
We have not been shy in preaching the benefits of puzzles for children. Not only do puzzles improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills at a young age, but they […]
Cutest Nursery Decorating Ideas
Having a baby—especially the first baby—is one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking things that a person can experience. In the months before a child is born, one of the […]
Three Uses for Personalized Wooden Step Stools
Here at Hollow Woodworks, perhaps the most iconic and treasured item that we sell is the personalized step stool. As we have written in the space many times before, there […]
How Much Screen Time is Too Much?
As a company that sells wooden letter blocks, toys, puzzles, and personalized name stools, it should be obvious that we value children’s toys and activities that allow them to interact […]
Why Puzzles Are Good for Child Development
As adults, we likely look at puzzles as something fun. Doing puzzles is a leisurely hobby we can chip away at over the course of hours, ultimately giving us the […]
Five Ways Wooden Toys Help Child Development
There’s no questioning how much kids love to play with today’s hottest new toys, especially the ones that light up and make music and whizz and zing and beep, but […]
How to Safely Clean Wooden Toys
There are so many reasons to love wooden toys. In a world full of disposable plastic figures and noisy, light-up techno-toys, wood toys are a heavy-duty, safe, classic kind of […]
Four Benefits of Unstructured Play
As parents, it is easy to fall into the trap of wanting to keep children busy, often by signing them up for all sorts of sports and activities with the […]
Three Ways Puzzles Promote Child Development
Anybody looking for a puzzle in a brick-and-mortar store likely will find it located in the toy section, but it isn’t necessarily fair to place them in the same classification […]
A Gift That Grows With Your Child or Grandchild
Choosing a gift for a child or grandchild can be an incredibly challenging undertaking, especially in a day and age when kids really do seem to have everything. Finding something […]
In Case of Lost Pieces: A Guide
As adults, many of us have had the experience of dumping out a box of jigsaw puzzle pieces, spending the better part of a long afternoon assembling the picture on […]
Five Reasons Wooden Toys Are Still Great Gifts for Children in the Age of Technology
While kid-centric tablets and plastic toys that sing and light up provide the sorts of digital bells and whistles children seem to love, the truth is that wooden toys like […]
The Effect of Technology on Today’s Children
It is not difficult to extol the virtues of technology today, particularly the role it plays in the education of our children. In a world where an increasing number of […]