Drawing. You’d think it’s a pretty low-tech activity, right? But take a walk down the toy aisle and you’ll see drawing pads with lights, sounds, music, and all kinds of other electronic bells and whistles. Huh? I just don’t get it. Do kids need an incentive to be creative? Do they get bored while drawing? I’m beginning to think it’s all an evil conspiracy to sell batteries.

Of course the lowest tech way to draw is to use paper and crayons, markers, or paint. All very fun but with a young toddler it can also be very messy and involves a lot of “no, sweetie, that’s not for eating”. Sometimes a haggard parent needs a no-mess, non-edible drawing alternative. So I bought this magnetic drawing pad for my 16-month old. He draws with the stylus and stampers, although his favorite part so far is erasing everything with the ladybug, preferably while I am drawing. It’s also fun for me, which is good since he is at the “you must play with me all the time, woman” stage.  My only complaint is that the  stampers are impossible for him to get out without pre-loosening, but he’s still pretty young for this toy (intended for 18 months and up).  It’s totally non-electronic and widely available in stores – I got mine at Target.

I was cleaning out our uppermost kitchen cabinets the other day when to my horror I found three, yes three, of these gigantic plastic cups from Carl’s Jr. My first thought was, holy mother of god, did we really used to drink that much soda?!? My second thought was, hey these would make great toys! And they totally did. My son has a blast nesting them inside each other, wearing them as hats, loading them up with toys, and “singing” into them (they make a nice echo). Occasionally I find him happily toddling around the house with his arm in one, not sure what that is about. He’s happy and I feel moderately better about our sordid high fructose corn syrup-consuming past.

Eli was one of the first toys our son really became  interested in.  At a few months old, he could easily grasp the rings and soon enjoyed playing with all the other parts  – the squiggly tail, the crinkly ears, the rattly ball,  the ribbons on the trunk, and so on.  We also have Eli’s cousin, Jacque the Peacock , who for some reason is not nearly as compelling as Eli. He attaches easily to a stroller or infant carseat handle and even at 15 months, Eli still lives attached to my son’s  stroller to ward off the fussies on shopping trips.  It’s a very stimulating and entertaining toy with no electronics. It’s even machine washable (gentle, cold, in a lingerie bag) despite instructions to the contrary . I’ve seen Eli and friends at Babies R Us, so he is easy to find and bring home.

Damn, I wish I knew where this ball went. Before it disappeared, our son had great fun with it and so did we. It is the perfect size for little hands and it’s weighted so it rolls nicely. It also makes a gentle clacking noise when shaken.  Like other Haba wooden toys, it has a fabulous, smooth, drool- resistant coating.   If you happen to also have the Fisher Price Rock-A-Stack, this ball fits perfectly in one of the rings (the orange one?) and pops through in an amusing fashion.  It’s pretty cheap ($5) compared to other quality wooden toys, especially considering how much use you will get out of it. This would make a great baby gift.

My son spent most of his first year chewing on things and this little wooden frog was one of his favorite victims.  He loved chewing on the bead “hands”  (don’t worry, they are well attached) and gnawing on the protruding eyes. The yarn arms can be pulled from side to side and the body moves in an interesting, articulated fashion, while making a clacking noise.  Great entertaining toy and teether! The non-toxic coating is very drool resistant and easy to wipe clean. Very nicely made and durable, like all things Haba.

One night when the grandparents graciously brought us some takeout, our son seemed obsessed with the containers so we decided to clean one out and give it to him. That was months ago and it is still one of his favorite toys. He likes to open and close it, shove his nose against the clear side and look through it, shove it against other people’s noses, push it around on the floor, play with the little hole on top, and on and on. He only has a few words but “box” is now one of them, thanks to this free toy! It is surprisingly sturdy too. If you happen to get one of these plastic takeout containers, clean it out and try it!

The Rock-A-Stack is another classic toy. Your basic ring stacker, with fun beads in the top ring that roll around when shaken. The first thing our 6 month old did when we brought this home was to take all the rings off and play and chew on the base and post, an unexpected source of fun. The post easily (for an adult) unscrews from the base, making a lovely bludegeoning tool.  Our son enjoys playing and mouthing the rings and is just now starting to get the whole stacking concept. He also likes to figure out what toys he can fit on the top of the post and into the rings. This hasn’t been quite as big of a hit as the FP shape sorter but it’s a fun toy that’s easy to find in most toy stores, cheap (under 10 bucks), and is appropriate for a wide range of ages, from sitting and drooling to naming colors.

1. They don’t drive you crazy with inane music and psychotic, repetitive sounds. I loved our Tiny Love Gymini, but the electronic kick pad that comes with it makes the most bizarre combination of  sounds. Music, laughter, dogs barking, roosters crowing, you name it, it’s all in there, simultaneously. It’s like a bad acid trip. I’d rather listen to just about anything my son can bang, clang, and bash on. And the music in most electronic toys is not usually something you want to get stuck in your head, trust me.

2. They are less likely to overstimulate or scare your kids. My son is a sensitive fellow and gets easily overstimulated.  Things with lots of flashing lights, sounds, and movement tended to freak him out when he was an infant. Heck, the toy bar that came with the Rainforest bouncer freaked us out, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Apparently I got scared on the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland and those slow moving animatronic Santas still give me the creeps. And remember the Elmo doll that threatened to kill a kid? That’s not going to happen with a low-tech stuffed animal.

3. No batteries means no hidden costs, less impact on the environment, no fiddling with screwdrivers, and no tears when little Timmy’s little talking gizmo has suddenly gone mute. Besides batteries, electronic toys are not the best choice for the environment because of the production and disposal of their circuit boards and microchips.

4. Non-electronic toys can be cheaper. Sure, the fancy wooden European toys are pricey but there are plenty of non-electronic toys that are cheaper than their electronic counterparts (like one of my faves, the $3 Magic Mic). And as all parents know, some of the best “toys” are things you already have lying around your house – empty boxes,  tupperware, pots and pans, water, the cat, etc. Can’t get much cheaper than free! I will be featuring some of our favorite non-toy toys on this site.

5. Nostalgia. As a child of the 1970′s, I have fond memories of playing with Tinkertoys, Lincoln Logs, spinning tops, silly putty,  bead mazes and the like.  My husband was a lego fiend. We can’t wait to share our childhood favorites with our son and get to enjoy them all over again. Hey – isn’t that one of the reasons people have kids in the first place, to relive their childhood a bit?

My husband is a musician and I love music so we wanted to expose our son to instruments at an early age.  We knew we didn’t want a piano that played recorded music or tones and wanted to find something that was as close to an adult piano as possible. That’s how we found this wonderful Schoenhut piano . According to my hubby, it is pitched correctly and the keys are weighted and spaced similarly to a full-sized piano. We got it when our son was about 6 months old and he immediately started banging on it.  He loves playing it (by hand or with whatever blunt object is available) and watching my husband and our muscian friends jam on it. Even untrained mommy can pick out some simple tunes using the little  songbook that comes with it, or our Music Together songbook.  It’s pretty tough and has come through many attempts to climb it unscathed. We anticipate many years of fun and enjoyment out of this piano.

This ride-on train was our gift to our son for his first birthday. Many ride-on toys have lots of electronics – lights, recorded horns, songs that make you want to poke your ears out with a baby fork – but this one manages to have lots of fun activities without any electronics. The working steering wheel has a roulette-style ball spinner that is easy for little hands to press to activate. It has two “shift” levers – one is a colorful spinning barber-pole thing, and the other makes a fun squeaking sound. The front of the train has a part that you can turn to make a ratcheting-type sound. The seat has an easy to lift compartment, which was my son’s favorite thing about it initially (open, shut, open shut, rinse, repeat). The child can ride on it and push with their feet or an adult can push it. There is a removable handle on the back so that beginning walkers can use it to stand and push. My son loves this train and spends lots of time playing with all the toy features, getting on and off, using his feet to push himself (backwards only so far ), getting pushed by adults, turning it over and playing with the wheels, etc. My only complaint is that it is not really designed for adults to push from a standing position, leading to several achy backs in our house. But other than that, it is a great toy and it’ll be even more fun when our little one can drive it himself.