Design for Kids, Reviewed by Actual Kids

If you’re a parent who cares about beautiful design, you likely want your child to grow up surrounded by thoughtfully made items. So we’re exploring a group of new attractive (and educational) toys—all handpicked by our editors—that are respectively age appropriate for the baby, toddler, and grade-schooler sets. We also handed selected products to actual kids to see how they took to the playthings. Children, as ever, have strong opinions on just about everything.

Building Play

Frankie, 1

"I generally let other people get toys for Frankie because it’s easy to purchase," says Dwell executive editor Kate Dries, mother of 19-month-old Frankie. But Kate always appreciates when the gifted toys are well designed since "you end up being the one who has to clean up at this stage," she says. "There is something satisfying about toys that can be put back in an organized way."

"There is something satisfying about toys that can be put back in an organized way."

—Kate Dries

One such item is the Grimm’s Romanesque building block set, which arrives neatly arranged in a rainbowish gradient in its own wooden square tray. ("I have this itch to put it back every night the way that it was set up," says Kate.) When the blocks are out for playtime, Frankie, who is still too young to properly build, will instead pretend to use them as a phone. Or she’ll simply bang the blocks together to make noise.

Kate says Frankie has been slightly more receptive to the PicassoTiles cubes, which "click, click, click because of the magnets inside," she says. "When you shake them, they make noise, which of course is catnip for a child." Kate says that the magnetic tiles may be helping with Frankie’s budding dexterity, as well. Both of these building toys are technically promoted for children three and up, "I think for safety reasons," says Kate, "but she couldn’t choke on either of them, they’re so large."

Physical Play

Umi, 3