Are you ready to live your childhood? At least for 5-6 minutes - while you are reading this article. And then for another 5-6 minutes... or hours - while you are playing with your kids and their wooden toys. Believe me, you'll find the time spent this way fascinating.

But what about your kids? Will they like the old fashioned wooden toys in the years of super modern RC toys and PC games? Rest assured, they will. The retro toys are still attractive for the children and the reasons for that are too strong to be thrown into dark by today's fashion. The toys are simply better for your kids - and I'll tell you why.

Wooden toys help children learn. When playing with them little kids train their fine and gross motor skills, muscles and motion skills. Here I'm talking mostly about the big ride-on toys, toys like pedal cars, horses and so on.

Many of the toys go far beyond the physical learning. They involve various mind games that enhance cognitive development in children. Some of the best blocks and board games are made of wood - especially the ones that are intended for little kids. Of course there are plenty of plastic board games too.

The wooden mechanical toys are within the most powerful tools for raising children creativity and curiosity. Their mechanisms are usually simple enough to be examined and understood from the children above age of 4-5. And learning happens insensibly while having lots of fun.

Wooden toys are generally better than plastic toys. I know many of the functions that these toys offer are included in most plastic and tin toys. But the wooden ones have other advantages:

- They are natural and warm. This is probably the first that comes to every parent's mind when comparing wooden and plastic toys. The wood have a living energy which children can feel.

- They are environment friendly. You know plastic pollutes the Earth every day for many years to come. On the other hand wood is just wood - it's part of the nature and goes back where it came from. And don't forget that wood is a replenishable material.

- They are durable. The quality toys can withstand all kind of rough play and generally last much longer than plastic toys. This is especially valid for mechanical toys that have gears.

- Wooden toys keep memories. Chances are you have some of these toys from your parents. Can you tell the same for a plastic toy? Did any of your childhood survived for your kids? Unlikely. On the other hand, wooden ones can turn into a family relic.

- Finally, wooden toys offer better value for money - mostly because of their long live and educational value they are usually well worth the money spent on them.

So, how to choose wooden toys? That isn't a rocket science - you can rarely go wrong by buying any toy except if it's made with bad taste or of low quality. You may prefer handcrafted toys but have in mind that they are usually more expensive. The machine-made wooden toys are still wooden toys and often can't be distinguished by the handcrafted ones, so don't get obsessed by this. When possible prefer bigger and simpler toys for little kids and smaller and more complex toys for elder children.

Some wooden toys may be painted, but most often they look best when the most parts just have the natural color of the wood. Generally it's wise to prefer unpainted toys because this reduces the risk to have any unsafe paint used in the toy.