Otto has been playing with the lovely Matador Baby Architect blocks (made in Austria) and it has made me think about how much they are like Duplo or Mega Blocks. While we have plastic toys in our home there is a lot of external and internal pressure to choose wooden (compostable, biodegradable) or recycled plastic products where we can. Here are a few wooden alternatives to the plastic toys we have in our home.

a. Earthtiles (back in stock US Spring 2019) (Australia here) are a good wooden alternative for Magna-Tiles or Magformers. You can see ours here. (This is a cute idea for adding colour).

b.. Mokulock (Australia here) can be used with regular Lego. I think it looks better and requires the child to use their imagination more, the end result I'm sure is greater creativity. 

c. Mokulock Tsumiki (Australia here) are eight times larger than the regular Mokulok, an alternative to Duplo. (edited to add that Nicole in Japan has commented that these are a tight fit and are not as easy to use as Duplo, perhaps better for a slightly older age group.)

d. We are using the Matador Baby Architect blocks  (Australia here) (recommended from 18 months+) and feel they are an alternative to Duplo or Mega Blocks, they are a good size for toddler hands (we use them at 15 months). The HABA Stack and Stay (recommended from 12 months+) look like a good colourful alternative!

Let me know, or leave a link in the comments if you have found suitable alternatives for your Lego, Duplo or other plastic toys!!

If you are looking for a more natural alternative to Schleich animals Carine has recommended the Green Rubber Toys Range (UK here or here).