Peuter Versnelling Stapelaar

The wooden gears turn so smoothly that my 2-year-old keeps coming back to spin them long after she's stacked the shapes. I like that it's actual wood instead of plastic, and the color-matching kept her busy for a solid twenty minutes.

My 14-month-old figured out how to line up the shapes and turn the gears within a day, and now she sits with it for twenty minutes at a stretch. The colors are easy to name out loud with her, which makes it feel less like a toy and more like something we do together.

My 18-month-old figured out how to line up the gears and turn them within a day, and now she narrates the colors while she stacks. The wood pieces are chunky enough for her grip but still fit together smoothly, which keeps her coming back to it.