The Benefits of Classic Toys and Games

Bonding with children over toys is enjoyable and beneficial to all involved, but there are also some other fantastic advantages to keep in mind when picking out toys for your little cherubs.

Completing a puzzle helps with advancing a child’s fine motor skills as they learn to place puzzle pieces in the correct spot and the right way round. Puzzles also assist with hand-eye coordination and help children to understand patterns. We have a wide range of puzzles that are different sizes, shapes and a variation of pieces to challenge young ones and to ensure that will not get bored.

Do you remember the feeling you used to get from completing a puzzle? The experience leads to an immense sense of satisfaction, which in turn leads to a boost in self-esteem.

Playing a memory game or matching game with your child can help them to increase their attention span, and improve their cognitive skills. It is a great way to exercise and train the brain for visual memory. As memory and matching games are simple to play they can be enjoyed by children of all ages - younger children can bond with older children over a simple game. We have a large range of memory and matching games in store.

Craft can be enjoyed by all, whether it is painting, modelling with PlayDoh, building with blocks or drawing. Craft builds self-confidence, assists with decision making and gives children a sense of identity as they discover their creative flares whilst being their own person, (all while having fun!). Craft toys are also a great way for children to express themselves. We love to encourage children to be their own person and express themselves and have a fantastic range of craft activities in-store to help them do this, including Paper Dolls, Origami and paper craft sets, knitting dolls, stamp sets, stickers and flower presses.

Imaginative play has infinite possibilities and we stock a large range of play sets where children and adults can bond over tea parties, cook with wooden utensils, cut up wooden fruit and much more. Imaginative play builds a child’s self-confidence and it is a stepping stone to social play as they invite others to play with their tea cups filled with imaginary tea, or in their kitchen making imaginary dinner for their toys. Imagination play is also great for a child’s emotional development as they can express their feelings through re-enactment of certain experiences with their pretend play toys.

Musical instruments ignite all areas of a child’s development and skills. Playing musical instruments is great for toddlers and even if it doesn’t sound like anything rhythmical or melodic to us, it helps their body and mind work together. Music is a great way for young ones to express their creativity and they get a sense of accomplishment as they make sound come out of a piano, drum, harmonica or guitar. At The Vintage Toy Box we believe that it is important for children to express themselves by making music with instruments and we love to hear them making music in-store with all of our instruments and music toys.

Stuffed teddy’s, dolls and other soft toys provide comfort and security for your little one, giving them a friend to tell secrets to and confide in. They are also a great gateway to imaginative play as they role-play with their much loved toys. Children may for example act like a parent to other toys, putting them in charge of a situation, which in turn then builds up their self-confidence. We have a large range of soft toys which could easily become your child’s next loving best friend.

Sitting down as a family to play a family board game is a great way for a child to feel a sense of belonging and security as they play. Introducing family games at a young age can help with learning, teaching children how to share, how to take turns and how to loose without getting offended or upset. Another great benefit of family games is that it teaches children about planning and problem solving. We have loads of family games in store to intrigue adults and children alike, including all time classics such as Snakes and Ladders, Chess, Draughts, Ludo, and Game of Goose to name just a few. Enhance your family bonding time by grabbing a vintage inspired game today.

To check out all of these toys and games and much, much more, visit us in-store or browse or online store.

Our Toy Makers | Pukaca | Paper Toys and Craft Kits

In a nutshell, tell us about your business

PUKACA is a company committed to the design and manufacture of unique paper toys and paper products that are made for children, designed by us thinking as children. We are based in Portugal and have a wonderful worldwide following, including The Vintage Toy Box in Australia.

Tell us a bit about you

We are two designers,  Isabel Vaz & Nuno Dias and we founded PUKACA in 2005.  We met at University and straight away we started working together after discovering that Isabel loves to draw small creatures and Nuno loves to make them come alive.

Some years later we decided to create our own brand - PUKACA - and we began to put our ideas into practice.

What inspired you to set up your business?

We’re always delighted by the traditional tales, the Brother’s Grimm Fairy Tales, the La Fontaine Fables, medieval stories, the natural world and all other worlds that belong in a child’s imagination.

What do you make?

The main products in our range are paper toys. We also make Alphabet & Numbers Posters and 3D Paper Postcards - all made with 100% recycled paper.

How do you make them?

We start the design of all of our paper toys by drawing out the ideas that we would like to see built.

After choosing the design we like the most, we start building it by hand – it’s an old school method that makes our paper toys so unique. We build countless prototypes - all by hand - until we reach the final toy.

Depending on the product, the illustration will be made by hand or in a computer and then applied to the final design already vectorized.

After that, the final product and packaging is printed, all in our own facilities, and we make the final assembly, always by hand.

Let’s just say that from the initial idea to the final product there are countless prototypes and hours of hard (fun!) work.

Describe your artistic style

Simple and straight lines, colorful and playful.

What do you love about your business?

In a world full of technology, our paper toys bring back the pleasure of constructing your own toys.

Our toys are meant to be built using the hands, increasing manual dexterity and spatial perception. We believe that constructing and playing with our toys allows families and generations to interact together, share experiences and create lasting memories.

It’s that need to see things take shape, to create, to learn and to play.

Our toys aim to enhance in the child, or in anyone who handles them, an active and creative intervention. We believe in the principle that difference enriches us. It’s important to have toys that raise creativity, provide new experiences, highlight the human individuality and allow interactivity with others.

 Where would you like to see your products?

Over the last few years we’ve sent our products to the five continents on the planet.  We like to say that we love to see our products wherever there’s children or people that want to play with them.

Favourite toy as a child and why?

Isabel loved her bicycle and to cycle around the neighborhood with her friends. She loved to go to a nearby farm and to climb trees.

Sara loved to construct her own toys with pieces from other ones.

Nuno loved building blocks that allowed him to create fantastic places to play, transforming rooms into play grounds.

To check out some of Pukaca’s fabulous range, and to learn more about them, drop into The Vintage Toy Box. We can guarantee their paper toys will make you smile!