About Us

Hello and Welcome to PoppyBabyCo, the world of learning through play with unique, all natural, handmade wooden toys.

 Our Story

My name is Olga. I am originally from Russia. Growing up, I was surrounded by wooden toys — intricate dollhouses, fascinating building blocks, and fun animal puzzles. Many of these toys were handmade by my brother or uncle.

I later moved to the United States. When my son was born, I searched far and wide for wooden toys like those I grew up playing with every day. I could not find them. That summer, when my son was five months old, I returned to Russia to visit family.

I discovered that kids in Russia still played with the same wooden toys that I had growing up. I asked my family where I could buy some for my son. They directed me to a small family-owned shop where I purchased several high-quality wooden toys to bring back to the United States with me.

My son loved these toys and wanted to bring them everywhere we went.  Several mothers in my son’s infant playgroup asked where I had gotten the wooden toys that my son always brought along with him. Like me, they felt that there was enough plastic in the world and they also wanted their children to have safe, high-quality toys to play with.

This prompted me to make these toys available for other moms just like me. PoppyBabyCo was born! Now, we partner with skilled artisans in Europe and Eastern Europe who craft our high-quality toys out of natural hardwoods. All of our toys are hand finished using natural oils and other safe materials.

It is my sincere hope that your children love PoppyBabyCo toys just as much as my son did.

Warmly, Olga

 Our Mission

I am a big proponent of Learning through play and have found inspiration through my research of the Montessori and Waldorf methods. At PoppyBabyCo, we believe in the power of open-ended play and admire the work of artisan craftsman who create simple wooden toys that promote imagination, creativity and learning.  “Educational" should not equate to “boring”.  It is our mission to foster learning through play by providing safe, natural and environmentally friendly educational toys which are beautiful yet simple in order to ignite a child's imagination and curiosity.

 Every year of a child's life is precious and when it comes to development, the early years are critical. In the early months and years, our babies’ brains are rapidly developing in the areas of language, socialization, visualization and perception. It's very important for parents to pay attention to their children’s activities during this period of growth and realize that their toys have a significant impact on this critical phase of learning. The significance of learning at this pivotal time in our children's lives should never be underestimated. It's crucial to understand that every child has the gift of learning and this precious time should not be wasted.

 Toys play a vital role in how our children learn and toys that enhance their development are the best gifts we can give to them. Our goal at PoppyBabyCo is to provide you with carefully selected educational toys to give your child the benefit of learning through open-ended play in order to promote their overall progress.

Each toy we sell is of the highest quality, made by hand by extremely talented craftsmen in Europe. We work with small woodworking shops that maintain low production levels, keeping the focus on quality and not quantity. Our craftsmen share our passion and vision of bringing children safe, educational and very unique toys for them to enjoy for years to come.