If and when we decide to have another baby, I’m seriously debating adding a concise, but clear message to the pregnancy announcement. I see it going something like this: “I’m pregnant! Please keep your plastic presents.” It may be generational—I find that my parents and their friends are particularly adamant about filling a new person’s life with shiny, plastic toys, mostly of the flashing light, song-singing variety. The older crowd seems to think we’re keeping our little ones trapped in a dull, unstimulating universe of boring, unanimated toys. For me, the appeal for wooden amusements is three-fold: each wooden toy I purchase will hopefully keep another hunk of battery-powered primary-colored plastic out of a landfill; toys that are fueled by nothing but kid-energy require an increased amount of ingenuity and imagination (two qualities I’d love to cultivate in my offspring); and when sucked on, licked and otherwise caressed and cuddled, wooden toys highlighted with non-toxic paint are less harmful than their BPA, Phthalate-riddled plastic counterparts.

Wooden toys have come a long way from the rudimentary car or doll someone’s uncle whittled out of a stray stick. They’re colorful, imaginative and even challenging. Here are some of W’s favorites:

Happy kids make happy parents, but sometimes you can make everyone happy simultaneously. Plan Toy’s Oval Xylophone ($20.08; Amazon.com) does just that by giving W something to bang with ferocity, while keeping the noise level to a lovely low roar. The Xylophone made from organic recycled rubber wood and water-based dyes and is clearly the perfect first instrument for the aspiring musician.

I’m not sure who enjoys stacking more—W or me. All I know is that I’m obsessed with keeping all of the concentric rings of Melissa & Doug’s Rainbow Stacker ($8.50; Amazon.com) in sight—an increasingly...