We would all love to instil the qualities of peace, love and inclusiveness in our children, so Wooden Story’s natural teethers – in the shapes of peace signs, hearts and ampersands – are just the thing to hand your baby when it comes time for them to thoughtfully chomp into something deep and meaningful.

The story behind this brand is something a little special. Back more than 40 years ago, Grandfather Borowy carved the very first family toys for his grandchildren from the maple trees in Poland, which is all very sweet and sentimental, but the really great connection is that “Borowy” is also the Polish name of the woodland spirit who protects animals and forests.

So it is that when you own a Wooden Story wooden toy, you have in your hands something that has been imbued with the very spirit of the forests. As the creators say: “these toys came to us from the forest, smell of wood and you can still hear in them the sound of wind”

Crafted from carefully selected FSC maple from the Beskidy Mountains of Poland, the teethers are unpainted, unvarnished and finished instead with beeswax. Maple is a strong, hard wood that doesn’t splinter easily, which means these toys will last your baby’s teething years – albeit with a few toothy indents that say a very personal “I was here”.

Of course, if your baby is more attuned to the animals of this world, there are also characters from brawny bears to perky penguins, yawning cats and bouncing bunnies and even a stray koala.