Building Block set: Rainbow Friends
Meet the Rainbow Friends, a set of twelve hand-painted wooden peg dolls, each one different, each one open to interpretation. With no fixed facial expression, no name, and no assigned personality, every "friend" becomes whoever a child decides they are that day: a family member, a classmate, a character in an invented story, or simply a colour to be sorted and matched.
That openness is exactly the point. Rather than handing a child a finished narrative, this set hands them a cast of characters and lets imagination do the rest. Children naturally begin assigning emotions, relationships, and voices to each figure a doctor, a sibling, a friend who's feeling sad today, building empathy and storytelling skill through play rather than instruction. The smooth, rounded wooden pegs are equally at home in a dollhouse, a small-world scene, a sorting tray, or simply lined up by colour on a shelf.
Finished with a non-toxic, water-based stain and stored neatly in their own matching wooden tray, the Rainbow Friends are a beautiful, open-ended addition to imaginative play, the kind of toy that quietly grows alongside a child's evolving sense of story, self, and social understanding.
What's Included
- 12 x Wooden peg dolls (3cm x 6.5cm H, hand-painted, non-toxic water-based stain)
- 1 x Wooden storage tray (16cm x 11cm x 8cm)
Total: 13 pieces
Recommended age: 3 years and up
What the OT Says
As an occupational therapist, open-ended figures like the Rainbow Friends hold a special place in my toy recommendations, because so much of what they build sits in the social-emotional and language domain an area that's just as important developmentally as fine motor skill, but often gets less attention on toy shelves. Because these peg dolls have no fixed facial expression, a child has to project emotion onto them: deciding whether a "friend" is happy, sad, worried, or excited. That act of interpretation is early perspective-taking and emotional literacy in action, and it's a skill that underpins genuine empathy later on.
The physical handling matters too. At 3cm wide, each peg doll requires a controlled grasp to pick up, stand upright, and arrange in a scene good practice for fine motor precision and hand strength, particularly for children still refining their pincer grasp. Sorting the figures by colour, arranging them in the tray, or lining them up supports early categorisation and visual-spatial organisation, both important pre-academic skills.
But what I love most is the language and narrative development this set invites. As children move the figures through invented scenarios a classroom, a family dinner, an argument between friends, they're practising sequencing events, using descriptive language, and rehearsing social scripts they'll later use in real interactions. This kind of imaginative small-world play is one of the richest, lowest-pressure ways to build both expressive language and social understanding.
I recommend this set for home imaginative play corners, and equally for clinical use in speech and language sessions or social skills groups, where the open-ended design gives a therapist real flexibility to follow the child's lead.
Let customers speak for us
I bought this for my son as a level up from stacking cups. The cars add a fun element and I love that he can play with them on the train track too!
My 20 month old loves this shape sorter! It’s stimulating and looks great on his toy shelf.
I bought this ice cream counter for my granddaughter's 2nd birthday. She and her 5 year old sister absolutely LOVE playing with this. Their mother's reaction was 'WHAT a hit!' The younger one loves to stack and place, the colourful and sturdy pieces, in out of the slots of the counter and this will develop into proper pretend play as she gets older. I can see both girls playing with their ice cream counter for years to come as it will have a long shelf life due to both the quality of the parts and the play interest for a broad age group of children.
Innovative and a GREAT idea to level up the bath toy game!
I bought this outdoor easel for my son, and it has been an amazing addition to our garden playtime. The quality is excellent, and it's sturdy enough to withstand active play outdoors. My son loves spending hours drawing, painting, and using his imagination.
The easel was easy to assemble and has plenty of space for creative activities. It's also easy to clean, which is a huge bonus for messy art projects! I love that it encourages creativity, keeps him entertained, and gives him a fun way to enjoy the outdoors.
I highly recommend this outdoor easel to any parent looking for a durable, fun, and educational gift for their child.
I love using this in speech therapy as an incentive. The children find it very exciting to lift the discs off the table with the wand. Strong magnet.
I will order from Tiny tree toys again, their service was very professional and friendly.
A really lovely cuddly bedtime cloth - my grandson loves it :-) Good tactile features included that engage baby's senses and provide comfort.
All three of my girls are loving this simple addition to the outside play area. Seems quite strong as I absolutely launch them. Love the fact that the height is adjustable. Great product - Happy.
We absolutely loved the gorgeous gift that we received of the cutest black & white flower bouquet with Afr & Eng gift tags for Mother's Day of 2026!
It was simply lovely and só spot on!
Thank you Tiny Tree Toys! ⚘️
I absolutely love this puzzle, and have purched multiple ones as gifts. It is well crafted, and the wood is neatly rounded off. I'll be honest I've never played the game guidlines included, and rather use it as a catalyst in my creative processes. I love the fact that there are no rules to this, and the opportunity to use it as an expressive tool. My tiny human loves it too, and can play endlessly with captivated imagination.
Absolutely love the wooden stacking toys, I am trying to move away from plastic and purchase better quality educational toys for my baby and this is the perfect shop for that!
Great addition to our light-box and there are more than one of each letter in this set. This gives you more word building opportunities.
What a great fine motor beading set. They give nice resistance when children push them together and pull them apart, which helps strengthen the fingers and improve hand control.
