The Friendly Farm: Silver, Junior Design Awards 2026

A toddler sits on the floor, a small wooden pig in one hand, nudging it towards a red barn. The farmer waits by the gate. A sheep has rolled under the sofa, and the whole morning now has a purpose: find the sheep, return it to the field.

This is the quiet drama of The Friendly Farm, which received Silver for Best Toy Design 0-2 Years at the Junior Design Awards 2026. It is made from FSC-certified timber and tested to UKCA and CE standards, with a painted finish chosen to be safe in small hands and, inevitably, small mouths.

For anyone searching for a wooden farm toy for a toddler, the appeal is straightforward. The pieces are chunky, the colours are warm, and everything has somewhere to live. You will find it among our wooden toys.

Shop the The Friendly Farm

Why the judges picked The Friendly Farm

The Junior Design Awards judges singled out several things about The Friendly Farm. They liked the wooden design and the safely painted finish, and they noted the storage barn with its carry handle, so children can take the set anywhere without losing pieces.

That last point matters more than it might sound. A farm set that scatters across the house tends to shrink, piece by piece, until the farmer is lonely and the game is abandoned. A barn that gathers everything back in keeps the set whole and the play going.

Silver in the 0-2 years category places the set among toys judged for the youngest children, where design has to account for how toddlers actually handle things: dropping, mouthing, carrying, posting into gaps. The judging recognised a toy built with that reality in mind.

It sits comfortably alongside the rest of our award winning wooden toys for toddlers, and it holds its own against them. Customers have given it an average of 4.9 out of 5 from 64 verified reviews, which tells its own steady story.

An award is a panel of judges forming a view, not a safety test; the UKCA and CE marking is the separate business of making sure the toy is safe to give a one-year-old. The two things run on different tracks, and both matter. The judging points to good design. The testing points to peace of mind. Together they describe a toy you can hand over without a second thought.

What makes a good farm toy for under twos

A good farm toy for an under-two is less about detail and more about grip. Hands that are still learning want pieces they can hold confidently: solid animals, a farmer who stands up, a barn that opens.

Scale helps too. Everything in The Friendly Farm is sized for a toddler's fist rather than an adult's fingertip, which means less fumbling and more playing. Small, fiddly accessories frustrate children this age; they belong to an older child's set.

Durability is the quiet requirement. A toddler's toy will be dropped on hard floors, carried outside, stood on and, now and then, chewed. Timber takes this treatment and keeps its shape, which is one reason our educational toys for toddlers lean so heavily on wood.

Then there is the matter of keeping the set together, which brings us back to that barn and its carry handle. A farm with its own home is a farm that survives the week.

You can build gently around a set like this. A Farm Playset - Farmyard Book gives the animals a world to move through, while Stack 'N' Learn Cubes add a different kind of handling practice for the same age. For ideas on putting a few pieces together, our guide to the best toy gift sets for toddlers is a sensible place to start.

The barn that doubles as storage

The barn is the practical heart of the set. Its roof lifts so the animals can go in at the end of play, and the carry handle means the whole farm travels as one object rather than a fistful of loose parts.

This solves the oldest problem in toddler play: the lost piece. A single missing sheep can quietly retire a toy. A barn that holds everything keeps the set complete, which keeps a child coming back to it.

It also teaches tidying without a lecture. Putting the animals to bed in the barn is part of the game, not a chore bolted on afterwards. The child learns that things have a place, simply by playing the way the toy invites.

Portability changes how the set is used, too. The farm can go to a grandparent's house, into the car, or just from the bedroom to the kitchen floor. A toy that moves with the child gets played with far more than one anchored to a single room.

You can see the same thinking across our children toys: play that packs away, rather than play that spreads and disappears. If vehicles are more your child's thing, the same principle runs through our round-up of the best wooden toy vehicles for toddlers, where storage and sturdiness do much the same work.

What farm role play teaches toddlers

Farm play is some of the richest role play available to a toddler, because the world it describes is small, familiar and full of names. A cow, a pig, a sheep, a farmer, a barn: each is a word to learn and a thing to point at.

Naming comes first. Handing a child an animal and saying its name, over and over, builds vocabulary in the most natural way there is. Then comes sound, and the animal noises that toddlers adore making.

Soon the child starts to narrate. The pig is hungry, so it goes to eat. The farmer shuts the gate. These tiny sequences are the beginnings of storytelling, cause and effect worked out one move at a time.

There is sorting, too. Animals in the field, animals in the barn; big ones and small ones. This early grouping is quiet mathematical thinking, and it sits neatly alongside the open-ended habits of our montessori toys, where the child leads the play rather than following instructions.

For more on how this kind of learning works through wood, our piece on the best educational wooden toys for toddlers covers the ground in detail.

Wooden toys and the youngest players

Wood suits the youngest players for reasons that are easy to feel in the hand. It has weight and warmth, it does not rattle or beep, and it ages well rather than cracking and chipping like thin plastic.

For a child still exploring with the mouth, material honesty counts. The Friendly Farm is made from FSC-certified timber and finished with safe paint, and it is tested to UKCA and CE standards, which is the baseline for any toy placed in a one-year-old's hands.

There is a sensory point as well. A wooden pig and a wooden sheep feel different in subtle ways, and that variety of texture, weight and grain gives small hands more to notice than moulded plastic usually can.

Wood also lasts long enough to be handed on. A farm that survives one child is a farm a younger sibling inherits, which is the kind of longevity Jaques of London has built toys around since the family firm began in London in 1795.

If you want to explore further, our wooden toys gather the same approach across animals, vehicles and building sets, and our guide to the best montessori toys for toddlers shows how wood and child-led play fit together. A good first toy is one a toddler can hold, carry and keep, and that is exactly what this Silver-winning farm sets out to be.

What parents say about the The Friendly Farm

4.9 out of 5 from 64 verified Reviews.io reviews (as of 15 October 2026). These are real buyers, quoted word for word.

“My boys have loved carrying around the farm opening it and getting out the animals and the farmers. I like that you can close it to store everything inside so it is easy to keep the pieces together and the pieces are all of good quality. This feels like a toy that will last well and we will continue to use for a long time.”

★★★★★ Katherine, verified buyer, 2025-09-12

“My 3 year old absolutely loved this from the moment she opened it. It’s well made and figures are the perfect size for little hands with a good range of what you would have on a farm. The figures can also be posted through the handle hole which helped make the tidying up fun. Would definitely recommend.”

★★★★★ Amy, verified buyer, 2025-09-01

“Again, another star performer from Jaques. Wonderful quality toy, my great nephew who is 2.7 years old, loves this. He's a regular down the local petting farm and is enjoying having his own farm. A great toy not only for play but helps development. He can name the animals and makes their noises.”

★★★★★ &Amp;Amp;Quot;Kirsty&Amp;Amp;Quot;, verified buyer, 2025-08-26

“The parcels are always well packaged and secured. Lovely fresh, bright coloured pieces, easy to hold pieces for small fingers. Easy to recognise animal figures and a great way to spend time with my grandson teaching him about farm animals, colours, shapes, animal noises. I really recommend this.”

★★★★★ Audrey, verified buyer, 2025-09-10

Read every review of the The Friendly Farm

Frequently Asked Questions About Wooden Farm Toy Toddler

What award did The Friendly Farm win?

The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026. Judges praised the wooden design, safely painted finish, and practical storage barn with carry handle. Jaques of London has been crafting quality toys since 1795 and remains a family-run business today. The Friendly Farm also holds an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 64 verified customer reviews on Reviews.io (as of 15 October 2026).

What age is The Friendly Farm for?

The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London is designed for children aged 0–2 years. It received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026, with judges noting its wooden construction, safely painted finish, and storage barn with carry handle as particularly well suited to very young children. Jaques of London has been making quality toys since 1795 and continues as a family-run business today.

Are wooden toys suitable for under twos?

Wooden toys can be well suited to children under two when thoughtfully designed. The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026. Judges specifically highlighted its wooden design and safely painted finish as appealing qualities for this age group. The toy also features a storage barn with a carry handle, helping little ones transport pieces without losing them — a practical consideration for very young children.

What is the best farm toy for a 1 year old?

The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London is a highly regarded farm toy for very young children. It received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026, with judges praising its wooden construction, safely painted finish, and storage barn with carry handle. It holds an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 64 verified Reviews.io customer reviews (as of 15 October 2026). Jaques of London has been a family-run toy maker since 1795.

What skills does farm role play encourage?

Farm role play encourages a range of developmental skills in young children, including imaginative thinking, language development as children name animals and act out scenarios, and fine motor skills through handling and placing figures. It also supports early learning about the natural world, cause and effect, and social skills when played alongside others. The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London, which received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026, is designed with these early developmental stages in mind.

Does The Friendly Farm have storage?

Yes. The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London features a storage barn that keeps all pieces together, along with a carry handle so children can take it anywhere without losing parts. Junior Design Awards 2026 judges specifically highlighted these practical features when awarding The Friendly Farm Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category. Jaques of London has been crafting quality toys since 1795 and remains a family-run business today.

Is The Friendly Farm painted with safe paint?

The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London features a safely painted finish. Junior Design Awards 2026 judges noted this as a positive quality when awarding The Friendly Farm Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category. Jaques of London has been producing quality toys since 1795 and continues as a family-run business, bringing considerable experience to the design and craftsmanship of toys for very young children.

Is a wooden farm a good first birthday present?

A wooden farm toy can make an excellent first birthday gift, offering open-ended play that grows with a child. The Friendly Farm by Jaques of London received Silver in the Best Toy Design 0-2 Years category at the Junior Design Awards 2026. Judges praised its wooden design, safely painted finish, and storage barn with carry handle — all practical qualities for a one-year-old. It holds an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 64 verified Reviews.io customer reviews (as of 15 October 2026).

Sources

Every award on this page links to the organiser's own results page. Checked 2026-10-14.

• Best Toy Design 0-2 Years, Junior Design Awards 2026 (Junior Design Awards)
• The Friendly Farm product page, Jaques of London
• Verified customer reviews: Reviews.io, Jaques of London store (live feed, 15 October 2026)