Nook

There’s something very satisfying about this toy before a baby has even touched it. The soft weighted tray, the translucent shapes, the strange little objects that sit somewhere between modern desk accessories and tiny futuristic sculptures. Nook by Toys by People is built around the kind of play babies naturally invent for themselves anyway — posting, pulling, slotting, flipping, chewing, hiding, carrying things around for no obvious reason, then carefully putting them back again.

Each piece has its own texture and function. One rattles softly, another clicks when turned, another has soft brush-like silicone designed for stroking and chewing. The cool stainless steel can feels completely different in little hands compared to the squishy silicone shapes, and the whole set has been designed around grip sizes and movements babies instinctively gravitate towards.

The tray creates little resting places for every object, which somehow makes the repetitive “in and out” phase feel weirdly calming instead of chaotic. Aesthetically, it’s genuinely beautiful too — soft muted tones mixed with translucent colour pops that feel far closer to contemporary home design than traditional plastic baby toys.

Beautifully designed, but still entirely led by the strange little ways babies actually like to play. It understands that babies don’t need much more than interesting textures, satisfying movements, and things to put inside other things.