© By Kath at Milk Tooth
This is one of the questions I'm most frequently asked, because at first glance the Wobbel Board and the Kinderfeets Kinderboard look to be the same thing: a beautifully curved wooden board for a child to balance and rock on.
Update April 2020 - We've decided to no longer offer the Kinderboard for sale at Milk Tooth. This is for a variety of reasons, some of which are outlined below. The information in this article was written at a point in time when we did offer both for boards for sale. It is as unbiased as possible.
Summary and conclusion
The two toys are indeed very similar and essentially serve the same purpose. They are both of beautiful quality to look at and touch. However, there are a few differences between the Wobbel Board and the Kinderboard.
The long and short of it is that if you have hard floors and/or if the budget stretches then I do always recommend the Wobbel Boards with the felt backing. Side by side, the Wobbel looks and feels to be a higher quality than the Kinderboard. At a lower price point though, the Kinderboard will still provide plenty of fun and play for your children.
Read more about the individual differences below.
Wobbel Board versus Kinderboard differences
Design
The Kinderboard and the Wobbel Board are both Dutch-designed.
Manufacture
The Wobbel Board is made in Europe. The Kinderboard is made in Asia.
Timber
The Kinderboard and the Wobbel Board are both made from FSC-certified European Beechwood finished with water-based lacquer. The Wobbel Board also comes in a beautiful Bamboo version. The Bamboo is a lovely rich colour and has an outer of FSC-certified Bamboo and an inner core of FSC-certified Beechwood.
Appearance
Setting aside the option of the felt backing, the two boards do look similar. The Wobbel Board has a smoother, more lustrous appearance to the timber while still retaining natural grain and features. The timber appears to be a higher quality material.
Size
The Wobbel Board is slightly longer than the Kinderboard at 90cm versus 81cm respectively. Both the Kinderboard and the Wobbel Board are 30cm wide.
Weight capacity
The Wobbel and the Kinderboard can each hold a full-grown very heavy adult with ease. The Kinderboard can hold 220kg and the Wobbel Board 200kg.
Age recommendation
The Wobbel Board is recommended for ages 0 years and up.
The Kinderfeets Kinderboard is recommended for ages 18 months and up.
Option for felt backing
This is a key point of difference for many people. The Wobbel Board offers the option of felt backing while the Kinderboard does not.
If you have tiles or floorboards, the Wobbel Board with Felt option could be the board for you. The felt protects not only your floors but the board itself. It also helps to deaden sound. Beyond that, the felt is really quite beautiful and textural to look at and touch, and it gives you an option to add a bit of colour into the room, while grey wool options are also available. Many children enjoy using the felt side of the Wobbel as a base for play, as the soft surface is nice and grippy for wooden and felt toys.
The felted Wobbel Boards come in two varieties: The Wobbel Original with Wool Felt and the Wobbel Pro with Pressed Felt. The felt on the Original boards is made of 100% wool. It's soft and the edges of the felt are quite rounded and smooth. The felt on the Pro boards is made primarily of recycled PET bottles. It's slightly less soft than the wool felt and the edges where the felt meets the board are closer to the edges of the board and have a slightly rougher feeling. The Pro felt is more hard-wearing than the wool felt and some customers find pet hair sticks less to it.The Original and the Pro versions of the Wobbel Board are otherwise identical in all features and specifications.
The Wobbel Board also comes in the
Original Lacquered version, with no wool felt backing, at a slightly lower price.
Warranty
The Kinderboard comes with a one year warranty. Milk Tooth sells the Wobbel Board (and formerly the Kinderboard) within Australia, and therefore you are also covered by consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law. These include your rights to a repair, replacement, or refund for products that do not work as they are intended.
Safety testing
The Wobbel Board has been CE safety certified to European standards. The Kinderboard has been safety certified against Australian, European, and North American standards, including AS/NZ 8124, CE, ASTM, and EN71.
Our experience at home
We personally use a Wobbel Board with Baby Mouse Grey Felt (light grey wool felt backing) in our own home. My children love to rock and wobble (of course!) but also lie in the curve with a blanket and a book, turn it upside down and jump off it, roll cars and wooden balls down the slopes, and build towers out of our timber stacking toys right on top of it.
The wool felt backing has held up very well to a few years of play so far. We've had a few small stains that we've successfully spot cleaned, and absolutely no peeling or tearing.
The timber itself has a few small dents from when the kids have used other toys on it, but none that are particularly noticeable and no scratches. We have timber floors and use our Wobbel on a thick rug, although sometimes it goes directly onto the floorboards with the felt side down.
- Kath ☼
