Our babies are so precious and important. Eco friendly toys are an easy way to keep them safe in your home. Lets face it, babies and kids are going to put toys in their mouths. Even the best mom can not stop this. With eco friendly toys you will not have to worry about what chemicals your baby is getting while playing. Eco friendly baby products and toys make great gifts for any mother or baby.
There are a wide variety of environmentally friendly toys such as organic fabric stuffed animals, lead free baby toys and bamboo and sustainable wood building blocks available in the marketplace today. An extremely popular trend in eco friendly toys are wooden toys, however, to truly be environmentally friendly, the toys also need to be painted/finished with non-toxic water based finishes. Wooden toys also need to be made from eco friendly wood sources coming from a Sustainable Management Forest (such as a Forest Stewardship Council certified forest) or a renewable resource such as bamboo and not an old growth forest.
Play and Learn Toys is a Canadian owned and operated retailer of eco friendly toys and gifts. Operated by a mother of two, Play and Learn Toys takes great care and passion in selecting the toys they offer their customers and the manufacturers they work with. They ship across Canada and internationally. They also offer innovative customer experiences such as allowing you to “host” an online party which is a great way to celebrate birthdays and baby showers and they offer free gift wrapping with every order!
Play and Learn Toys carries manufacturers such as Grimm’s Spiel & Holz Design and Holztiger . These manufacturers produce high quality environmentally friendly toys that will last a lifetime and have been well thought out in creating safe and health toys for our children to play with.
It is most often the chemical risks from toys that concerns parents the most. Here are some of the more common chemical associated with children’s toys:
• Phthalates in soft plastics in bath and baby toys;
• Lead in electronics, wood toys and art materials;
• Formaldehyde in wooden toys; and
• Formamide in foam toys
To make the largest positive impact to the environment as possible, one should look beyond the obvious risks of toxic chemicals when purchasing children’s toys and also consider the following factors:
• Is the product made with recycled materials? Is the product designed in such a way that it could be recycled at the end of its useful life?
• How is the product packaged? Is packaging minimized and were eco friendly packaging choices made when the product packaging was designed?
• The less transportation that is required to bring a product to market results in a smaller environmental footprint of that product.
Directory of Eco Friendly Toys:
Play and Learn Toys (Alberta)
A Canadian owned and operated retailer of environmentally friendly toys and gifts. Operated by a mother of two, Play and Learn Toys takes great care and passion in selecting the toys they offer their customers and the manufacturers they work with. They ship across Canada and internationally. They also offer innovative customer experiences such as allowing you to “host” an online party which is a great way to celebrate birthdays and baby showers and they offer free gift wrapping with every order! They carry a wide variety of toys and eco friendly baby products made by manufacturers such as Holtztiger, Grimms Spiel & Holz, KidKraft, Heros, Blabla Kids, Haba, Uncle Goose, and ESTIA Holzspielwaren.
Ape 2 Zebra (Toronto, ON)
Educational Toys Canada. Safe Educational & Natural Organic European toys by Haba, Kathe Kruse, Selecta. Environmentally friendly, wooden pretend play food, kitchen and store toys by Melissa and Doug & Plan Toys. Big selection of German made Wooden Building Blocks, Construction sets and Brio compatible Trains by Heros.
http://www.ape2zebra.com/
Baby Naturopathics (Hamilton, ON)
Offer a wide selection of eco baby toys from HABA, Kathe Kruse, Selecta, Erzi, Keptin-Jr., Dolfi, Sevi, miYim and Olli Olbot. New to their store: Auris, Debresk, Plan Toys and Lyra.
www.babynaturopathics.com
