Green Options » handmade toys

How to Grow Your Small Toy Business

mcmilker — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:24:53 +0000

I’ve been asked this year to judge the Goddard/Eco Childsplay 2009 Best Green Toy Contest. Sponsored by Goddard Child Development Centers and Green Options own Ecochildsplay, it is both a great opportunity and one that has me thinking.

How does a small company compete against the big guys in the toy industry? In particular as pointed out by Wendy Johnson, with Birchtree designs writing on the contest Facebook page:

Hey, how about doing a contest of eco-friendly, local handmade items? There is no way we can compete with large corporate manufacturers. Also, not sure how eco-friendly a product it can be if the materials are coming from all four corners of the earth, is being made in another country, and then shipped to the US?

That’s a good point! And so I thought about and found that, hey- this IS just that kind of contest!

Play Dough Eight Ways: Sand Dough

Julie Finn — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:47:14 +0000

Sand dough is a great choice for recycling the pretty clean sandbox sand that remains in your sandbox at the end of the season, which is when we usually make it, but I can imagine that it would also make a super-fun beachside project, perhaps even your own sandcastle souvenir, complete with seashells and a moat ready to be filled with salt water.

Even for play dough aficionados, sand dough has a terrifically gritty texture that provides an entirely new sensory experience to the act of working with the dough, and it can be an excellent component to a sensory table for a special needs child or as a teaching tool for a tactile learner—use it in conjunction with the sawdust dough for two very neat and unusual experiences.

Rosie Hippo: Earth Friendly, Unique and Handmade Toys

Wenona Napolitano — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:44:55 +0000

Rosie Hi ppo offers parents a place to shop for unique, handmade, organic, fair trade and eco-friendly toys.

They have toys made of wood, made of fair trade materials, they have stuffed animals, pretend play toys, and everything you need to spark your child’s imagination and give them something safe to play with.

Fabulous Fair Trade Inca Kids

Jennifer Lance — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:35:30 +0000

Kelli first wrote about Inca Kids in her post “Three Fair Trade Toy Companies“. Inca Kids is fair trade project supporting unprivileged Peruvian artisans. Gilda Pedraza of Inca Kids explains:

I am not selling products; I am offering the opportunity to directly support a poor family in Peru every time you buy something. With every purchase you are saying YES to an artisan interested in keeping his or her lifestyle; you are saying YES to that single mother trying to make a living while taking care of her children, you are saying YES to all of them when you choose to buy fair trade.

My family recently received three wonderful products from Inca Kids made from 100% alpaca wool or 100% Peruvian cotton and eco-friendly color dyes. These handmade goods are made from artisans. The finger puppets are a big hit with my children, who immediately got out the puppet theater and put on a grand show when they arrived. My three-year-old son, who hates to wear hats, loves his Inca Kids hat! My daughter is enamored with her Cholita doll (thank goodness it’s not a Disney Princess) and wants to ask our Peruvian friend Cecilia if she has a dress like the doll’s. She took Cholita to school to show her first grade class, which prompted a discussion at home about Peru, fair trade, and the Incas in preparation.

I like my children’s toys to be unique and handmade. By supporting artisans and not large toy corporations, I am living more sustainably and teaching my children to appreciate human crafts. Inca Kids bridges that gap between the artisans in Peru and my family’s green values.