Green Options

Editor’s note: The following piece is guest post by Dalit Holzman from Natural Pod, one of our favorite eco-friendly toy companies.  Dalit is part of the Natural Pod team (www.naturalpod.com) and raises her two daughters as open-endedly as possible…with the help of some boxes.

We’ve all heard it. In fact we’ve all said it: “the best toy in the house is the cardboard box!” As parents we are constantly reminded that the active imaginations of children really don’t need much stimulation to get going…and going, and going, and going!

Just the other day my very own living room was transformed from, well, a living room into a series of caves and burrows, an enclave for ambushing mini- pirates!

Kids constantly mimic and replay the world around them, and though I am no pirate (lol), my daughters do seem to have many of my mannerisms and modes of communication down to a science (arrr me hearties!) They listen to learn to repeat.

As the holiday season approaches we’re all looking for quality toys for our children. Readers of this blog, and increasingly the world at large are seeking toys that are eco friendly and inexpensive too.

That’s why Eco Childs Play agreed to team up with Goddard Systems, Inc, one of the largest child care providers in the country, to seek out the best green toys we could find for under $30.00.

Any parent knows that children love cardboard boxes.  Often, the box a present comes in encourages more creative play than the toy it once contained.  Imagination Box Co. was born out of this cardboard creativity.

After raising three kids and seeing how much waste there was in the toy industry, we said, “NO MORE,” and began making many of our children’s toys. An old box became a way to stimulate their creativity and recycle at the same time. They loved them and so did the neighborhood kids. It took about 17 years, but…voila…Imagination Box Co was born!

Made in the USA, Imagination Box Co. toys are completely recyclable and made from 45% post consumer materials.  Each set comes with watercolors, so that your child may decorate and assemble their own toy. For my eight-year-old daughter, it has provided hours of entertainment and excitement.

 

Being a lighthearted child in a grown-up body, I have to admit that I still like lunch pails, and my band new Yubo lunchbox happens to be my favorite one of all time because it’s: 

• BPA Free
• Recyclable
• Antimicrobial
• Dishwasher Safe

Yubo bpa free lunchwear started with two concerned parents frustrated with the amount of plastic baggies used every day. Explaining: 

“The typical store bought lunchboxes we owned were impossible to clean, they collected crumbs and foul old-food odors. Worst of all, our kids were over the novelty of their lunchboxes less than a week after buying them! That was the start of our journey to re-invent the lunchbox. We knew there had to be a better way. We set out to balance our passion for the environment with our kids’ passion for having fun.”

Clementine Art offers safe and natural art supplies for kids: soy crayons, soy crayon rocks, markers, paint, modeling dough and glue. all made with safe, natural, non-toxic ingredients. Perfect for little budding green artists.

I have a number of ideas for great eco toys this year since being involved with the Eco Toy Test sponsored by Eco Child’s Play and the Goddard Schools. We had over 50 entries from great green toys companies and because we’ve created a Facebook and Flickr, we have an excellent shopping guide if you’re looking for gift ideas.

Since October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, it’s fitting that Dandelion Earth-Friendly Goods just launched their new Pink Collection, a special group of organic baby toys that will help benefit breast cancer research.

If you’re not familiar with Dandelion, they have all the “eco-ssentials” for babies including rattles, teethers, development toys and even toddler feeding products made from corn. Their classic shape sorter even made Dr. Toy’s best green product list for 2009.

We’ve made a special effort to encourage toymakers of all sizes to enter as we search for the greenest toys under $25.00. We’re all interested in maximizing our dollars these days and I’ve been surprised to find out just how many relatively inexpensive green toys there are!

Say “bye bye” to toys made of bad plastic and covered in lead paint. Instead reach for the wood- wooden toys that is.

Plan Toys offer superior quality wood toys made with environmentally friendly kiln dried, chemical free, rubberwood. They also use E-Zero glue, water based non-toxic colors, and recycled and recyclable materials. And at Plan Toys they do everything with “green” in mind.

Rosie Hippo shares the “green” passion and sells only ethical, quality, eco-friendly toys for children.

This is actually the second time we have had the pleasure of reviewing Inca Kids‘ products, and we are pleased to see their fair trade, Peruvian line expanding.  My son and I are in love with the super soft, uber adorable scarf from “Casa Betania”. Adorned with cars, this scarf is sure to please any little one and fair trade discerning parent.  Made from alpaca and acrylic yarns, this scarf is not itchy and carefully crafted by women in Peru. Casa Betania:

Started as a way to assist women with lack of emotional and financial support in some of the most unprivileged areas in Lima.
On December 4, 1990 they started making jute cartridge pouches,  then they learned to embroider and sew, some women brought their tools, also fixed the schedule from 2 to 7 p.m. and wages. The group that started with 7 women, grew into a group of 23 women selling their products to churches. Cáritas of France donated 2 sewing machines and libraries as well a provided some financial support.

Mattel. The name is no longer only synonymous with Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Polly Pocket. Now when you hear “Mattel”, it’s flashback time: to lead-laden, choketastic toys.

When the Consumer Products Safety Commission was charged with implementing the new CPSIA, designed to make toys safer, fans of handcrafted goods worried: would we still be able to get our beloved natural toys? After all, toy testing for lead and phthalates has a price tag attached that is harder on the small business owner than it is on corporate giants like Mattel.

Turns out, it’s especially easy for Mattel, as the toy manufacturer gets to use “independent” in-house testing instead of submitting its toys to third-party testing like everyone else, as the AP reports,

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recently, and quietly, granted Mattel’s request to use its own labs for testing.

Although I’d love to not be too cynical on this, guess what? Coincidentally, Mattel spent $1 million last year in lobbying costs.