Sustainable Toys?

[Bluemoon]

It was out Grandson's 4th birthday yesterday and as both his Mum and Dad had to work, OH and I took him out for the day. We had a lovely time and then it was back to his house for his party..........

I have never seen so much tacky plastic in my life!!!! And all of it destined for landfill within the next 2 years (actually, knowing the clumsiness of our grandson, probably sooner than that). So, are there any ethical toy manufacturers out there? We bought him a Brio (wooden) train-set for Christmas, but that apart there doesn't seem to be anything.

[mrsflibble]

to be honest, unless you go to a local producer you're unlikely to find anything that's 1. not made of crappy plastic and 2. not shipped in from china or korea.

Soph likes searching round second hand shops for toys, she has her own money to spend and loves digging through boxes so yeah, although she has a lot of crappy plastic stuff, most of it was second hand hahaha!

[thesunflowergal]

Toys r us do a range but they are for little babies. Orange Tree Toys used to, but I have not had a look at their web site for a while.

[Annpan]

OK, here is some of the things we have for E (aged 2 and 10 months)

Brio - it is really well made and is always about on the secondhand market. Also can be added to by younger brothers, sister, etc... and lasts for years before the kids grow out of it - my 15 year old nephew isn't ready to part with his yet ;-)

Pintoy dolls house - made from rubber wood as a by-product of the natural rubber production. We didn't know anyone else with a wooden dolls house but we are adding to this one a little at a time and all the family jump at the chance to play with it when they come over. Also really well made, sturdy bits of furniture and a wide group of different races of dolls (important for kids in a multi-cultural family/community)

Sand pit - made from a car tyre with a black plastic bag streched out over the bottom and 1 bag of sand. She loves it and we are using what would have been thrown out anyway (My Mother had been threatening to buy us one of those giant plastic things)

Duplo - Just about all the duplo we have is from free-cycle and again it can be added to, played with for years and can be passed on as it lasts forever.

Rag-doll - we got this as a gift and E drags it about everywhere with her these days, I am going to make spare clothes for her (from scraps) hopefully it will be a favourite for years to come.

Books - Not so great for a distruptive child but we pick up hundreds of books from carboot sales and charity shops for 10p each (helps that MIL works in oxfam bookshop )

Cooking sets - We got wee metal pot sets from IKEA, but these are mixed in with bits from our kitchen and other things that have been picked up (old corks are salt and pepper, tomato crate is storage and table) and a few wooden spoons and I plan to sort her out a 'washing up bowl' and scrubbing brush too... all can be got second hand or from fancy, shmancy ethical stores.

Musical instruments - We got a nice kids wooden glockenspiel from ELC (after searching in ethical stores for a glockenspiel that played a tuned octave ) and a Ukulele, We made sure al of these are proper instruments and can be used when she grows up... and of course a few shakers (made from peas and rice in old tubs or bottles)



She has some of the plastic junk too - none of which we have bought her some which was worth it (a cheapo push buggy and toy story toys she LOVES) but other bits just go in the charity bag as soon as we get the chance (plastic harp, plastic phones)


We just try to get stuff that will last, or is second-hand/ repurposed - we have found out that any toy that adults want to play with are the ones that the play value for the kids last longer.

There must be other alternatives out there.

[ina]

There are shops that specialise in "good" toys - I buy everything I need (for friends' kids) from the Camphill shop.

[witchstorm]

Myriad are very good :)

[Rosendula]

I agree with Annpan. If you look on Ebay and the likes, what's being sold as second hand and still in good condition is usually the better quality stuff that can be handed down and passed on. We also 'donate' things from our own kitchen to Katie's cooking box - old utensils that I had duplicates of, a pan from an old set I replaced years before she was born (kept it 'just in case'), my old moody scales are going in there when I've taped up the crack in the scale pan (I bought some better ones from the charity shop)....that sort of thing.

We have bought her some Fair Trade wooden toys in the past and these tend to be good quality and very durable, but they do hurt when they fly across the room and hit you on the head and they're expensive and hard to find.

And of course, she also has a little bit of the plastic rubbish, most of which has been bought for her, but some of which we are guilty of buying ourselves. It's incredibly difficult to say 'no' when she's been as good as gold all day and then falls in love with a cheap thingymebob.

Remember, too, that it won't be long before he's no longer interested in the poor quality red and yellow plastic stuff and only wants poor quality black plastic stuff to ring his friends and listen to music on. (I have teenagers as well)

Edited to add: Katie's very much into 'gloopy glueing', so I now cut out all the good pictures from leaflets that get put through my door for her to make collages with. I keep them in categories - food, furniture, plants, vehicles, windows and doors. Well, so far I have one window and no doors, but when I get some more I'm going to cut a house shape in a piece of scrap card and let her make her own house. A bit off topic, but an idea for next time you're babysitting perhaps?

[HayleyC]

Myriad are very good :)

I was going to suggest Myriad too. I've never bought from there though, but i LOVE browsing it. Thier toys are beautiful