Best Alternative Toys for Eco-Conscious Parents

Gone are the days of browsing a catalogue looking for a toy, and gone are the days of spending hours scouring toy shops looking for the ideal gift. Now, in 2021, toy shopping is a lot more convenient. For many parents, and non-parents who are buying toys for children, a lot of toy shopping is done online. This means that an impressive range of incredible toys is only a click of a button away and your options have never been broader. This is great news for eco conscious parents, who would otherwise be limited in what they wanted to buy. You can now buy eco friendly and sustainable toys for children with ease. It’s also good news if you want to get something a little bit different, as there is no shortage of alternative toys out there to choose from.

The Top Alternative Eco-Friendly Toys

There are a lot of alternative toys that eco conscious parents are sure to love, but we have narrowed it down to our three favourite examples. These are enjoyed by children of all genders, all ages and all interests.

• Hand Puppets - Regardless of what your children are into, they are sure to enjoy playing with hand puppets for kids. There is an endless list of stories and adventures children can enjoy with hand puppets, and they are a great toy for parents to get involved with too. Whether they are putting on a puppet show or playing quietly on their own, hand puppets are one of the most versatile Scandi toys out there. As your collection of hand puppets builds up, you can create entire worlds and storylines with your children.

• Farmyard Playset - If you are looking for Scandinavian gifts for kids that encourage imagination and creativity, look no further than a farmyard playset. With a range of popular animals to play with and a whole farmyard world to explore, it’s an ideal way for children to create different personalities and characters. Plus, a farmyard playset is also a good way to teach children about different animals and the noises they make. They will be recognising farmyard animals in no time. Who knows, you could even use a farmyard playset to teach them ‘Old Macdonald Had a Farm’.

• Dressing Up Clothes - It doesn’t matter how old a child is or what gender they are, you really can’t go wrong with dressing up clothes. Dressing up clothes can inspire a tonne of imagination and creativity, without the need for toxins or plastics, and they can be used for many years. Once a child has grown out of their dressing up clothes, they can be handed down to a younger sibling or to another child. With so many stories and adventures to explore dressed up as a character, dressing up clothes stand the test of time by capturing a child’s attention. If you ever had a dressing up box yourself, you will know that you are always drawn back to the thrill of becoming someone else and putting on a show.

Of course, eco friendly toys are not limited to these three examples. There are lots of other options out there. You only need to spend a short while browsing Nordic Stork to see just how many eco friendly toys are available.

The Benefits of Eco Friendly Wooden Toys

When a lot of people think about eco friendly toys and sustainable toys, they think about those made from wood and those that avoid plastic. This is because some of the best sustainable toys on the market are wooden, such as wooden playsets and characters from Playpress Toys. At Nordic Stork, we understand that many parents are becoming more and more aware of the impact that toys have on the environment. This is why we stock a lot of eco friendly toys that children of all ages enjoy, the majority of which are made from wood. Below, we have detailed some of the key benefits of wooden toys. You may be surprised to learn just how much eco friendly toys encourage, teach and entertain children.

• They Encourage Imagination - A lot of wooden toys replicate real life items, which encourages a child’s imagination through imagination play. For example, they could enjoy role playing with household items or serve up wooden food to the family. As well as role playing, simpler wooden toys also encourage imagination play. Blocks, shapes and bricks can represent anything the child wants them to represent. They can create an entire play world with a few geometric wooden shapes or a handful of bricks, by imagining that they are something else. A lot of standard toys have a purpose that is predetermined by the toymaker; a toy car is designed to be used as a toy car, a toy doll is designed to be used as a toy doll. With wooden toys, there is a lot more space for creativity and imagination. There are no limits to what playtime can look like.

• They Are Safe - Whereas a lot of toys have small parts and sections that can easily break off - which causes them to become sharp - wooden toys do not. They are a lot more durable than plastic toys, meaning there is less chance of them being a hazard to your child. Plus, wooden toys do not have sharp edges. It’s also important to remember that wooden toys make a fantastic sustainable solution because they do not use toxic materials, unlike some other toys which contain toxins in the paint and colourings. This is important if you have a young child who enjoys sucking, biting and putting toys in their mouth.

• They Are Eco Friendly - A lot of wooden toys are designed as a sustainable solution, meaning they are an eco friendly alternative to other toys. A lot of wooden toys are made in an environmentally conscious way, using certified wood or compressed sawdust for example. This is a million miles away from plastic toys, many of which cannot be recycled or reused after they are finished with. By avoiding mass production processes, many wooden toys also use glue, dyes and manufacturing processes that are eco friendly.

• They Are Strong and Durable - We can all agree that wood is hard and difficult to break, which is why wooden toys are so strong and durable. This means they can be handed down from one child to another, or passed on to another family when your own children have outgrown them. This is not the same for many other types of toys, as they are often too damaged or broken to last for more than a few years. It’s easy to see why eco friendly wooden toys are often seen as an investment purchase; you can spend the money knowing your children, and many others, will get a lot of use out of them for years to come.

Why You Should Consider Eco Friendly Gifts

Whether you are buying a present for your own child or someone else’s, finding a good gift is not always easy. Not only are there often too many toys to choose from, but a lot of them are cheaply made and not sustainable. If you are someone who is eco conscious yourself, or the family you are buying for are, you will want to focus your attention on eco friendly gifts.

There are a lot of benefits that come with buying eco friendly toys, but a lot of people make the mistake of assuming that sustainable toys are hard to find or that there are limited options. Neither of these things are true. In fact, there are a lot of Nordic baby gifts and Scandinavian baby toys that are also eco friendly. You only have to spend a short while looking for eco friendly gifts to see just how many fantastic options you have.

One of the main benefits of buying an eco friendly gift is that you know you are doing your bit for the environment. You are not adding to the masses of plastic toys that are quickly thrown away, you are buying a gift that uses sustainable materials. This also avoids a lot of the easily breakable plastic that many toys are made from and in turn, your gift is going to last a long time. There really is something for every child, whether you are buying for a kid who loves dressing up or one who likes to get creative. There are a lot of baby soft toys, puzzles, games, blocks and playsets that are eco friendly. They can be used in a multitude of ways, ensuring they never become boring.