A while back, LittleFruits Feltery blew us away with their amazingly creative, adorable and fun play felt tree. We never thought we’d see something as cute again, and yet… Now LittleFruits Feltery has added some tropical delight to their shop – the bright and colorful Banana Felt Tree. This cuter than cute tree will have your child playing treasure island in no time flat. A creative Velcro design allows kids to pick bananas right off the tree and then put them back on. Branches are bendable and the tree is made by hand with 100% eco-fi felt. Sorry folks, that mischievous little monkey doesn’t come with the tree, but we do love the idea! We can’t wait to see what LittleFruits Feltery comes up with next.
If you’ve got a little one who is overly enchanted with fairies, then how perfect is this sweet hat idea! Little ones will adore these charming flower blossom hats, and you have to admit, they’d look super adorable on a baby. Great for birthday parties, a photo opp (just add wings or some fairy-minded clothing) or use them for costume play. Each soft hat is wool felted in the USA. Available in fairy-perfect colors of yellow, orange, pink or periwinkle with a medium green stem. Comes in sizes for infants up to three years and for children ages three to ten years.
If your tot is in the crawling and cruising stage, push toys are perfect for playtime. Manny & Simon recently added this four-car train to their already amazing array of sustainably made wooden rolling toys. Their collection of push toys is made from 100% post-industrial recycled wood residuals and painted with non-toxic, zero-VOC paint. This colorful toy is sure to keep your tot moving and groovin. Choo choo!
Your kids, and you, will fall in love with this sweet and lovable block puzzle set from Manzanita Kids. While it’s likely too late to get this in time for Valentine’s Day, this wooden puzzle set is still a great find for everyday play. It will even make a wonderful baby shower or wedding gift. The four puzzle pieces …
With Studio Ditte’s Paper Robots you can build six colorful robots. All you need is scissors, a ruler and glue – no tech skills required! Sure, these robots aren’t made from recycled paper (What a shame!), but they are super-lightweight to ship and easy-peasy to recycle once your child moves on to other toys. These aren’t the first paper robots to hit the scene though – a few years back we shared the cut-fold-connect PIPEROID paper robots from Takashi Tsunoda …
Because parents only have two arms, the adorable Skip Hop Penguin Soapster Foaming Soap Dispenser comes in very handy. This cute soap dispenser allows you to grab some soap with one hand, while holding onto your slippery baby with …
The PlanToys Workbench is perfect for kids who love to build. The set includes plenty of workbench items, including six handy tools, 27 cool construction parts and a removable storage unit to keep everything tidy. The various construction parts can be placed on both the table and back panel, and the back panel doubles as a tool holder. The wood clamp included in this …
Is your kid crazy about choo choos? Give your child’s train set an eco upgrade by adding three cars that are on a recycling mission. The Recycling Train, which is compatible with all other Plan Toys rail sets, is made from recycled rubberwood and non-toxic finishes. You can use this train to help you explain recycling to your children and what types of items might go in each of the different colored bins aboard the cars.
We’re all for open-ended natural blocks in square and rectangle shapes, but these Mini Natural Wood Castle Blocks from Imagine Childhood will add some really cool, royal elements to your tots building repertoire. Hand made from reclaimed local Walnut in Colorado and finished with mineral oil, the castle blocks are perfectly sized for little hands to maneuver. Each set comes with six blocks.
If you’re worried about toy safety – that’s good – you should be concerned. Thus far, toy safety has been widely overlooked in the United States. Hopefully though, in 2012, this will change. On December 15th of last year, ASTM-International sent a revised toy safety specification document to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in hopes that new safer toy standards will be adopted in 2012. The new toy safety revisions mainly concern toys that may contain heavy metals and how to measure those quantities for child safety. Other issues covered include the stability of ride-on toys; jaw entrapment; toys with spherical ends; requirements for squeeze toys attached to rings; use of cords, straps and elastics; packaging film; and yo-yo tether balls.
Created by Takashi Tsunoda, the Japanese toy designer behind PIPEROID paper robots, Monster Cubes offer a similar paper-folding DIY experience. You’ll get a perforated sheet of paper that can be punched out and folded into monster – no tape, glue or scissors required. You can even put little items or notes in the monster’s hands or mouth. Tsunoda created these cubes using moder box-folding techniques inspired by traditional Japanese handicrafts. Bring one of these lightweight and easy-to-pack Monster Cube sheets …
Your kids can super-size their skyscrapers with these big City Building Blocks from Pottery Barn Kids. You’ll get six blocks in each set including pentagon, square and rectangular shaped buildings, all which are made out of sturdy recycled corrugated cardboard. Don’t want to buy the blocks? Go DIY. Get creative and transform old tissue boxes and other boxes you have around the …
We realize it’s not exactly ice cream weather outside, but we think it’s always the perfect temperature to serve up a 4-scoop cone of ice cream blocks! This super-fun Ice Cream Block Set comes with seven scoops of ice cream and a cone and a cup. The non-toxic blocks are lightly finished with an organic flax seed oil, making them safe to lick (though we don’t recommend it!). One of our favorite wooden toy makers, Little Alouette, crafted these especially …
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