Eco friendly toys are good for your family and the environment. Every mom knows that toys can buy precious time, and time is valuable. Plus, toys also help kids meet and exceed important milestones.
When we look to change our ways and adopt a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle, it applies to everything from our daily groceries to the toys we get for our children. Here is a list of some really cool toys that are made with recycled materials and come in recyclable packaging.
What makes a toy eco friendly?
Introducing an eco-friendly lifestyle to children from a very young age is a great idea. Usually the toys on the market come in heavy packaging and are made with plastic and run on batteries.
Being eco-friendly can be a gray area. You want toys made with sustainable materials. They should be durable so they don’t just go in the trash quickly. And the packaging should be plastic-free.
We have made this quest easy for you by hand picking some really great eco-friendly toys for your kids.
Eco friendly toys for babies and toddlers
Natural Rubber Blocks
Toddlers and babies tend to take everything in their mouth. Eco blocks are made with natural rubber instead of wood or plastic. This early stage building set is a safe alternative for babies. It can be used to make bath time fun.
Eco-blocks are sustainable and do not contain any Parabens, PVC, BPA, Phthalates, chemical softeners or colorants. The designer of this 8 blocks set is a mother and a clinical psychologist.
Natural Rubber Teether
Calmies Ecoteether is made with 100% natural plant based rubber and comes in plastic free packaging. This multi-sensory and soothing teething toy is safe and sustainable. It is developed by a doctor to give teething relief to babies. It’s easy to grasp shape helps infants build sensory motor skills. It is free from parabens, phthalates, PVC and BPA and comes with an ASTM certification.
WOODEN BABY GYM with Hanging Hand Crocheted Toys
BabyFirstGym is a sustainable toy that you can easily disassemble and put inside the handy cotton bag that comes with it. This makes it easy to take along on trips, picnics and playdates. Its legs stay in place even when an active toddler tries to topple the whole thing. Made with beech wood and cotton yarn, the materials and packaging are completely sustainable and non-hazardous.
Sound cube wooden rattle
Made with waxed linen fibers and Italian olive wood, this rattle cube makes pleasant sounds upon touch. You can request the seller to laser delicate animal motifs on its 2 sides to decorate it.
This sound cube promotes eye-hand coordination, motor skills as well as the perception of the babies. Olive wood has an antibacterial effect, which makes it a safe toy for babies and toddlers.
Eco friendly toys for 3 to 5 year olds
Butterfly Farm
This butterfly farm is a perfect gift for children to show them the four stages of metamorphosis. You can redeem the included voucher to get 5 baby caterpillars and all the necessary food. On one side the viewing panel is ultra clear to watch the caterpillars grow into Painted Lady butterflies. One the other 3 sides there are mesh panels to allow ample airflow for the butterflies. This will give the kids an unending curiosity and love for nature. The kids will develop nurturing skills and an interest in entomology and biology. The pack includes the habitat, feeding dropper, and the voucher.
Eco-kids Finger Paint
Eco-kids finger paints are very eco friendly. They are non-toxic, made with non-GMO, food safe ingredients. You can let your growing kids explore their artistic talents with their fingers as well as brushes.
Locally made in the USA, these paints are totally biodegradable and come in a recyclable packaging. Even the printing on the packaging is done with soy inks in a wind powered factory on FSC certified paper. All four colors are extracted from organic fruits and vegetables.
Micro kickboard
Growing kids love to explore the outdoors and use their energies in physical activities. The new Micro Mini Deluxe ECO kickboard is a sustainably made toy for your little explorer. It is made using recycled plastics and fishing nets. The kick board has an adjustable t-bar that extends upto 25 inches so the child can enjoy it during their growing years for ages 2 to 5 years and up to 110 pound weight. It comes with a 2 years warranty and the company donates 1% of their annual sales for the planet.
Wild Pines Wooden Toy Train Set
Made with sustainable rubberwood, the 30-piece wild pine wooden train set is another Eco friendly toy that promotes your child’s creativity and limitless potential for story telling. It has a train engine, 3 carriages, one logging truck that carries 9 timber logs that are magnetic and a loader vehicle. Moreover it has 2 boulder rocks, 2 bears, some fir trees and a lake to engage the child’s imagination. The toy train set is responsibly made in Indonesia and meets the American, European and Australian toy safety standards according to ASTM, EN71 and AS/NZS ISO.
Eco friendly toys for 6 to 12 year olds
Green Toys Indoor Gardening Kit
Made from recycled plastic, Green Toys indoor gardening kit will foster the love of nature in your growing kids. It has nine pieces including 3 types of organic seeds, a planter tray, soil pods, trowel and 3 planting pots. Responsibly made in the USA, it is free from BPA, PVC or Phthalates. It is dishwasher safe and meets the food contact standards of FDA. Its packaging is made with recycled materials and is also recyclable with the printing on it with soy inks.
4M Green Science Rocket Kit
For children having interest in rocketry, this Green Rocket is a great toy made with recycled materials. It uses air pressure to let your budding rocket scientist launch homemade rockets as high as 80 feet in the air. You’d just have to provide the recycled bottles and some magazine pages, the kit contains all important parts and detailed instructions to assemble the whole thing.
7-in-1 Solar Transforming Space Fleet
This dynamic toy can be built into a robot, an astronaut, a space station and much more. You can nurture your children’s creativity, space investigation skills and interest in renewable energy. It is powered by a solar panel or a rechargeable battery, both of which are included in the kit. You can charge the micro rechargeable battery by direct sunlight or alkaline batteries. The 7-in-1 Solar transforming space fleet can invoke a special interest in science in the kids.
Eco friendly toys for girls
Personally I don’t agree with the idea of gender specific toys. I like to tell our future generation that they can do everything and toys can play a huge part in that. A doll can be for a boy and a girl and same goes for action figures and every other toy. Here are some thoughtful toys for girls to encourage them to embrace their femininity and do it in stride.
Eco-kids DIY rose bead necklace
This eco-friendly DIY necklace kit has pink French clay, ground rose petals, rose fragrance and instruction guide to create several natural rose petal beads. Your girl child would really appreciate making and wearing the fragrant bracelet and necklaces as the warmth of the skin makes the rose fragrance felt.
Women in Science Hardback Book
Women in Science is a wonderfully illustrated book by Rachel Ignotofsky that highlights 50 women scientists who are an inspiration for future women biologists, engineers, doctors, mathematicians, physicists and astronauts. It includes renowned figures such as Marie Curie the chemist and physicist, and also hidden gems like the African- American mathematician Katherine Johnson who calculated Apollo 11’s trajectory to the moon.
Tool Set
A tool set made with recycled plastic is the perfect gift for your growing girls to let them know that no handy job is beyond them and they can absolutely fix all their problems on their own. This tool kit has 15 pieces that include a hammer,pliers, a flat screwdriver, a phillips screwdriver, wrench, a saw, 2 nuts, 2 bolts, 2 two-hole connectors and the tool box. It is free from BPA, PVC and phthalates and meets the food contact standards of FDA. It is also dishwasher safe and its packaging is made up of recycled and recyclable materials.
Think Pink!
This Think Pink gift pack consists of a tea set, a pink dump truck and a Minnie Mouse stacker. This toy set promotes several developmental skills such as pretend play and imagination, coordination, cause and effect reasoning, motor skills and communication skills. It is made in the USA from recycled plastic and packaged in recyclable material.
Eco friendly toys for boys
Boys don’t have to embrace the hard facade that society used to impose over them. It’s time that we encourage boys to embrace what they enjoy without labeling certain toys or certain tasks for a specific gender. Here are some thoughtful and eco-friendly toys for boys.
Cake Maker Dough Set
Do you see a future baker waiting to unleash his talents? This eco-friendly Cake Maker dough set can be just the push he needs. It has 20 pieces including: 3 dough tubs, 3 cake stamps,6 cake cutters, 2 knives, 2 forks, 1 frosting extruder, 1 cake stand, 1 serving saucer and a knife. The dough is made with organic flour. Its packaging is also made of recycled materials and can be recycled with its printing done with soy inks.
Tool Essentials Dough Set
The Tool essentials dough set is a great toy set for art and craft lovers. It has 11 pieces including 3 dough tubs, 1 spaghetti extruder, 1 star extruder, 1 two-sided activity card, 1 scraper, 1 scissors, 1 knife, 1 rolling cutter and 1 roller. Like all green toys, it comes in recyclable packaging with the printing with soy inks.
Worm Farm
For kids who are more into nature and biology, a worm farm can be the perfect gift. It is a transparent case to let your children discover the underground worm lives. It comes with tweezers, pipette, stickers, sand and all necessary stuff to make a worm habitat. You have to just add dirt and worms. Let your kids observe how the worms make way through different colored sand layers by making tunnels and eating food. You can also double the habitat into a mini garden, where the children can grow plants for worms to eat. Not only is this a fascinating experience, it also helps kids learn the role of worms in the growth of plants and planet management.
Anything can be a toy
And don’t forget, sometimes the most eco friendly toys are what you already have on hand! For example, you can make a science kit out of your cooking utensils, or a rocket ship out of a cardboard box.
