The Not Quite Crunchy Parent: Eco Toys For 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Eco Toys For 2008 – Are They Really?

As I discussed here, Toy Fair, the annual event where manufacturers introduce new toys for the year, just wrapped up in New York City. What happens in New York for a few days in February influences the types of decisions that parents will be making when purchasing toys later in the year.

One of the big themes for this year was environmentally friendly and eco toys. A number of manufacturer have jumped on the bandwagon with eco offerings which…may end up being confusing for parents.

Is a toy environmentally friendly just because it comes in recycled packaging – even if it’s obviously over packaged?

Is a battery operated toy eco if it’s fair trade – even though batteries are notoriously bad for the environment?

Just because it’s made from recycled materials is it really good for my child – even if it has a violent/sexist/unhealthy theme?

Watch out for absurdity this year as manufacturers do their best to jump on the eco bandwagon. It’s good that everyone is getting a bit more aware of the environment and making incremental changes for its benefit but, just because it’s eco doesn’t mean you should buy it for your child.

Here’s a list of a few of the eco friendly toys shown at Toy Fair. Should you buy them? What do you think?

1. See Toys from Zen Design Group - a line of motorized toys that each uses a hand crank for power

2. The Sprig Adventure Series - features interchangeable, LED-lit figurine characters and vehicles that engage preschoolers children with audio adventures

3. Enviro-Blox from Cadaco - a biodegradable building line made from corn starch

4. ImagiPlay toddler and preschool wooden toys - made of sustainable rubberwood and hand painted

5. Eco-Angels infant discovery toys from Tomy - created from a new type of corn-based plastic.

6. Alex's Little Hands games - uses soy inks, recycled paperboard and water-based varnishes.

7. My Bag & Me! Book From Penton - comes with a resuable Tyvek shopping bag for kids to use when going to the grocery store.

8. Planet Toys - plush toys made from recycled bottles

9. Monopoly Planet Earth edition - made from recycled material that lets players buy, sell and trade natural resources.

10. Barbie girls accessories - made from re-used fabric

11. Corgi environmentally friendly toy cars - powered by fuel cell, which combine hydrogen with oxygen from water.

12. Xeko trading card game - teaches kids about the earth and it's inhabitants. The Xeko trading card game has themes like Mission Costa Rica, Indonesia and Madagascar and features recycled packaging.

13. ImagiPlay wooden toys - made from renewable, plantation grown, chemically-free rubberwood.

More Thursday Thirteen

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4 comments:

Nissa said...: I'm all for eco friendly, but some of those seem just plain weird to me. Cornstarch blocks? Stuffed animals made out of recycled bottles? Some of those toys sound pretty good, though. I guess it's a fine line for me..
Happy T13!; Feb 28, 2008 8:34:00 AM
Natalie Dickey said...: I love having toys that don't use batteries!!! The hand cranking ones sound great! Happy TT!; Feb 28, 2008 12:45:00 PM
Jen said...: I saw a few of the toys you mentioned. I'm a big fan of ImagiPlay puzzles. They're really beautiful and well made.

I was intrigued by the Sprig Toys vehicle. One the one hand, they use (from what I understood) 100% recycled materials and no batteries. The toys are powered by the energy of a child either pushing with a rod, or pumping the back of the vehicle, which expresses energy through a coil to power the vehicle for about 60 seconds. The figurines are faceless (Waldorf was mentioned at the booth) and have a non-nondescript skin tone. They are made in Canada and the US. But--and this was the deal breaker for me--it talks to the child, and tells them stories. You can turn off the audio, which I'm sure many parents will appreciate--but in the end, the vehicles reminded me of any other non-battery operated truck in terms of playability. Is it better that its made with wood shavings and other stuff as opposed to metal? Or just recycled plastics? It's novel, that's for sure. But it's once again a toy leading the child (via the audio), and not the other way around. I think they will sell a lot of them. I'm just not sure I want to be the one selling them.

I saw the Tomy eco-friendly line. I have no idea what will happen to those toys in a landfill (are they biodegradable?) but they feel just like plastic. And they look like plastic. Are they more eco-friendly? I don't know. They just didn't appeal to me at all. Maybe they have appeal to other merchants.

I like some of the Alex Toys line. I like that their bath toys are (and have been for a while) phthalate free. I feel that I pick and choose carefully when I'm in there. I didn't get a look at the products with soy-based inks because I tend to shy away from their craft kits for the most part.

Just my two cents! Love to hear what other thought!; Mar 2, 2008 7:12:00 PM
Shaping Youth said...: I think you should talk to Jeff at Green Options about creating a sort of 'seal of approval' post greenwashing analysis so we don't all have to wade through what's 'real vs. spinmeister stuff'...We've postponed the launch of same this week so I'll be joining the EcoChilds Play team for a few posts now & then until we ramp up for further analysis...

On the flip side, I'm all for 'baby steps' and applauding even the thought/essence of going green by instilling the habits early on via gaming/virtual worlds, you name it, so that's where Shaping Youth is trying to poke around and see what we can add to the party. ;-)

p.s. e-mail is still crashed, so tech difficulties have kept me from pinging you further on this...sigh.; Mar 4, 2008 2:17:00 PM