Sustainable Toys Your Baby Will Love
Sustainable parenthood can be profoundly tricky at times. While reusable nappies and organic baby food may be part of your daily routine, caring for a small child still seems to result in large amounts of waste. A significant culprit of plastic waste you may be familiar with is the sheer amount of toys your little one will go through over the years. Unwanted toys with non-biodegradable components tend to end up in landfill, ensuing detrimental environmental effects.
The concept of sustainable toys may allude to dull, outdated toys with little to offer in terms of developmental benefits. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Sustainable, plastic-free toys include everything from snuggly soft toys to stunning wooden doll houses. Here are just a few sustainable toy examples for you to consider.
Cotton Hand Puppets
Hand puppets are not only adorable, but they are also highly beneficial for your baby’s cognitive and social development. You can purchase organic cotton hand puppets or make them yourself using a simple pattern. Use your hand puppets to enrich storytelling or nursery rhymes to enhance your baby’s creativity and communication skills from a young age. Eventually, your baby will begin experimenting with moving the hand puppets for themselves, aiding motor development and imaginative play.
Wooden Blocks
Almost every playroom and nursery features a set of building blocks. Experimenting with blocks helps babies and toddlers develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, building activities help them acquire early maths and numeracy skills. Although the go-to product is usually a set of plastic, brick-style construction toys, for sustainability purposes, invest in durable wooden blocks that will keep your little one occupied for hours.
Busy Board
The improvement of infant motor skills is essential for aiding strength and movement, which in turn, benefits other areas of development. For example, once your little one has mastered a palmar grasp, they can begin holding a large crayon and experimenting with mark-making. To give them the best start possible regarding motor development, provide your little one with a wooden busy board, complete with cogs, latches, switches and other features to get those little fingers moving.
Wooden Doll’s House
Many of us enjoyed hours of fun playing with a doll’s house in our younger years. While many commercial dollhouses are made from non-biodegradable substances like plastic, you can easily find wooden alternatives, and they won’t cost you much more. You can also purchase wooden dolls for residents. Playing with dolls encourages the growth of social skills and emotional intelligence for toddlers and young children.
Natural Rattle
Every baby needs a good, old-fashioned rattle. This age-old toy provides a source of sensory stimulation whilst helping to strengthen the grasp reflex. Furthermore, rattles can aid musical activities as your baby learns to shake their rattle in time with nursery rhymes and songs. You can purchase a wooden baby rattle from many sustainable baby outlets in varying shapes and sizes, suitable for any age group.
Recycled Comforter
While introducing your baby to a comforter isn’t a necessity, many parents find that they help children to feel safe and confident in new situations, such as starting nursery. A comforter can also be used to help soothe your little one as they fall asleep. While many comforters are made using non-biodegradable materials such as polyester. You could purchase a comforter made from organic cotton or recycled bottles as an environmentally-friendly alternative.
Wooden Kitchen Set
Toddlers and young children naturally engage in roleplay as a safe method of understanding the world around them. Play kitchens are excellent toys for unleashing this level of creativity and imagination. The play kitchens of the past few decades invariably feature garish, plastic components; however, there is an increasing demand for wooden alternatives featuring soft, muted colours, which generally leave more room for imagination.
Waldorf Toys
Many of the toys mentioned above fall under the category of ‘Waldorf-inspired toys’. Waldorf toys are generally made from natural materials, including wood, leather, bamboo and organic cotton. Simple and open-ended, Waldorf toys focus on sparking creativity and encouraging imaginative play. You can create a simple, cost-effective Waldorf-inspired activity by creating a sensory treasure basket for your baby featuring a range of natural items such as pine cones, wood slices, natural sponges and sea shells.