People always ask me what toys I have at home since I’m “soo anti-plastic”. Fun and educational toys, I tell them.  But they still don’t understand. So I go into detail about our toddler”s wooden train table set, and his wooden puzzles, and his wooden teethers, and his wooden musical instruments, and his wooden construction tools, and wooden unit blocks and stackers, and his wooden cars, and his wooden mazes – okay, you get the picture.  Oh, and he has a children’s wooden IKEA play kitchen with all the bells and whistles. But then I have to say quickly that he does have non-wooden toys, too. He has soft cuddly stuffies and lots of cloth toys.   And of course he has an overwhelming amount of books!

Despite what some people say, plastic toys aren’t the world to children.  Children love natural, organic materials to play and explore with.  My son will always choose to play outside with sticks and leaves before he would want to sit in the house and play with a plastic toys any day – wouldn’t yours?

Then the next question I’m told is, well wooden toys are too expensive compared to the plastic ones.  My answer is always along the lines of, you’re right, upfront they are – but the wooden toys also last a lifetime and are much safer.   In the end it’s always up to parents to decide what they’re comfortable with based on their own beliefs and budget.

The truth of the matter is that we do have some plastic toys around the house. Some of our bath toys are plastic, some of our cars and trucks are plastic, some of our pretend-play bowls and utensils are plastic. But I think, as with all things – the key is to use them in moderation.

Filed under: Organic/Eco-Friendly