Playing Green

It is shocking at the number of baby toys out there containing harmful chemicals! You might be saying; well how many chemicals can actually be in the toy? Unfortunately it all depends on the toy and when you put them all together it adds up! Babies put everything in their mouths, making it easy for the nasty chemicals to be welcomed right into their little developing bodies. Paul and I feel that it is not OK to put any chemicals in baby/children’s toys, Toys need chemicals as much as food needs hydrogenated oils! Some of the chemicals found in the plastic, fabric, wood and paint of baby toys include, BPA, formaldehyde, lead, cadmium, among others. This greatly upsets us! There are harmful chemicals everywhere; from the air we breath to the couch we sit on and the carpets we play on. To me the easiest thing to do was to just go in search of green toys.

We strongly feel that less is more when it comes to buying toys for Cedar, we want him to value what he has and not be so focused on possessions. When we do buy him toys we get high quality wood toys or organic plush toys that have no bells and whistles they simply are what they are, allowing him to develop his little imagination. Paul and I play with him, showing him different ways to use the toys and already he started making car noises while pushing a car at 7 months! He loves to copy what we are doing and watch us play.

Around Christmas time I called a few toy companies to ask them about how they make their products; unfortunately they could not answer me. All they would say is “we follow US toy regulations” well that means nothing to me and is no help. You might be surprised to know that this was a wooden toy company that claims to be environmentally friendly! So when a company is not upfront about how they make their product and they do not have any information on their packaging it is a no go for us. We have been told that it is difficult to find toys for Cedar because most toys now are mass-produced plastics; some might wish we would lighten up a bit, but honestly I couldn’t be happier with our choice. Our favorite toy company is Smiling Tree Toys! They are a small family run business Justin, Kathleen and their daughter Amana. All products are hand-made even right down to their homegrown organic oil they make called camelina oil. The wood they use is even sustainably harvested! It really doesn’t get any better than that! With a tag line like “organic fun for little ones!” what else can an environmentally all natural mama and papa ask for! Check out this video to learn more about them! http://www.kstp.com/article/12303/?vid=3506739&v=1

We love this company and want to support their amazing business. Today and for the next two weeks Justin and Kathleen have offered YOU a 10 % discount code! (code is available at the end of the article!) We have so much fun with Cedar’s toys and the great thing about buying from companies like Smiling Tree Toys is that they can be passed down for generations, because they are made so well! To top it all off we are also helping the environment by not supporting more plastic and chemical making.

Here are some things we look for when buying toys;

-No chemicals

-Organic

-Water or soy based paints

-Wood or recycled plastic (with no chemicals)

Here are some companies that we support, love and trust to give us quality toys for our baby;

http://www.miyim.com/

http://www.anamalz.com/

http://www.plantoys.com/

http://www.camdenrose.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SmilingTreeToys

Now are you ready to go shop for some Environmentally friendly toys?! Simply enter GreenKnights10 at checkout! They also have free shipping on selected items right now! Thank you Kathleen and Justin! This offer is Valid until March 29, 2013. You can also connect with Smiling Tree toys through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and their Blog!

Show your support for companies like this one that work hard to provide you and your family with safe, high quality toys!

I see an Easter teething bunny in Cedar’s near future ;-)