Plastic Free Toys

Today's prompt for #setmeplasticfree is parenting, so I want to talk more specifically about plastic free toys. Last week I ordered this absolutely beautiful Lanka Kade mushroom and minibeast shape sorter from Babipur. Lanka Kade are an ethical, fair trade company and this is a handcrafted, versatile wooden toy as the beautiful bugs are painted on both sides and can be stacked and played with individually as well as for problem solving with the shape sorter. We both love playing with this one!



I am not for a minute going to pretend I have a beautiful, grammable nursery filled solely with ethical wooden toys, nor am I going to claim that Eden much prefers wooden toys to plastic! She likes to play with all sorts of toys and at this age few things hold her attention for very long anyway. However, how toys are sourced is a key factor - our plastic toys are almost all secondhand, and those that aren't were gifts. As a former charity shop manager I know very well that perfect toys are thrown out every single day and charity shops are filled to the brim with toys looking to escape landfill. There's also options like eBay and Gumtree, hand me downs and toy libraries. The best option for the environment is to reuse preloved toys rather than buy something new, no matter what they're made of. But if I do buy Eden something new, I want to make sure it's from a company with good ethics, and if it has to be plastic I'd hope it's something that will be used for years.

I'm aware as she gets older this will become harder so how other parents tackle this would be welcome advice in advance!