In 1969, Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, took a trip to California to survey the damage done by the devastating oil spill that occurred that year off the coast of Santa Barbara. He was so angered by the destruction he saw, and how slow Washington was moving to clean up the spill, that he conceived the idea for a national day of environmental teach-ins to be held at universities across the country. The response at the grassroots level was tremendous, and on April 22, 1970, around 20 million Americans participated in events marking the first Earth Day.
Now over 175 countries participate in Earth Day, and many communities even plan an entire week’s worth of events that focus on environmental issues. In 2009 the United Nations declared April 22nd International Mother Earth Day, officially making Earth Day a global event.
At Grandrabbit’s, we are proud to carry a variety of environmentally friendly and educational toys for your children. We wanted to spotlight some of our favorite companies and products here. Just one way you can celebrate Earth Day, every day!
PlanToys – As their website states, PlanToys practice “the FOUR R’s of green living: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.” Their products are made of rubberwood from rubber trees that no longer produce latex and are assembled with an E-Zero glue instead of toxic wood glue. They use non-toxic water-based dyes on all their toys, and soy and water-based inks, which biodegrade more easily, on all their printed materials. We carry a range of these cheerfully designed products for babies and preschool children, as well as pretend, dolls, dollhouses and dollhouse furniture.
HABA – This company was the first toymaker in Germany to pass the country’s ecological audit. All of their buildings are heated without fossil fuels, using a combination of thermal, biomass and solar energy. They also collect rain and well water in giant cisterns for maintaining the facilities. They use only environmentally-friendly, water-based stains on their wooden toys, which are made out of indigenous beech and maple wood. We have several colorful Haba baby toys and blocks to choose from.
EverEarth – This line of toys from the EverMax company is kid-safe and manufactured with materials supplied from nurseries that have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international organization that brings people together to find solutions that promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests. We love their super fun toddler activity walker, their bamboo five-in-one activity cube, and their unique pull toys, such as the duck with egg, or, one of our favorites, the koi fish.
Sprig – As the story goes, the three designers who began Sprig were inspired to start their own company after they visited the factories where the toys they designed were produced. After seeing the environmental effects of the manufacturing process, they were moved to start their own company in Fort Collins, Colorado. Their imaginative toys are battery free – “kid-powered” as they put it – and are made out of their own patented Sprigwood™, a durable, child-safe, bio-composite material made from recycled wood and reclaimed plastic. Visit one of our locations to check out some of their cool vehicles and adventure sets!
Green Toys – Green Toys makes all of their products out of recycled milk containers. There’s a counter on their website, which shows that, as of the date of this blog posting, they’ve recycled over 6 million milk jugs! The containers are reprocessed into a plastic called high-density polyethylene (HDPE), considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around. Even their packaging is made out of recycled cardboard and contains no plastic, cellophane or twist ties. On top of all that, this company truly keeps it local. Every step in the process, from recycling to manufacturing to final assembly, is done in California to cut down on environmental transportation impacts and support the local economy. Our stores carry a wide variety of Green Toys products, from dishes to tea sets, tool kits to building blocks, toddler toys to trucks!
Blue Orange Games – For every tree that is used to create the high quality, all natural pieces of Blue Orange’s wooden games line, two trees are planted. Blue Orange definitely makes being eco-friendly fun. We carry several games by this company, including Gobblet!, Yamslam, and Spot It!, just to name a few for starters.
miYim – This adorable line of organic cotton plush toys is manufactured in a factory that uses a low eco-impact dye process, filtering water waste with natural enzymes. This means the water is purified before being released back into the ecosystem. They also design their packaging to be reused as photo or memento boxes. We carry their cuddly Lovie Blankies, and will be getting more miYim products in soon!
Thames & Kosmos – The stated mission of Thames & Kosmos is, "To improve informal science education," through their high-quality, award-winning kits. Their products teach science concepts and skills through hands-on modeling of real world devices and processes. They have an extensive Alternative Energy and Environmental Science line, and we are happy to carry many of their kits at Grandrabbit’s. As an extra bonus, 1% of the purchase of every Wind Power and Hydropower kit goes to U.S. environmentally focused nonprofits.
Are there other eco-friendly companies or products we should know about? Leave us a comment and let us know!
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