Ideas For Toddlers’ Outdoor Summer Play With Natural and Organic Push Toys
May 16, 2014 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Tommy Turtle. Photo courtesy of Earthentree.
With the weather warming up, it’s a great time for the little ones to get out more, and pull toys are a great way to make it more fun.
Pull toys are great motivators for walking, promoting stability, and bring a sense of joy, self-confidence and control in being able to pull something around.
But as with all toys, it’s also important to make sure that they are safe for your child to use. Things to consider include whether there are removable pieces, their size (choking hazards), and the paint (toxic poisoning) because little kids are always putting everything in their mouths.
Always looking for things that are good for people and the environment, I found three great online boutiques – Earthentree, Maya Organic, and Little Zen Minds – that work with traditional artisan communities that create beautiful handmade pull toys that are non-toxic and made with sustainable materials.
Earthentree
Engine Stacker. Photo courtesy of Earthentree.
Earthentree prides itself on providing toys that are safe and beautiful. All of the toys are traditionally handmade by an artisan community in the city of Channapatna in southern India, where the company stresses that “absolutely no form of child labor is employed in its production process.”
Also, the materials used in making the toys are all sustainable, and the dyes are made only of natural materials. The toys are made of hale wood and rubberwood because they are lightweight with fine grains and the company assures that “the wood does not contribute to deforestation.”