Wooden toy help (and are there "safe" rubber ducks)?

[Emmas Mom]

I'm kind of trying to combine two questions into one thread. I've been doing a little reading on plastic toys & while I'm not going to go throw out the girls plastic play kitchen I'm going to start scaling back & try to get rid of the "worst" of it. That being said, what are some of your favorite wooden toy sites? Or "other than plastic" toy sites? I saw North Star Toys & love the look of them. We might start phasing in some of those. I think they'd be great for DD#2. What about older, kindergarten age kids? Would they like them as well?

Also, little DD is, for some odd reason, attached to two rubber ducks lately. I mean they are almost never out of her sight. But I really want to get rid of them! She puts them in her mouth & while neither of them are broken or torn I still don't want them around anymore. Are there any "safe" rubber ducks? What bath toys are safe? I'd like to try to get some cute replacements & then just quietly throw them out (mommy stealth mode). Any ideas? Help me start going green! :D

[daisymommy]

I know there are many really nice European wooden food toys out there for kids, and I wish I had the money for the truely natural ones. So maybe another mama will give some links for that type.

But here's what we did: I bought the $10-$14.99 sets from Target, which are marketed as their Play Wonder Brand. They are made for Target by Battat http://www.battatco.com/ I know some of their stuff is made in China...so, it's a risk I guess. But, it was the best we could do at the time (either that or it was to go with plastic).

Now, as far as rubber ducks go, get some of the Sassy brand ducks from either Babies-R-Us, or Target. They are safe, and advertise that they are BPA free as well. I believe they also make them with the heat-dot on the bottom to tell you if the water is too hot in the tub.

[o_mom]

We have some NorthStar Toys and love them. We have boys, so there are huge amounts of wooden vehicles out there for them. For girls I would look at wooden or felt food. Someone had a link to patterns to buy to make felt food that looked really easy. When I get a spare moment I will be looking into it further.

This thread may be helpful: http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=291198

[brittone2]

If you are changing over to safer toys, IMO, don't try to replace everything you have currently w/ an alternative. Look for open ended toys that will have lasting play value so you get more bang for your buck. (a good set of building blocks will last years and IMO that justifies the cost, kwim?)

barclaywoods.com has blocks that are well liked here. A cheaper alternative is the Melissa and Doug ones (in natural, so no paint to worry about) which are made of eco-friendly rubberwood. It isn't as hard as maple, but IMO they work just fine. Use a 40% off coupon at Michaels or AC Moore (both stores often carry M&D toys) and they are quite affordable.

Maplelandmark.com has great stuff and it is mostly made in the USA

Atoygarden.com (also has the option to shop for USA made toys)

Bathboats.com (I think there's a code in the deals section currently)

Holgatetoys.com

How about dressup clothes? You can make a no-sew tutu, etc. really easily with a roll of tulle from a craft store (using a 40% off coupon of course LOL). I really can't sew and this is just tying knots. You can also look at places like Sara's silks, or consider buying or dying your own playsilks for dressup (and supplementing w/ thrift store purses, gloves, hats). We picked up some dressup stuff for DD in the future after Halloween this past year for 75% off at TRU (cheerleader costume, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, fairy wings, etc.)

You can google Montessori and Waldorf toys. Forsmallhands.com has a bunch of great practical life stuff a Kindergartner would likely enjoy, IMO. Some brands of toys you can check are Haba (mostly made in Germany other than their fabric stuff), Selecta (great dollhouses especially), Holztiger, Ostheimer and Kinderkram (great wooden animals, barns, vehicles, etc. from those three companies), Vilac (many of their toys are made in France I believe. They have a less expensive wooden bath boat I believe. Spiel und Holz makes gorgeous, gorgeous stuff. Kathe Kruse and Gotz/Goetz (some places spell it one way vs. the other) make phthalate-free dolls. I think more companies will be moving to phthalate-free as even TRU is going to reducing phthalates in their toy selections.

www.oompa.com
www.kidsurplus.com
www.threesisterstoys.com (has a great article on reinventing playrooms to be natural-toy friendly)
Also check etsy or hyenacart for some great WAHM stuff.

Fun toys w/ lasting play value:
kitchen w/ wooden or felt food (or just keep some empty boxes of pasta, etc. around and watch them be just as happy!). Less is more, IME. DS had too much playfood for a while and it was just *too* much. Cute stuff is available on etsy (support a WAHM :) ). We have great ice cream cones from thechenillechef. Adorable!

Marble track

Nice wooden vehicle or two

abundant art supplies

Wooden animals/barn

dollhouse/wooden people

[MarisaSF]

Now, as far as rubber ducks go, get some of the Sassy brand ducks from either Babies-R-Us, or Target. They are safe, and advertise that they are BPA free as well. I believe they also make them with the heat-dot on the bottom to tell you if the water is too hot in the tub.

I had steered clear of squishy "rubber" bath toys less out of fear that they contained BPA and more out of fear that they would contain PVC/lead.

By googling, I found this blog: http://thesoftlanding.wordpress.com/2008/03/17/bpa-pvc-and-phthalate-bath-toy-guide/ "BPA, PVC, and pthlalate-free bath toy guide." Lots of Sassy items on there.

[brittone2]

One caution...

In the past, there was a consumer group that tested toys labeled phthalate-free, and a huge percentage *still* contained phthalates. This was back in like 04 or so. The following year the results were better, but there were still some toys labeled phthalate-free that contained phthalates.

I haven't really kept on top of it, and hopefully they've resolved this issue. I agree w/ Marisa that the concern with the rubber duck type of plastic is more related to phthalates and lead than BPA.

You might also want to check healthytoys.org and see what they have up in terms of safer bath toys.

ETA: link directly to bath toys. You can see that many came back with medium/high levels of chlorine, which is a component of PVC (which means these toys likely contain phthalates).
http://www.healthytoys.org/product.searchtype.php?getclass=Bath%20Toys

link to healthytoys.org info on vinyl/PVC and relationship to phthalates:
http://www.healthytoys.org/chemicals.chlorine.php

[Emmas Mom]

Thank you ladies. And Beth, between my two threads you are a wealth of information, thanks for making me feel better! So...you want to come to my house & help me purge! lol ;)

[citymama]

little DD is, for some odd reason, attached to two rubber ducks lately. I mean they are almost never out of her sight. But I really want to get rid of them! She puts them in her mouth & while neither of them are broken or torn I still don't want them around anymore. Are there any "safe" rubber ducks? What bath toys are safe? I'd like to try to get some cute replacements & then just quietly throw them out (mommy stealth mode). :D

We like the Haba bath toys - seahorse, fish, pirate, mermaid and boat. (http://www.moolka.com/jzv/prod/14200/Haba/Toys/Bath+Toys/Miscellaneous/Mermaid+Squirter?p=YzE9MzUy) I don't think they have a rubber ducky, which is too bad. You could introduce some safer new bath toys and hope she'll be distracted from the ducky - at which point you can discreetly get rid of it. That's what we've done in the past.

[MarisaSF]

We like the Haba bath toys - seahorse, fish, pirate, mermaid and boat. (http://www.moolka.com/jzv/prod/14200/Haba/Toys/Bath+Toys/Miscellaneous/Mermaid+Squirter?p=YzE9MzUy) I don't think they have a rubber ducky, which is too bad. You could introduce some safer new bath toys and hope she'll be distracted from the ducky - at which point you can discreetly get rid of it. That's what we've done in the past.

Oooh! Those are cute and not too pricey. Any idea what they are made out of? I know some Haba toys are made in China; do you know if these are? Is the Haba China factory generally considered responsible?

[citymama]

I don't have the tags, but I seem to recall they are Made in China at the Haba factory, and that they are BPA and pthalate free. They are rubber squirt toys and my DD loves them!