|
Green Toy Stores:
Shopping for Eco Friendly and
Natural Wood Toys in New York
City.
Jan 20 2010
By Marcy
 We
recently wrote about some
wonderful places to Shop for
Handmade Toys and Children's
Items in New York City. We
wanted to complement that list
with some other great
suggestions where you can buy
natural and green toys. What's
the difference? While some
natural toys are indeed handmade
too, others come from
eco-certified production
facilities. Most importantly,
all differ from commercially
mass-produced, run-of-the-mill
wooden toys in terms of quality,
origin, and construction from
sustainable, safe, natural,
non-synthetic materials.
For many parents natural toys
allay safety worries, are
environmentally friendly,
promote fair trade or local
business, remain durable and
long lasting, offer aesthetic
appeal and tactile/sensory
enrichment and, invariably, are
"open-ended" (there’s no "right"
or "wrong" way to play with
them) thereby nourishing a
healthy imagination and longer
attention span, so say the
experts.
But, even if you're not looking
exclusively for green toys,
these wonderful toy stores are
filled with interesting and
unusual finds that you certainly
won't see at Toys R Us.
NYC GREEN TOYS STORE
GUIDE:
Playing Mantis
32 North Moore, Manhattan
 Natural
toy heaven here with truly
extraordinary and unique
selections from all over the
world and back again (yup, even
New York artisans are
represented). Proprietress (and
natural toy conjurer) Imelda
McCain knows the provenance of
every item in the store and
often she’s forged her own
special relationships with the
craftswomen and men making these
toys especially for her shop.
Kids will delight in these
play-worthy wonders crafted from
sustainable woods or hand-woven
wools, always honoring fair
trade and community support in
the originating country. Plus
they’re easy on the eyes.
Charming costumes, perplexing
puzzles, and many unusual large
scale-pieces (giant barns to
drool over—and I don’t mean the
cows!).
Back to the
news page |
