Unplugged and Unstoppable: Raising Screen-Free Children
Threadbear Toys offers beautifully crafted wooden toys, to inspire imaginative play. Everything is FSC-certified and conforms to UK safety standards. Trees are planted for each item sold, over 80,000 so far.
The site is a compendium of three brands, between them offering contemporary natural toys in nature-inspired colours. United by their warm friendly styles and love of good design.
Natural toy shops are to be found in many towns, and focus on dolls, games and toys made from natural materials. Basically, you don’t have to press buttons to make toys ‘do things’, instead encourage creative play without batteries (choking hazards).
Only buy brands that carry safety kitemarks, have nontoxic paints and are sustainably made. Choose the correct age range (to avoid small parts) and supervise at all times.
Mentari Toys (for good imagination)
- A wooden tea set including a dotty tray, teapot, saucers, cups and spoons, sugar pot, jug and two wooden biscuits!
- An allotment crate made from rubber wood and plywood, containing non-toxic aubergine, carrot, mushroom, turnip and leek.
- A first aid kit with a toy doctor’s bag containing a stethoscope, thermometer, ear probe, scissors, and syringe.
Clover Dolls House with opening windows and decorated shutters, illustrated inside walls and extra space in the attic which can be accessed through the removable roof.
Tender Leaf (made from reclaimed rubber wood)
- A market stand for little greengrocers!
- A fridge-freezer with a dispenser that drops ice cubes, with the press of a button.
- A home kitchen with 3 cooking utensils and a hob
Threadbear soft toys and rag books
Mostly made from organic cotton (inside and out).
Lanka Kade (educational wooden toys)
Lanka Kade offers educational wooden toys, to inspire children to learn through play. With natural finishes, the range is designed in-house in Leicestershire and made by skilled artisans in Sri Lanka, who are treated and paid fairly.
From mini-beast board games to a Scottish animal collection (including a push-along Highland cow!), there is lots to love. All comply with the 2011 EU Toy Safety Directory and meet/exceed the EN71 European Toy Safety Standard.
The natural crayon company
The Natural Crayon Company is a nice little brand that makes vegan-friendly powder paints and crayons for children. Handmade in the UK, everything is sold in eco packaging.
All toys sold in the UK are legally required to be UKCA-marked, and crayons fall into this category, to ensure they are safe for use by children. All these crayons carry the mark and have undergone stringent safety testing.
Keep crayons out of reach of small children and pets. Supervise around older children.
The powdered paint kit for children contains a wood vegan paintbrush and six colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple). Each one makes up 100ml of paint. Sold in an easy-to-recycle aluminium tin, the paints are made from non-GMO cornflour, gum arabic and food grade pigments.
Just mix the powder with water (1 teaspoon of powder to half a teaspoon of water for thick tempura paint or 1 to 2 tablespoons of water for a watercolour-style paint.
You can store excess in the fridge for up to a few days (away from food) but it’s best freshly used. These are not fingerpaints (could cause skin staining, aprons recommended!)
The stick crayons are made from just three ingredients: sustaiable soy wax, candelilla wax and food-grade pigment powder. Sent in a plastic-free box and recycled cardboard bubble wrap, these are more muted in colours than paraffin wax.
Some people are unaware that most crayons for children are made from pork gelatine. Other crayons are made from paraffins wax (made from petroleum) so contributes to climate change, through drilling oil (which in turn helps to create wars).
Where to recycle old crayons
If you have a lot of old crayons lying about, send them off to this eco native recycling project, where they are melted down and made into new crayons. At least this stops more new pork gelatine crayons being made and sold.
