Journey with You

Cyrus is almost 2.5 years old and so far we’ve only been to Toys R Us once. We didn’t even buy anything from there. We did buy a couple of toys from places like Target. Over all, we are not too fond of toys sold at these big toy stores. First of all, we don’t really like plastic or battery operated toys. After that big recall from Fisher-Price, who can be sure what’s in those plastics? Secondly, we like to support local small toy stores. These small-medium size stores actually carry some really nice toys, including wooden ones.

I want to recommend two great toy brands that I usually see at those local toy stores. They both have great varieties and both emphasize the importance of toy safety.

Melissa and Doug: Here is a part of their safety statements.

No matter how carefully we design our products, we believe there’s no substitute for TESTING, TESTING, and MORE TESTING. The key to assuring the safety of our products is not simply insisting our factories follow our instructions, but to go one step further and AUDIT, INSPECT, AND TEST, not only once, but at various phases of the production process. This is something we’ve always done.

Additionally, we specifically test our paints and coatings very frequently, to be sure our toys meet or exceed government recommendations limiting heavy metals and lead in children’s items. We have cabinets full of thousands of passing test reports, and these passing results have been verified by 3rd party independently accredited testing laboratories, considered by many to be the best scientific laboratories in the world.

They have some great soft toys for babies as well as some big wooden toys for 3 year old and younger. We have a stacking wooden train similar to the following product.

My recent purchase from them is a set of 12-piece beginner puzzles. They are made out of wood so the little ones can’t break it. Other than farm animal scenes, they also have vehicles, wild animals, and sea life.

The other of our favorite brands: Plan Toys. The following is part of their environmental and social responsibility statement.

PlanToys is the first company to manufacture toys using wood from rubber trees that no longer provide latex. The trees grow to heights of 50 feet or more. The sap from the rubberwood tree is the world’s primary source of natural rubber. After about 25 years, the latex yield decreases and the trees are usually cut down and burned. Instead of wasting this valuable resource, building our toys from rubberwood helps preserve the delicate balance of our eco system. There is no deforestation involved in the harvesting of rubberwood, as felled trees are replanted with new ones. Rubberwood is an eco-friendly, sustainable, high quality wood. The paper used in our packaging is recyclable which further reduces waste and our plants use state of the art solar energy. Our plants use state of the art solar energy and biomass (fuel from biodegradable organic material).

Their quality standard:

Our toys start out as ideas in the creative minds of our veteran designers. Their ideas are transferred into sketches and soon become wondrous playthings. We have set meticulous manufacturing and assembly standards, including the use of chemical-free wood, nontoxic paints, and safety-conscious ergonomic shapes. All finished toys undergo a rigorous quality inspection before they leave the plant.

The toys we have from this company include this cute little alligator, great for a child who just starts walking.

Our most recent purchase from Plan Toys is their Plan City wooden rail and road set. Cyrus loves train, including Thomas the tank engine. Due to the major recall from R2C company, who made the Thomas Tank Engine train products, I decided to go with Plan Toys for the safety sake.

This set turned out to be Cyrus’ favortie among all other Christmas gifts. It’s definitely a great investment if you child likes trains and vehicles. Great quality and very easy to put together. I think I’ll buy more tracks and trains/vehicles to add to the set as Cyrus gets older.

The following construction vehicle set is also something Cyrus love a lot. His grandmother bought them.

Toys are such important part of a child’s development. It’s important to take the time to do research and pick out the good and safe toys for them.