The Best Eco-friendly Toys to Buy for Kids

The following are six eco-friendly types of toys to buy kids that will keep them busy and entertained for years.

1 - Wooden blocks
For children up to age seven, you can consider buying them wooden building blocks. Avoid purchasing colored blocks which may contain non-eco-friendly dyes. Instead a simple box of wooden building blocks can inspire children to build castles, forts, garages, etc. Sometimes children need help in spurring their creativity so you can give them a list of potential building ideas (e.g. house, school, buildings, boats, castles, garages, etc.) and they will be inspired to play with the blocks.

2 - Wooden puzzles
Wooden puzzles are great toys for children of all ages. The number of pieces increase with complexity. Also, to ensure that you do not lose any of the pieces, consider storing the board and pieces in a wooden treasure chest.

3 - Machine washable eco-friendly stuffed animal
There are a number of toy companies that are beginning to sell eco-friendly stuffed animals. Consider buying an eco-friendly stuffed animal instead of any other kind.

4 - Wooden instruments
A number of niche toy companies offer wooden instruments (simple string guitars, drumsets, flutes). Instruments are great toys for children and keep them entertained for hours. Studies have shown that children who play musical instruments tend to score higher in math and spatial reasoning compared to their peers.

5 - Secondhand toys
You can buy your child secondhand toys from yard sales, online and thrift stores. Just be sure you check that all of the necessary toy parts come with the purchase and that the item has a good return policy if it winds up missing any of the parts.

6 - Bicycles, Scooters and Roller Skates
Most people do not think of these toys are being eco-friendly. However, by encouraging your children to remain active throughout their childhood, they are more likely to use these eco-friendly mode of transportation in the future as adults. Also, several studies have shown that if children do not grow up learning how to ride a bicycle as a child, they are more prone to obesity as adults. Also, a number of bike shops offer great trade-in programs in which you will be able to swap an existing bicycle for a larger one when your child grows out of the current one.

Finally, remember the paradox of choice that tells us everyone tends to become more stressed and anxious if he or she is offered with too many choices. This explains why a child in a room with three toys tends to be more creative and happy than a child with twenty toys in a room. Therefore, be comfortable rotating your existing toys in your house (store some in a closet and leave only three or four toys out). After a week, start rotating the toys and your children will find renewed interest in existing toys.