Where to Find American Made Toys

With the latest batch of toy recalls including Aqua Dots laced with the hallucinogenic "date rape" drug and Curious George contaminated with lead paint, many American parents have been increasingly concerned about the hazards associated with foreign produced toys.

Buying American is something that our family has always done on principal anyway. American made toys are simply better made and better for our kids. These toys certainly don't have all the electronic glam and glitter of those "imported from China" toys but are well built, educational, and imaginative. And, for us concerned parents, both American and European toys meet a very high standard of safety and quality.

Who produces American made toys?

The Milton Bradley company makes most of their games in the US with American made components.

For parents with construction geeks in the family, K'NEX construction sets are also American made. K'NEX sets can be used to build vehicles, amusement parks, buildings, animals and more.

Other construction toy companies include Roy Toy of Maine, with their fabulous log building set, wood-links, and build and paint products. Stack and Stick of Indiana also produces a stackable building system for creating buildings out of wooden pieces.

The Whittle Shortline railroad out of Louisiana makes wooden trucks and trains. Maple Landmark toys in Middlebury, Vermont produces a fabulous selection of old fashioned wooden games, jigsaw puzzles, wooden trains, and wooden toddler toys that are similar to what we used to play with as kids back in the 1960s.

For old fashioned teddy bears, there's the Vermont Teddy Bear Company and for girls who love dolls, there's Magic Cabin who makes a delightful line of soft dolls and play furniture.

These are just a few of the American toy manufacturers still producing quality toys, for a complete listing, visit www.stillmadeinusa.com/toysngames.html for a terrific run-down of American toy manufacturers with direct links to their home page.

Where to find an American made toy

In addition to visiting the sites listed above via the internet, many parents should considering visiting independent, locally owned toy stores in their communities. These specialty stores tend to stock high quality, American and European style toys.

For catalog shopping, my favorite has always been "Back to Basic Toys," at www.backtobasictoys.com. The service is fabulous, and the products are exceptionally well made. "Magic Cabin" at www.magiccabin.com is another terrific catalog store with toys that are engaging and well made.

American made toys aren't as sexy as those made in China, and certainly don't come with all the bells and whistles of electronic gadgetry. They do however, stimulate creativity and encourage our children to use their imagination, something that all children can greatly benefit from.