It is that time of the year when parents begin thinking of gift ideas for their little girls and boys. Often, however, parents will look around their house and realize their child has so much already! Plastic toys here and plastic toys there. This is the last thing any environmentally conscious adult likes to see. Whether you are just beginning your toy journey with your infant or trying to redirect your toy choice with your toddler, finding eco-friendly gifts for kids is a must!
Top Eco-Friendly Gifts for Kids Based on Age
Babies (0- 1 year)
Plan Toys Baby Roller
Made from chemical-free rubber wood in Thailand, this rattle soothes babies with a softwood sound. They’re the perfect gift for a new baby!
Grimm’s 6-Piece Rainbow Stacker
The Grimm’s Rainbow Stacker is an absolute must in any household! The stacker puzzle is handcrafted in Europe with wood and certified non-toxic water-based colors. These fun arches can be used as tunnels, hills, little houses, or rocking chairs for dolls. It is purely up to your child’s imagination as they grow!
Grimm’s Small Wooden Stacking & Nesting Rainbow Bowls
The Grimm’s Wooden Stacking Bowls are crafted in Germany with solid wood and non-toxic water-based stains and oils. The great thing about these bowls, much like the Rainbow Stacker, is that they grow with your child. You can purchase them now and they will be used for years!
EverEarth Activity Cube
Working on a baby’s sensory stimulation, fine motor skills, grasping skills, and shape recognition is easy with this activity cube. They’re affordable so you can rest easy knowing you have a natural and non-toxic learning tool for your child. This cube is made of natural hardwood and stained with non-toxic water-based paint. It has six sides to explore from infancy to toddlerhood!
Natural Rubber Baby Blocks
These BPA-, phthalate-, latex-, and lead-free baby blocks are a staple in every infant’s toy collection. They are made from 100% natural rubber making it safe for baby to chew on them!
Toddlers (1-3 years)
Kinderfeets Kinderboard
One of the best eco-friendly gifts for kids is a balance board! Why not give your child a tool to expand their imagination! Children can use this balance board as a seesaw, a slide, a step stool, a doll bed, a boat, a tunnel, and more!
Grimm’s Rainbow Friends Peg Dolls
Grimm’s Rainbow Friends set are a set of dolls that have several purposes and can be used for years! Not only can you help your child learn colors by using these dolls as a matching game, but they can participate in imaginary play as well. Each of these dolls is created with natural wood and non-toxic water-based stains.
Hape Pounding Bench
This bench makes it easy to help your child learn both colors and numbers! Buying this learning tool is super affordable and is a no-brainer. It is made of wood and child-safe paint to promise your child’s utmost safety.
Pikler Triangle Set
The Pikler set is the most expensive but also the most promising of all eco-friendly gifts for kids! Purchasing this set can range in price dramatically depending on where it is purchased. Many families decide to ‘do-it-yourself’ and made the set themselves to save money! If purchasing online, however, some companies commit themselves to the safety of your child in every way. When creating this product, they use high-quality wood and do not use any chemical elements making it the safest it can be for baby to child!
Toddler Learning Tower
You can create a learning environment for your child to actively participate in various life skills. By using a learning tower, your child can see exactly what you are doing as you simply wash the dishes, cook dinner, and more! Not only can your child observe your actions, but they can also participate too and learn to most important skills necessary in life. This tower is made from solid wood and coated with a non-toxic lead-free coating.
Preschoolers (3-5 years)
Eco-Kids Eco-Dough
One of the most used eco-friendly gifts for kids, the Eco-Kids Eco-Dough is a must-have! An inexpensive gift that gives your child a form of entertainment that doubles as education. This dough is made with non-GMO flour, salt, cream of tartar, organic rosemary oil, soy oil, water, vitamin E oil, citric acid, potassium sorbate, and FDA approved soy based organic and inorganic pigments. With everything that could happen with molding dough, having the peace of mind that it is natural is relieving for many parents!
Honey Sticks Crayons
When you buy these crayons, know you are making a positive impact on your child and the world. The Honeysticks beeswax crayons are handmade using 100% pure New Zealand beeswax and Food Grade Pigments for color making them safe for everyone who uses them! Plus, this makes them a sustainable and low impact product.
Wooden Building Blocks
These wooden blocks are affordable for such a large block set and you will not regret buying them for even a second! They are made with a natural-finish and promote your child’s imaginative play.
Rain Stick Instrument
Promoting your child’s love of music is beautiful! What other way to do this than to expose them to any and all instruments? This natural wood rainstick is a fun early educational tool to teach kids about music and how it can be produced in other ways!
School-age (5-10 years)
Hape Wooden Guitar and Music Set
Speaking of music, you can take your child’s musical education to another level! In this set, you can expect to receive a ukulele, tambourine, clapper, rattle, and rainmaker. These musical instruments are made with water-based paint and non-toxic finishes making them safe for any age.
Green Toys Submarine Bath Toy
Unlike the other eco-friendly gifts for kids found here, this submarine is made of recycled plastic! This makes it the perfect bath time toy. It contains no BPA or phthalates and is PVC safe for the earth! Something important that many parents look out for when it comes to bath toys is the ease of cleaning the toy. No parent wants to deal with the dreaded ‘bath toy mold’ issue that arises with toys that hold water. This toy is easy to clean since it is dishwasher safe!
Eco-Friendly Sidewalk Chalk
Every child loves the experience of using sidewalk chalk making this non-toxic sidewalk chalk one of the most popular eco-friendly gifts for kids!
Pretend Play Doctor’s Kit
This high-quality wooden doctor kit is essential for the imaginative child. Your child will have hours upon hours of play encouraging them to act our real-life scenarios.
Tool Essentials Organic Playdough Set
Kicking molding dough up another notch is this dough activity set! This set will promote your child’s fine motor skills and open play. The dough playset is made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic milk jugs saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, the dough that comes with the kit is made from 100% organic flour making the entire playset safe and eco-friendly!
Get to shopping!
Eco-friendly gifts for kids can be difficult to find. In a world that doesn’t regular terms like ‘organic’ or ‘eco-friendly’, it is hard to know which toys are “the real deal”. Rest assured, these eco-friendly gifts for kids are all made from certified materials making them both safe and fun!