Ethical Toy Brands at Babipur

Christmas is swiftly approaching so I thought I’d take a minute to introduce the lovely brands we stock here at Babipur without too much waffle and cliches.  We have a huge selection of toys suitable from newborn up to 99 years, but around 6 years is a more sensible upper limit. In no particular order

Plan Toys

Plan Toys have been making “green” toys since… well, before “green” was fashionable.  Made in Thailand from exhausted rubber plantations in super eco factories. A modern and innovative company, Plan Toys make their own glue because they don’t want nasty stuff in it and they make some toys from a clever kind of MDF (but not MDF) using the roots of the rubber trees which would otherwise go to waste. Clever designs, bright colours and generally pretty fab all round. Here’s a few of our favourite Plan Toys toys, baby car rattle, duck racer, balancing tree and the tot drum.

Haba toys

Haba are best known for their German build quality, but don’t worry, there are no faked emissions tests here.  The Haba baby walkers are built like tanks and their range of wooden teething and grasping toys is phenomenal. “Quality” is the word that comes to my mind first when you mention the word Haba. Yes some of their marble run items and blocks are quite expensive but they will probably last until the turn of the next millennium and who else makes a marble catapult? The Haba dolls range is very popular, their size and lack of Barbie like features appeals to parents and children. Haba fabric toys are conscientiously made in China. Here’s a few Haba picks, Discovery wagon, Kringerling, Coliseum blocks and Lighthouse stacker

 Grimm’s

Grimm’s toys are quite simply stunning! Each one looks like a work of art and sometimes you’re not sure if they should just sit on the shelf as an ornament or if they should actually be played with.  Rest assured Grimm’s are definitely toys and they’re another wooden toy brand with a “Made in Germany” tag so they’re super robust. I’m pulling a quote from our Facebook hangout group to demonstrate the quality

“We have the large rainbow at the pre-school I work at, we’ve had it for about 7/8 years, it gets a daily battering from around 40 children in the setting and is still going strong! We love it.x”

The rainbow colours really make this range stand out from the crowd. Grimm’s are popular with the Steiner Waldorf education sector because they encourage children’s natural enthusiasm and wonder free from the pigeon holes that society often thrusts upon us. I believe that the majority of all the toys we sell at Babipur also encompass this ethos. Here’s a few of our picks, Large rainbow (of course),

 Lanka Kade

Lanka Kade are one of the first brands we stocked here at Babipur back in 2007. Made in Sri Lanka by traditional artisans the hand made nature of these beautifully colourful toys really shines. The wooden jigsaws are extremely popular but the dolls made with handloom woven cotton are a real favourite of ours. All Lanka Kade toys are fair trade, made in Sri lanka, all wooden toys utilise exhausted rubber wood. Lanka Kade favourites including our Welsh language friend, Welsh Dragon, London bus, Penguin and baby and a doll.