“Hi, I am interested in the Petite Cuisine. Can you let me know where it was manufactured and whether it was sweatshop-free? Great blog by the way!”

Thanks Christine, really glad you’re enjoying the GGT blog. The Petite Cuisine is a lovely new children’s kitchen toy from reputable UK toymakers and distributors John Crane Ltd. They are based in Northampton and are probably most well known for distributing the Thai based eco friendly Pintoy brand of wooden toys. We’ve been selling John Crane products for nearly five years and find they are very popular and well received. To answer your question, I’ll use their own words:

“Every single item in the Branching Out collection has been carefully selected for it’s traditional play value, whilst taking modern trends into account.

This extensive range offers great value for money without compromising on quality and design. The bright colours and adorable graphics appeal to both children and parents alike.

The strict attention to detail even ensures that all packaging clearly indicates to which area of learning and age group the product is best suited.

Items are produced in carefully selected factories that meet strict criteria laid down by John Crane Ltd, not only on quality but also for social and environmental requirements. Wood used is from replenishable sources.”

I’ve personally met the John Crane team several times over the years and are reassured that they go out and visit these factories regularly. The Petite Cusine is made in China.

Hope that helps Christine.

Sharon

Great Green Toys Director

Article by Bridgette Barrett

Though they may be small, babies and children cost their parents a vast amount of money – on average, over £180,000 on each child until the age of 18. About £1,500 is spent before a child is born, with companies specifically targeting parents-to-be. However, many of the products aimed at babies can have a negative impact on the environment. For example, disposable nappies, plastic toys and mass-produced clothes can all have detrimental effects on the environment as a result of their production and/or disposal. By shopping around and planning your purchases, it is possible to choose products for your babies and children that are both eco-friendly, high quality and in the long run may save you money.

Eco-friendly parenting means choosing products that are longer-lasting, recyclable (or already recycled), and are produced from sustainable and renewable sources. Although this may seem hard at first, there are many sources of information out there to help you, including websites like The Green Parent and many forums such as on the Bounty website .

So how can you adopt eco-friendly parenting? Reusable nappies are increasingly popular, with over 15% of parents now using them. There are many fantastic sites selling and giving advice on reusable nappies, such as Plushpants, Totsbots and Lollipop. Not only are there many wonderful designs to choose from, but using reusable nappies will save you on average £500 per child, and you won’t be adding to the one million tonnes of nappy waste put into landfill each year.

Buying organic, fair trade or second hand clothing is also eco-friendly. Retailers such as Green Baby and Arabella Miller sell a lovely range of clothes. Although they can be a little more expensive in the short-term, fair-trade and organic clothing is made from higher quality materials, so is likely to last longer and can be passed on to other children. They also contain no chemicals and are less likely to cause skin irritations.

The food which you buy for your children can also have an impact on the environment. Buying organic, Fairtrade, unprocessed and ideally local food, perhaps from your nearest farmers market, can reduce your food miles and support your local community. In today’s difficult economic climate, many families have also started to grow their own vegetables. It’s amazing what you can grow even in the smallest space, reducing cost and ensuring you know exactly where your food has come from. For advice on growing your own food, there are many sites you can visit: one of the best is Garden Organic.

Another of the main expenses for children is their toys. Here at Great Green Toys we aim to provide affordable, quality toys that are also eco-friendly. The toys are all made from sustainable resources and there is also a selection of Fair-trade toys. We believe that our toys are made to withstand the bumps and crashes that they will endure. This means that rather being broken within a couple of days – as many plastic toys are – our toys will give your children pleasure for many years.

Eco-parenting choices may seem difficult at first, particularly when money is tight. With careful planning though, you’ll soon see that by making the environmentally-friendly choices, you can get better food, toys, and clothes for your family, and may even save money in the long run.

At no other time in our lives are we more aware of our impact on the environment than when we first have children. Perhaps it is the realisation that our children will have to live with the results of the choices we make regarding the environment. Whatever the reason, by choosing eco-friendly alternatives to your usual purchases, you can make a choice that is better for the environment and perhaps for your child. If you need advice and ideas about making eco-friendly choices there are many websites available such as Babycentre and The Green Parent.

One change that you can easily make is buying eco-friendly toys. So what makes a toy eco-friendly? As a general term it means that the toy causes the minimum harm to the environment, whether it is made from renewable or sustainable resources, whether it is fairly traded or made from recycled materials - it can be one or all of these things.

At Great Green Toys, we love environmentally friendly baby toys and have selected some of the best from a range of manufacturers. They are all high quality, durable products made from renewable and sustainable resources that will be enjoyed and passed on, rather than being thrown away. The products are all ethically produced, painted using non-toxic, preservative-free paint and meet EU standards.

One such manufacturer is ‘I’m Toy’ who make the very cute twisty butterfly and twisty puppy, as well as Tricksy Turtle. These toys with their bright colours and tactile fabrics are ideal for stimulating and developing your baby’s hand-to-eye co-ordination.

There are also the many toys made by Pintoy, whose products are made from rubberwood. The wood comes from trees that have finished producing latex. Once cut down, the trees are replaced and so the wood is both a renewable and sustainable resource. If you are looking for a first rattle there are some lovely ones to choose from, such as the Pintoy Smile Rattle or Geo rattles. Babies love the tactile surface of the wood and their movements are rewarded by a lovely tinkling bell.

As well as wooden toys, there is the Kenana Knitters range. These lovely knitted animals are fairly traded and made from local wool by a group of women in Kenya.

Our lifestyle choices as parents have a great influence on our children so if you would like to foster a sense of ‘shopping with a conscious’ in your children, help minimise your impact on the environment and buy beautiful, long-lasting toys, why not start them off young and have a look at our range of baby toys at Great Green Toys?

Article by Bridgette Barrett

Fairtrade is something that most people are now familiar with and this is reflected in the 55% increase in sales of fair trade products over the last year. Many of us make a conscious effort in our food shopping to buy fair trade products – particularly coffee, tea and chocolate – in the hope that by doing so producers receive a fair price for their product.

The fairtrade mark that we are all familiar with was set up in 1992 by the Fair Trade Foundation, although the history of paying a fair price for products goes back to the 1960s, it didn’t become part of popular culture until the late 1980’s. As a supplier of eco-friendly toys, Great Green Toys supports the fair trade movement as the fair trade toymakers ensure that workers receive a fair price for the goods they make.

Fair trade also helps communities plan for the future by guaranteeing an income to each worker and helping to provide clean and safe working environments as well as fostering social and environmental projects.

Many toys that you pick up from the shelves in the high streets are manufactured in countries where there are no guarantees regarding working conditions and fair wages. Buying Fairtrade does not mean compromising on style or quality in fact just the opposite. Here at Great Green Toys, we are proud to sell a range of toys to help promote fair trade as an alternative to the mass-produced toys on the High Street.

Set up in 1998 to help rural women in Kenya, the Kenana Knitters range is a particular favourite of ours. The wool, which comes in shades of brown, cream and grey, is produced locally, bought by the group and then knitted into these wonderful soft toy animals. The money earned by the group goes directly to the women who are then able to improve their quality of life and that of their families. Each of the toys is handmade and no two are alike, making them a unique gift. They all bear the CE mark, and come with information about the Kenana Knitters project and the woman who made it.

Another option is the beautiful range of wooden products from ‘Wood Like To Play’. All of the toys from this range are handcrafted in Sri Lanka from sustainable wood sources. Our favourite wooden jigsaw is the beautifully crafted butterfly puzzle and the popular tractor puzzle. As well as being educational, they will look fantastic in any child’s bedroom or playroom.

So why not make a statement and buy Fairtrade toys this Christmas. Not only will they look beautiful, give excellent play value and last longer than many plastic toys, but they will also help the producers and their communities by paying them a fair price for their products.

Article by Bridgette Barrett

The report found that the PS3 and 360 both contained “very high” levels of chemicals, called phthalates, which are used to “soften” flexible materials like wires and cable coatings and Greenpeace is urging all technology firms to take immediate action to eliminate toxic chemicals from products.

These phthalates are not permitted in toys sold in the UK and Europe but apparently under EU regulations games consoles are not classed as toys. Al-Hajj said: “For us this is still a toy – and whether or not it’s a toy, we do not want these chemicals in our products.”

A Nintendo spokesman said “In order to ensure our products are safe for use by young children we also take into consideration the standards applicable to toys.”

You can see the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7407934.stm