Sustainable Fun with Eco-Right Toys and Games

Since this is Earth Week 2012, the increased environmental awareness provides The Giggle Guide^® with an opportunity to share some eco-friendly toy companies and their products. Isn’t it appropriate that toys and games which are marketed for children are manufactured and packaged in ways that protect and preserve the world for them? Help support toys and games made with sustainable, recyclable materials, using safe dyes, inks and paints. Here are some recommendations: Green & Groovy Crafts, DoodleTown Toys, Tegu and Green Toys.

Trash or Treasure? Create a Difference with Green & Groovy Crafts

Green & Groovy Crafts provides easy, hands-on entertainment for kids of all ages. Each 64-page book includes items kids can add to their own recyclable materials to create hundreds of projects. Each book has 75 to 200 craft ideas. The books are printed on recycled paper with soy ink. There are even instructions on how to recycle the blister packaging. All the projects have easy-to-follow instructions and photos of the finished pieces.

Green & Groovy Crafts currently offers selection of seven kits. Boy-Made Handmade Toys and Stuff for Boys is filled with excellent young guy toys from swords and sabers to fishing rods, ant farms and tiny pocket games. Packed with more than 70 engaging projects, this kit appeals to boys of most ages.

The Crafty Princess is full of more than 90 royally recycled crafts that little girls will enjoy. The 90+ projects in this kit include how to make regal crowns, bejeweled accessories, plush thrones and crafty castles that come complete with princess party ideas.

Fairy Crafts has hundreds of projects for playing pixies. DIY projects include tree-branch sparkly wands, jingly shoes, enchanting fairy houses, gardens and more.

Garbage Flowers let kids turn trash into cool treasures. Kids learn how to turn junk drawer, toy chest and recycling bin trash into funky treasures in the form of unique “garbage flower” bouquets. They are super simple to make and totally original.

The Lonely Sock Club is a great way to put those lonely socks we all have to good use. More than 100 clever projects go way beyond softies and puppets. Fashionable scarves, fingerless gloves, cool housewares and great gifts give single socks a renewed purpose.

Things That Go! features 74 super-cool projects that turn trash into transportation. Amazing cars and trucks (that really roll!), planes, spacecraft, boats and more are all fabricated from materials right out of the recycling bin. The more than 60 projects also include building playscapes for these working vehicles.

CAP-tivating Crafts has hundreds of fun things to transform using lids, caps and bottle tops. Turn bottle caps and jar lids into tiny worlds, cute creatures, funky jewelry, and quirky decor.

One kid’s trash is another one’s treasure. So help renew and replenish ways for children to have sustainable fun at www.greenandgroovycrafts.com

DoodleTown Toys are Powered by Kid’s Energy

DoodleTown Toys has provided two generations with nostalgic designs and individually handcrafted toys. Their classic, Little Toys for Little Hands, received the 2011 Best Classic Toy and Best Green Toy award as well as the Preferred Choice Award from Creative Child magazine. The fun designs of their toys have a “warm, cozy” feel because of the signature rounded edges and the size that is just right for little hands to develop motor skills and dexterity as well as simple shape recognition.

DoodleTown toys encourage play and build fond memories. The Little Toys for Little Hands Collection features vehicles designed to fit perfectly in little hands. All made from 100% sustainably-harvested northern pine, and include Little Hands Car, Copter, Dozer, Grader, Pickup, Plane, Toot and Tractor. These toys are sold separately or as a complete set with a handy tote bag. For larger hands there is a series of Trucks and Trains that includes the Load-n-Go Truck, Semi Truck & Trailer, Toot-n-Coal Tender and the Wood-n-Toot.

The Name Train Collection contains colorful alphabet letters with loads of personality. Each animated image is silkscreened onto natural train cars and has a child safe finish. The sturdy Name Train cars link together and the wheels roll for realistic play. Each wooden piece is hand crafted, sanded, routed and available in 11 colors.

Cleo the Frog and Gertie the Grasshopper are pull toys that delight small children as they become able to walk and grasp toys. Every pull toy is individually handcrafted and finished with natural oil. The process of gluing and pressure fitting each part assures parents that this natural toy is child safe. All toys are made in the U.S.A.

For traditional toys that never cease to entertain the young, keep the classics in store: www.doodletowntoys.com

Tegu Helps Build a Better Future

Tegu is a company that started with a question: “What about a for-profit company based in Honduras that would create a positive social impact through business?” The answer to that question became Tegu –– a creative business founded to address unemployment, under-utilized natural and human resources and the need for entrepreneurship in Honduras.

Tegu believes creativity and imagination are a child’s best friends; when combined, they yield remarkable results. Tegu operates their business with a strong sense of accountability to its community, which includes their employees, customers, shareholders, supply chain partners and ultimately the broader society in which they live. They strive to be accountable in every aspect of Tegu’s business: company practices, working conditions, environmental responsibility, social impact, product design, safety and more.

Best of all, Tegu’s beautiful blocks provide showstopper fun. The magnetic wooden blocks in mahogany, natural or tinted pastels called Tegu Tints, appeal to children and adults alike. Their new mobility collection includes magnetic wheels to make creations roll. These addictive building sets will inspire creativity and their website even allows for creators of all ages to showcase their masterpieces in a feature called Show n’ Tell.

Here are building blocks to help build a better future: www.tegu.com

Got Green Toys? See Why They Have Milk Jugs!

Green Toys are 100% made in the U.S.A., more specifically in California, a state known for strict toy safety and environmental laws. Green Toys products are truly local creations. Every step in the process, from milk container recycling to toy production to final assembly, occurs in California. Their raw materials and toys aren’t shipped from overseas, which saves a lot of energy and reduces greenhouse gasses.

Green Toys’ environmental mission even extends to their packaging. They strive to minimize packaging, and use as little material as possible when making their boxes. All Green Toys products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable.

The main ingredients in Green Toys are recycled milk jugs which are reprocessed into clean, fresh plastic The plastic material is considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around. The recycled milk jugs are transformed into play dish sets, colorful blocks, vehicles big and small, play food, tool sets, gardening kits, jump ropes, tug boats, teethers, stacking toys, sand toys, and of course a toy green recycling truck that is so fitting for this company.

Tap into the milk of human kindness and consideration for the earth at www.greentoys.com