Top 25 Green Gifts for Kids

Just in time for the holiday season, here is my top 25 list of eco-friendly toys and goodies for kids. The items listed here range in price from $5 to $3,000 with most in the $15-$25 range. Almost all items are gender neutral with toys for infants up to age 10.

From sliding boards of corrugated cardboard to dolls that give birth, today’s green gifts go way beyond simple handmade crafts. Check out the products below and you’ll see that nowadays, giving green can be pretty darn cool!

• ECO-FRIENDLY HEIRLOOM STUFFED ANIMALS from Rope Swing Studio,* $5-$35. Creator Elizabeth Swing scours thrift shops for gently used fabrics that she repurposes into uniquely designed stuffed animals. 90% of her animals are made from recycled materials and she’s aiming for 100%. Materials range from muslin to yarn to cotton to recycled sweaters! Each adorable animal has its own name and story; Elizabeth will even custom make one for you. (I’m giving one to my niece for Christmas!)

• VEGGIE SIDEWALK CHALK from Uncommon Goods, $12. Regular chalk is not good for kids who often ingest its chemical powders. This safe sidewalk chalk is made from organic materials: rice cereal, rice flour and vegetable powder. The colors come from natural garden ingredients: hibiscus, turmeric, spinach and paprika.

 

• CONGO BASIN CHESS by Terra Toys, $18. All the fun of chess, but with wild animals. This version introduces kids to endangered species and conservation. Made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) packaging, FSC beech wood and soy inks. A portion of the proceeds supports World Wildlife Fund.

 

• PIRATE PIG BLANKET AND RATTLE GIFT SET from Apple Park, $20. Made with 100% organic cotton and corn fiber fill. Minimal packaging uses soy inks. Penny Pig (in pink) also available.

 

• Tegu MAGNETIC WOODEN CAR, $34.98. Made from Honduran hardwoods and water-based finishes, this car snaps together with the safely embedded magnets of Tegu Blocks. Tegu uses socially responsible business practices and helps the Honduran community through education and reforestation.

 

• MamAmor HANDCRAFTED BIRTHING AND BREASTFEEDING DOLLS, $30-$200. These are about the coolest dolls I’ve ever seen. Handcrafted from quality fabrics, bamboo and alpaca wools, these unique, educational dolls demonstrate natural bonding (babywearing), birth (including VBAC) and breastfeeding (baby snaps on to Mom’s breast). Doll features can be customized and offer additional clothing and accessories.

 

• SPARKLE STORIES ORIGINAL AUDIO STORIES, $6 per story; $7/month for yearly subscription. Fill your imagination instead of your toybox with high-quality audio stories for families and children ages 3-9+. How green is that? Makes a unique one-time gift, or buy the subscription to download a new story each week. Choose from a variety of story themes.

 

• HAND-WOVEN ROUND-AND-ROUND SEAT SWING™ from Magic Cabin, $99. I want this swing! Hand-woven of heavy-duty rope, this swing could keep your kids outdoors for hours. It accommodates a variety of positions and up to 110 pounds.

 

• PUSHAROUND CAR AND GREENRING TEETHER SET from BeginAgain, $21.60. Car made from a single piece of earth-friendly rubber wood. Teether made from beech wood encircled by corn starch bio-resin. Great for motor skills development.

 

• HARVEST HOP COUNTING GAME by Melissa and Doug*, $6.17. Press and spin game with four card games in one. Read my detailed review of this item from last month. I think of Harvest Hop as a game for preschool kids, but Sofie keeps asking me to play it with her!

• THE LORAX MOVIE, $14.99. What better message for the earth than this? Watch the story of the Lorax, a furry creature who speaks for the trees, and Ted, a boy who, in his quest to impress a girl, ends up saving a town.

 

• MATCH STACKS™ from Tree Hopper Toys, $19.99. This version of the Memory game features 16 wooden discs with unique, colorful designs. Choose from 5 themes: camping, garden, zoo animals, transportation and monsters. Family owned Tree Hopper Toys makes all their own products using sustainable Midwestern woods and 100% wind power.

 

• STONE SOUP BOARD GAME from Peaceable Kingdom Press, $15.99. Like the classic children’s book, the game is a cooperative one where kids work together instead of competing against one another. Stone Soup is a matching game that emphasizes memory and social skills. Peaceable Kingdom also makes several other board games that combine fun with cooperation.
  
• RECYCLED GLASS NIGHT LIGHT from Uncommon Goods, $38. Handmade in Florida, these creature night lights are kiln-formed and fused from rescued glass bottles. Owl, seahorse, fish and pelican also available.

 

• LET’S GO TO THE FARMERS’ MARKET from Chronicle Books, $14.99. This kit introduces kids to farmers’ markets with a 28-page booklet, a reusable strawberry tote bag, 20 activity cards and a shopping list pad.

 

• ROLLING RAINBOW ACTIVITY TOY by Wonderworld, $39.99. This toddler toy is made from rubber wood, nontoxic paints and formaldehyde-free glue. Little ones explore sounds and patterns as objects roll down the track. Even the packaging is made from at least 70% recycled paper.

 

• ON THE GO ARTIST KIT from BeginAgain, $25. This 8×10” natural cotton carrying case includes recycled drawing pad, soy crayons, wood pencils and drawing stencils. Perfect for keeping kids busy in restaurants and on road trips.
  

 

• Green Toys™ TOOL SET, $27.99. This 15-piece tool kit is made from recycled milk jugs and is BPA, phthalate and PVC-free. Green Toys™ designs with minimal, 100% recyclable packaging and every aspect of production is done in the USA. Their toys include dishes, blocks, sand toys, cars and trucks, and more!

 

• GREEN DOLL HOUSE by Plan Toys, $216. I wish I’d seen this a few years ago – I would have bought it for Sofie. This doll house educates kids on green living as it comes outfitted with solar panels, a rain barrel, a wind turbine, recycling bins and a moveable shade to adjust sunlight and circulation. What an awesome way to teach kids about energy consciousness! Made from recycled rubber wood and vegetable and soy dyes. Includes furniture for 5 rooms.
  

 

• Tsuchinoco FIBERBOARD PLAY STRUCTURES, $60 - $3,000. Made from a reinforced corrugated fiberboard that’s as strong as wood, earth-friendly Tsuchinoco products are meant to last several years. This is Bob the sliding board tractor. Choose from houses, shelves, tables, rocking horses and more.

 

• EARTHOPOLY by Late for the Sky, $24.95. Based on Monopoly, this board game celebrates our planet as players become caretakers of natural resources and collect Carbon Credits for Clean Air. The company uses recyclable paper, vegetable oil-based inks, reusable cloth and items from nature as the game tokens.

 

• BUTTERFLY A-Z PUZZLE by BeginAgain, $30. Crafted from environmentally friendly rubber wood and non-toxic paints, this two-sided puzzle teaches upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.

• ECO-FRIENDLY STICKERS from Box Play for Kids*, $7.00 - $10.00. These 100% recycled stickers turn cardboard into toys! Designed specifically for toilet paper rolls, macaroni boxes, milk and egg cartons, it’s a great way to repurpose items that would otherwise get tossed. Makes a great stocking stuffer. Click here for a giveaway on some of these stickers!

 

• BRAILLE AND SIGN LANGUAGE BLOCKS from Uncommon Goods, $33. Handcrafted from sustainable Michigan basswood and non-toxic inks, this set of 28 blocks features the traditional alphabet as well as American Sign Language symbols and embossed Braille letters. Other block sets also available: foreign languages, Egyptian hieroglyphics, periodic table and American presidents.

 

• WOODEN SLINGSHOT, $7.99. I wouldn’t usually promote a slingshot as an excellent toy gift, but this one shoots seed bombs! Seed bombs (sold separately from $4.99-$11.99) are a compressed soil and seed mixture that turn wasted spaces into gardens of flowers and food. Each seed bomb contains hundreds of seeds in either wildflower, salad greens or herbs.