I was wondering if you could let us in on the reasoning behind this??

We love wooden and cloth toys, but we also have some plastic ones as well....

I would really love to hear your thoughts on the matter...

Thanks!! :)

I think perhaps some of the mamas are concerned about the phthylates (sp?) in the plastic leaching out?

Other mamas may just want to be "plastic free" for the principle of it :)

I prefer to look at the toy itself - is it a toy that encourages imaginative play? If so, then it's probably in our toy box regardless.

I do have to share how upset I was the other night at Victoria's birthday party. Her godmother (who nursed 3 little ones) actually gave her, among other nice things, a set of plastic baby bottles & told her she could use them to feed her babydolls. Sigh... she KNOWS I don't like bottles (even though I had to use them with my first two kids when they were being supplemented). I have gone out of my way to try to encourage play that does not include disposable diapers, baby bottles, pacifiers, etc. & instead have child size slings, no cribs (so babydolls can co-sleep - LOL), cloth diapers, etc.. Thanks for letting me get that out!!
:vent:

We've got wooden shape sorting barns and playsilks right next to plastic stacking cups and a rubber ducky... I'd love to have the extra cash to buy more *natural* type toys, but a lot of our stuff is second hand (read: recycled! *lol*)...

But, I don't like bleeping, flashing toys much at all. The only battery operated thing in the toypile is Nico's power-drill!

I had never heard of anything leaking out of plastic toys though. That's kind of scary, huh?? Anyone have more info on this??

We don't have plastic toys. Well, we do have some shovels outside and a set of legos that we keep on the back porch. I don't like the off gassing or toxins in plastics. We try to keep our home as plastic free as possible, not just toys. I don't want my kids chewing on them when they are babies, so we definitely don't have any plastic baby toys. They don't really play with the legos, those are on their way to goodwill. I also just don't like the look or feel of them. I think I would be called a wooden toy snob.

The best way to offset the cost of natural toys is to not have tons of toys. My kids have plenty to play with but I think they have much less than the average kid. They don't have a bedroom or playroom, so all their toys are in the living area (we have a living room/sewing area/dining room/kitchen combo, the whole downstairs is one room) so it sure looks like they have lots of stuff.

We try to be platic toy free, but it isn't easy ;) Other people buy them for my kids. I also have some toys from when Marina was younger and I wasn't as educated. Unfortunantly My boys love their fischer price garage thing...so I can't get rid of it.

I don't like plastic because of the toxins and I just don't like the idea of plastic that much.

I agree that the way to keep the price down is to just not have as many toys.

Little children are just learning about the world - they are so impressionable. They are little sponges and take in everything - physically and spiritually. I would rather have them holding/experiencing natural things than artificial things. A plastic brick has no "life force" (or whatever you'd like to call it) - a tree does. Try it yourself - get a groovy rock and a lego and hold one in each hand. Which would you rather hold?

And, many (not all) wood toys are so beautiful - I like the things that ds plays with to be aesthetically pleasing. That said, we do have some plastic toys, although I give away most of the plastic toys that relatives buy the kids. Conversly, I think that some wooden toys are no better than their plastic counterparts - and some plastic toys can be okay.

I feel that what is most important is the environment that you create for your children. A healthy play environment can take many forms and is unique to the needs and beliefs of the family.

Well, there are lots of reasons - what Allison said is true for us too. I *try* to keep as plastic-free home as I can. It ain't easy, but I try. We saw a documentary about chemicals in everyday life on PBS and in it, they showed people whose finger bones had been disolved from the tips inward from making poly-vinyl-chloride - PVC. What are most plastic toys made from? PVC plastic. When hard, it is supposedly inert, but I don't want to chew on it and I don't want my kids chewing on it either.
As far as the expense, most of Eli's wood toys are second hand. I bought some off e-bay (got very lucky and got a lot for like $9) and most of the rest came from Goodwill. And then, he just has fewer toys, but he's not lacking anything either. Last year, I just told everyone, "Please no plastic toys." and even encouraged some relatives NOT to bring pesents at birthday and holidays because, like we always tell Eli, "People are gifts in and of themselves." Of course then he'd say, "Did you bring me a present or are you it?" LOL Oh well...we try.
Now, people have forgotten my request and he got a few plastic things for his birthday. But, plastic breaks so easily, I'm sure they won't last long. Eli even says, "Can I have my real helicopter instead of this yucky plastic one?" And we've taught him that his wooden toys will last and not break very easily, but cheaper plastic ones will break and have to be thrown away.
Some people think we're depriving Eli from the bright-flashing-lights and loud clanging noises that come along with lots of plastic toys, but oh well...that's just how it goes.
We do have plastic toys outside - sandbox is plastic (couldn't decide which was worse - treated lumber or plastic) and his shovels are plastic.
HTH some!

Oh and I really like the Waldorf notion of only giving children things made of natural substances as toys as well.

I won't repeat what's already been said but here is a thread you might find helpful about alternatives for tub and beach. http://www.amitymama.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26447&highlight=tub

definitely no infant plastic toys beacause babies chew on them and i'm terrified of stuff leaching out of them. I also don't like that plastic off gases. We try to avoid plastic in general at our house too so if there is an alternative we use it instead. Our family and friends know that we will not accept plastic toys. I make a lot of our toys so it isn't so expensive to have all natural toys.

I am trying to do away with all plastic toys in the house. It's really difficult to get rid of ALL plastic, (Im typing on a plastic keyboard right now) and my sewing machines are plastic cased, etc.. but for toys, the more research I do the more I realize how important this is. I guess my reasons are because asthetically, I prefer the look of wood. And creatively, I think it's more inspiring to have a bunch of blocks than some lights and bells plastic contraption. I did'nt always feel this way, Ive been progressing. I actually had a FP Whirling Twirling Garden :o and my third reason is that I don't like the idea of the non-renewable resources that are wasted to produce plastic toys (or plastic anything).

As for getting good prices on wood toys, there are many ways. Stores like TJMaxx or Marshalls have great deals on brands like Plan Toys. But I also follow the quality not quantity mindset. I think a few really good natural toys are a lot better than a lot of cheap plastic. There was a place online, ABC Distributing I think, that had some good deals on wooden toys. I'll see if I can dig out the link. They had some really adorable stuff and for less than 100$ you could get enuogh to replace all the plastic. I havent bought from them since we are definately at maximum capacity here. Anyway, just tossing my 2cents out ;)

some Brio train stuff leftover from my older kids, some wood puzzles various size balls, a pop pop pop push toy (some plastic in it.....got it because he was in love with another child's one he saw) and a lot of books.

Mostly he makes his own toys out of various things he finds around the house and so this is why we are rather plastic toy free.........just happened that way.

about phylalates sp?? on www.toymobile.com. I think she has a link to it under her company info page .... I know I have seen other wood toy companies provide links as well but since Sue is a friend hers is on the top of my mind...
:)Jenn

http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=138

Originally posted by gabrielbaby
I am trying to do away with all plastic toys in the house. It's really difficult to get rid of ALL plastic, (Im typing on a plastic keyboard right now) and my sewing machines are plastic cased, etc..

Yes! This is why I try to eliminate any plastics that I can. There is no way to avoid them altogether (well, I guess you could but you would have to get rid of most of your home) so I try to avoid any I can. We don't NEED plastic toys, so plastic toys aren't welcome here. We don't NEED plastic storage containers, so they aren't welcome here either, etc. If I can find a glass or metal alternative, I use that.

My other issue with plastic is that it is so stinking bad for the environment. The manufacturing of it pollutes, 99% of it is not recyclable and it doesn't decompose. I try to eliminate as much as possible.

Out of curiosity, what do all the anti-plastic mamas have their toddlers drink from (besides breasts :p )? I couldn't imagine giving even my three-year old a glass to drink from, so what alternatives are there?

Eli has a ceramic coffee mug - child's sized - that's been amazingly resiliant and several enamelware cups (metal covered with ceramic (?) enamel) that look like camping stuff. I don't remember where we got them, but any place that sells camping stuff would have them.
We've also just taught him to be careful when he drinks. No drinks - other than water - outside the kitchen and he knows that if he drops the ceramic cup, it'll break.
We do occaisionally use plastic cups while traveling, but I'm all about minimizing their exposure to plastic whenever and wherever I can. I can't get a wood computer, but I can use a glass container for juice instead of a plastic one....or buy laundry soap in a recyclable cardboard box rather than a plastic bottle.
My daughter (2.5 mos old) hates riding in the car. The only thing that keeps her happy is sucking on my hand which means I practically have to turn myself inside out to reach my hand to her mouth. My husband said, "We could always just get her a pacifier, just for these trips in the car." because he knows that it's very uncomfortable for me to sit like that...but I said that it might help make me comfortable in the short run, but sucking on plastic could stay with Schuyler for a lifetime and it just isn't worth it.
When she grows out of this stage, I'll just invest in a massage and maybe a new shoulder....LOL.

for mama's that dont' use plastic to store food in what do you use. I haev glass canisters, but in the frig. I can't imagine using only my glass dishes, the lids don't seal or anything???

So what do ya'll use to store pantry & frig. food? Do you use any ziploc bags?

dawn

If anyone is interested in child sized ceramic mugs- I make them...... and it is what I have always used with Akaya and never had a problem. I can't recall her ever breaking one, if anybody has it's been me! :p

Plastics are a hard thing to weed out of the house because like someone said they are used for everything....!.

I don't know if anyone brought up this arguement but since it is an issue dear to my heart I will. Plastics take jobs aways from traditional craftsmen and artists which makes it much harder for people like glassblowers, wooden toy makers and of course potters to make a living (In the same way that disposables take away from the economy of wham-made cloth diapers). The price for such goods is considerable lower when make from plastic and items can me mass produced much more quickly. For some reason, plastic toys accumulate in our house as gifts for Akaya. We go through and rid the house of them but her birthday and Christmas seem to produce another downfall no matter how many times we have asked the relatives to stop! They seem to produce much more clutter in my house than her wooden toys and plus she hardly plays with them.
My mother finally found this retired man who makes wooden toys for kids at really reasonable rates and I am so happy! Maybe you could find someone in your area that makes toys as a hobby- it might be a more economical way to buy them?????

Originally posted by Wendydagny
Out of curiosity, what do all the anti-plastic mamas have their toddlers drink from (besides breasts :p )? I couldn't imagine giving even my three-year old a glass to drink from, so what alternatives are there?

My kids (16 months and almost 4) drink from glasses. We have some small (really small) size glasses for them, all bought from goodwill or garage sales, not sure where you can get glasses that small retail. Even dropped on the kitchen floor, they aren't going to break. They also eat from pottery and have glass bowls.

Originally posted by DawnMM
for mama's that dont' use plastic to store food in what do you use. I haev glass canisters, but in the frig. I can't imagine using only my glass dishes, the lids don't seal or anything???

So what do ya'll use to store pantry & frig. food? Do you use any ziploc bags?

dawn

I store leftovers and bulk food in canning jars of various sizes. I also have some small glass bowls with lids that I store things in. I freeze what I can in canning jars also. I do use ziplock to freeze in on occasion though - like I said, I have successfully eliminated ALL plastic.

I'm watching this thread with fascination; WTG mamas! I've just recently become convicted about trying to avoid as much plastic as possible, more for the environmental impact it has, but the offgassing thing definately merits a closer look. So, my question is how do you tell the grandmas, etc, that you'd prefer no plastic or limited plastic, without offending? I mean sheesh, MOST baby toys available (esp. here, where it seems walmart is THE place to shop :rolleyes: ) are plastic. FTR, our parents do NOT shop online. We do have TJ Maxx though, and I know I've seen some nice toys there.

Okay, here is a visual.

These are Ara's glasses and bowls. I also use the fatter glasses and the bowls for storage. They are old jelly jars, I bought them with metal lids that slip on.

http://www.araspants.com/images/glasses.jpg

And here is my pantry, notice I do have plastic bags from the bulk section at the coop. I do bring glass jars that I can refill, but sometimes I buy things that I don't have a jar for.

http://www.araspants.com/images/pantry.jpg

Originally posted by arasmama
Okay, here is a visual.

These are Ara's glasses and bowls. I also use the fatter glasses and the bowls for storage. They are old jelly jars, I bought them with metal lids that slip on.

http://www.araspants.com/images/glasses.jpg

And here is my pantry, notice I do have plastic bags from the bulk section at the coop. I do bring glass jars that I can refill, but sometimes I buy things that I don't have a jar for.

http://www.araspants.com/images/pantry.jpg


I love the little eyes peeking up in the second picture! Too cute!

We also use recycled glass jars and canning jars (the kind with hinged lids) that I pick up at thrift shops. I do use zip lock freezer bags for storing dry goods like flour. we have such terrible insect problems down here that even glass with screw on lids still gets ants. But anything wet or cooked goes into glass or metal.

we have a couple plastic water containers for when we go out but for at home they have always used coffee mugs from a prett yyoung age and that's just cuz i hate trying to wash those tubes n'stuf in the lids (i'm convinced they never really come clean)

http://archive.greenpeace.org/~comms/pvctoys/index.html

Also, I usually find all my wood toys at thrift stores or garage sales. Last week I got a Swedish pull toy and a wood dump truck for a $1.50 :)

Hope this helps.

I'm really trying to come to a balance with this in our home right now.

When Ethan was younger, I was adament that there be no plastic toys in our home. Now that everything doesn't go straight to the mouth, I've caved in a little bit.

So now a set of small plastic dinosaurs and jungle animals have made their way into our toy collection, to join the dreaded Matchbox cars that DS truly would go into withdrawal without :eyes: . Seriously, we can't go anywhere without a bag of his little cars *sigh*.

I've tried to step back to focus on the quality of the play that they toys facilitate. If they were noisy, light-flashing battery powered things, I don't think I could deal, even if DS loved it. (He has toys like this bought by grandparents, and my rule is that they stay at *their* house). But the matchbox cars and plastic dinosarus I can live with. I wish I had the $$ to replace all the animals with beautiful wooden ones (we got some gorgeous wooden farm animals from grandparents for christmas last year, they're *awesome*).

Anyway, I've gone off on another tangent *lol*. I just discovered this forum today and am really enjoying it!

I recently invested $30 in Pyrex glassware, like a substitute for rubbermaid/tupperware type stuff. They do have (thick) plastic lids, but that doesn't touch the food, so it's an ok compromise for me, and certainly less offgassing than saran wrap, and less problematic than aluminum foil. I got about 12 different containers from large to small for $30 at costco. They can go in the oven and freezer, too. We do store lots of leftovers -- dh likes to cook a whole batch and we eat for several days from it -- so it was worth the investment to me.

Here's a link with a pic:

Pyrex Storage Deluxe (http://www.surprise.com/kitchen_and_housewares/housewares/Pyrex_6-Piece_Round_Storage_Deluxe_Set.cfm)

For the kids, we use the half-pint jelly jars, we got 12 for $3.99 at Big Lots. We are transitioning from plastic bowls and plates to ceramic right now...that isn't completed yet. Some of the teeny Pyrex storage rounds are good for bowls for them. I do change the bowls/plates as soon as they get scratched or worn-looking; I got them at IKEA so they were cheap. We are going to buy a set of Corelle dishes for them (relatively cheap, very sturdy) as soon as we can afford to. We ourselves eat off of MIL's hand-thrown pottery..we are lucky to get as much pottery as we want, for free. I may have to convince her to make some kid-sized bowls and plates and mugs! If anyone wants some, PM or e-mail me, seriously, I will ask her if she can make them, and at a reasonable price, if there is interest.

Also, about food containers, Restoration Hardware used to have glass food containers that were similar to those disposable square Glad containers. They were all glass, even the lids, and were stackable, made by Anchor Hocking I think. I tried just now to find them on their website and couldn't, but maybe they're still in the catalog?

I"ve seen the Anchor Hocking glass refridgerator containers at Longs Drugs and (gasp) Wallyworld, they look really nice, ohj and i think i first saw them at cooking.com

"And here is my pantry, notice I do have plastic bags from the bulk section at the coop. I do bring glass jars that I can refill, but sometimes I buy things that I don't have a jar for."

I have a question. How do you figure out how much something weighs when you put it in a glass jar at the coop. I buy lots of bulk stuff and hate to use their plastic bags but it seems like you would be paying a lot more money for the extra weight of your own container.

Thanks so much,
Cary

I know at whole foods you can have them pre-weigh your container & they will take that off when paying


Dawn

legos (that I've STOPPED cleaning up before I vacuum years ago...and strangely enough, the bin is getting smaller and smaller...my son is definently warned to clean them up, and understands that if they are on the floor, they will be vacuumed up), playmobil (same thing happens with the playmobil), our Brio Mec set is part plastic, and so are some of our bath toys. The legos and Playmobil are toys that I bought 8ish years ago, and haven't bought more, and won't.

We do have plastic bins to put toys in because my son has a pretty severe dust allergy, and wicker is just a MAGNET for dust.

One thing we don't do, that lots of wooden toy doers do is all the play kitchen wood food. We just use sticks, rocks and other things. I think it inspires more creative play. A wooden corn on the cob, is always going to be a wooden corn on the cob. A stick from a recent nature walk, can be a corn on the cob, a perch for a bird, a spoon..whatever!

We do use some "tupperware" sorts of things, but just what I need to use as I increase our stash of glass (and replace the ones the kids have broken!)

I do use those plastic tippy cups for the car (but am now wondering if the plastic lids for those...they just snap on...would fit any of our glasses), but otherwise we've always used glass/ceramic. Restaurant dishes are the most durable, and can either be bought new at a restaurant suppy place, or used at a thrift store.

One thing that I just won't do in wood is a high chair. I did that once, and man...it was ALWAYS disgusting! SO hard to keep clean. So I just opt for a used cheap plastic one, and send it back to Goodwill when I'm done with it. :)

I LOVE Stacy's post in the other thread...fancy wood toys are cool, but it's probably even better for the environment to just let them play with a box! :)

Of course you belong here, Margaret!!

This has been a very interesting thread!!

Originally posted by Cary
I have a question. How do you figure out how much something weighs when you put it in a glass jar at the coop. I buy lots of bulk stuff and hate to use their plastic bags but it seems like you would be paying a lot more money for the extra weight of your own container.

Thanks so much,
Cary

At our coop, you just weigh the container in the bulk section and tell the person at check out how much to subtract. If you forgot to weigh it, they will even guess for you and subtract that much.

Just to bring up an old thread : )

I have to ad another reason for not buying plastic - it's made in part from petroleum. Most of out petroleum comes from out of this country and really unspeakably bad things have happened to people to get it. So it's not just health, not just the environment, but it's also an issue of global justice.

I think it was a Mama on the main boards (or mothering.com) who pointed that out to me! It's really stuck in my head ever since I read it.

As for weighing at the co-op, normally you have to weigh the jar before and mark it's weight then weigh it again after you've filled it.

*edited to add* To clean wicker of dust, put wicker in shower and hose down well, allow to air dry in the sun. I have asthma and dust totally triggers it. I just about cried with joy the day I saw Ms Martha show that segment on TV.

Originally posted by ESMcKeeman
Just to bring up an old thread : )

*edited to add* To clean wicker of dust, put wicker in shower and hose down well, allow to air dry in the sun. I have asthma and dust totally triggers it. I just about cried with joy the day I saw Ms Martha show that segment on TV.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Ms. Martha makes me want to gag, but I would have tolerated that show to learn that tip! :smirk:

I am so thankful that you posted that tip! I have asthma too and also tons of allergies and one reason why I stopped using wicker was cleaning off the dust!!

Happy day!

Hugs and Bright Blessings and THANKS!

(((((

Michelle