I Finally Found An Eco-Friendly + Ethical Wooden Toddler Activity Cube (And I'm a Bit Obsessed)
Let’s talk about wooden toys. My parents invested in heaps of them during my own childhood. I can still see our old abacus, our slightly misaligned bead coaster, and (of course) the gigantic bin of Lincoln Logs, all sitting in the playroom of my youth. Each toy was wonderfully scratched, bitten, and occasionally re-sanded (thanks dad!) by the time it was finally handed down to me.
I came from a rather large family and sequentially inheriting those wooden toys from my siblings felt like a rite of passage. I loved it.
Knowing my past, it’s no wonder I have a special place in my heart for wood playthings. Once Baby “A” started approaching the 12-month-mark, I was already enthusiastically compiling a catalog of wooden toys I’d hope to share with her one day.
Getting an activity cube was at the top of my list.
I wanted something whimsical but also heirloom-durable. It also needed to be sustainably sourced, so, an FSC seal was a must—I didn’t want to exploit a rainforest in the name of Baby “A”. Ethically-treated workers and third-party safety testing also topped my list.
Surprisingly, finding an activity cube that met all five of these basic criteria, was rather tough. It actually took three late-night-nursing-and-googling sessions before I stumbled across EverEarth.
EverEarth
EverEarth is a family owned wooden toy manufacturer that’s been around since the 1970’s. I love their Plant-A-Tree program. Basically, every time you purchase one EverEarth toy, they plant one tree in their own 20,000 acre FSC-Certified forest. It’s pretty neat. They’ll even send you a certificate for your tree, which a great sustainability-conversation starter with your family. While I went for bold and bright colors for this activity cube (it matches her nursery better) I thought it was lovely that EverEarth has a toned-down and more neutral collection you can opt for instead.
What I ordered | The Garden Activity Cube
What I Love About It | First off, the beechwood used in this cube is stunning! It’s grain is almost effervescent and looks lovely. Plus, the whole thing feels really rather hardy. Yes, please!
This activity cube is packed with all sorts of things: a magnetized geometric shape sorter, counting beads, spinning gears, a wire coaster and a peg maze (that’s topped with adorable bees, snails, and butterflies). I loved that EverEarth added a large hole in the bottom of the activity cube. It’s a brilliant and oh-so-easy way to insert some weights inside the cube once your baby tries using it as a stand support. My not-so-engineering-savvy self appreciates that this activity cube came already preassembled.
Good To Knows | I ended up adding a protective plastic layer to both the shapes and the single side of the magnetized geometric shape sorter. This was mostly a preemptive measure just in case those little magnets somehow become unattached and baby “A” sticks one in her mouth. You can get the plastic sheet here and just cut them in shapes to fit. EverEarth did send a white cotton baggy to put the magnetized shapes, which a nice alternative if you’d rather just leave them in the bag.
Here’s a picture of the magnetized geometric shapes to give you a bit more reference on what I’m talking about.
Price | Under $80
Ethics | I had an opportunity to message back and forth with with EverEarth’s Mike McGee (he visits the EverEarth factories in person) and he shared how each factory is not only a certified member of the International Sedex Global Organization, but also, how the factories provide social insurance and overtime pay to each worker. EverEarth owns multiple organic farms, and provides healthy organic food for their workers. They also built-in break room facilities for their workers that include basketball and badminton.
EverEarths factories are also OCHAS 18001 compliant, which is just a fancy way of saying the company voluntarily underwent standardization to make sure they are up to snub for health and safety wise. They also help educate the villagers who live and work in their EWG forest with training on: Forestry Management, Solar Energy and Water and Soil Protection.
Sustainability | As mentioned earlier, EverEarth owns their very own an FSC sustainable wood forest. They also use solar energy for all of their water heating—which EverEarth estimates will cut down on 1,653 tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the course of the next 10 years. They even find uses for their sawdust “waste” by upcycling and selling it as fertilizer to local mushroom farms.
EverEarth utilizes natural lighting as much as possible with large ceiling windows in all of their factories and uses high efficiency bulbs.
Their facilities also hold many certifications, including ISO 14064 Greenhouse Gas Calculation, ISO 14001 Environmental Management.
Every EverEarth facility also has a recycle program for glass, paper, aluminum, plastic and batteries. EverEarth’s packaging is made from recycled materials and can also then be recycled again. They use low-impact, water-based dyes that are safer for both your kiddos and the workers.
Last but not least, when you register any EverEarth toy on their website you join in the EverEarth sustainability movement. Every toy registered = one tree planted. Here’s the easy-peasy registration process.
I was so impressed with all their green initiatives (and how gorgeously it’s displayed on the packaging) I couldn’t help but snap a couple of pictures of it all:
Confession: I also ended up buying this adorable shape sorter box from EverEarth too. I just loved the quality of their activity center and all the colors on this box matched the activity cube too.
Baby “A” hasn’t quite figured out how to put shapes in the box, but she does enjoy nibbling on the wood pentagon piece. So, that’s a win.
Whew, this was a bit of a longer post. But, I hope that it comes in handy for you, especially when trying to find ethical and sustainable wooden toys for your own babies.
Do you have any wooden toy companies that you love? Message me and my sister on Instagram @CalmandChic and we’ll try to test them out too!
XOXO,
Lemon
