Your baby deserves the world and what better way to start than bringing a few bundles of joy in the form of their favorite toys that are non-toxic and safe for a baby’s wellbeing.
The Australian market is filled with toys for babies but they might not always be safe or promote positive growth for young minds. When looking for the best toys for babies, non-toxic, natural & sustainable are two important factors to look for. Our guide was designed to help parents choose the safest toys for children that are both natural & sustainable to help keep the child engaged for a longer period of time without using materials that have a negative effect on the environment.
The toys below are designed not only to keep babies happy in a safe way but also to help stimulate them and keep them engaged. Through the eye-catching and sensory-invoking toys, your child can practice their focus and coordination by grabbing the toys and playing with them. The key, however, is providing them with a safe, non-toxic, and natural & sustainable way to develop their skills without hindering them. We’ve turned the web outside down to look for the best toys for babies that are both natural & sustainable to ensure your baby gets the best.
How We Researched
We lean heavily on our Toy Design experience to help identify suitable toys that not only offer bundles of fun but also tick other important boxes. In this article, we referenced “Toxic Chemicals in Toys and Children’s Products” to ensure that the toys we selected are not only age specific but are also natural and sustainable.
We looked at different ranges from toy retailers through this lens to help identity what we feel are the best natural toys for babies. After assessing over 40 different toys from 20 toy retailers we were able to reduce this list to the 6 toys in this article.
The Best Toys for Babies: Natural & Sustainable
- Best for Natural Bath Toy: Rubber Lion
- Best for Teething: Kendall The Kale Teether
- Best for Bath Time: Coastguard Boy Boat Bath Toy
- Best for Hand-Eye Coordination: Green Toys Stacker
- Best for Visual Development: Hevea Kawan Natural Rubber Duck
- Best for Motor Skill Development: Baby Key Rattle Toy
Rubber Lion: Best for Natural Bath Toy
Why we love it:
- Designed to be easy to clean
- Made out of 100% eco-friendly materials
- Helps babies practice finger sensories
- Gorgeous design
What skills it helps develop:
- Finger sensory skills
- Identification skills
- Motor skills
The Rubber Lion is a great bath toy to get babies familiar with their fingers while grasping or can even be used as a teether. The details on the lion’s mane are designed to help kids become familiar with smooth and bumpy edges and are good for them to practice their grips and feeling through their fingers. Through an exciting combination of textures, touch, and personality, toddlers are more inclined to become more explorative which helps them develop faster.
The problem with some sensory toys is that they are extremely hard to clean due to too many details it can be hard for soap and cleaning liquid to thoroughly clean the toy. The Rubber Lion, however, is designed to last longer and without holes that could potentially be where mold builds up.
Since babies usually place toys in their mouths, dampness can build up and if not cleaned properly, this can lead to mold. The good thing about the Rubber Lion is that it is intelligently designed to ensure that mold doesn’t start growing in any small corner.
The toy is 100% eco-friendly and is made of rubber sustainably harvested from the Hevea tree. The toy is also hand-painted with plant-based, non-toxic dyes to ensure your kid is completely safe when placing the Rubber Lion in their mouths. The Rubber Lion is also designed using natural latex or rubber and sustainable materials. Not only will parents be providing their children with fun toys to play with, but also do so in a way that doesn’t damage the environment.
Give your child the best by starting off with the safest way for them to practice finger sensories.
Kendall The Kale Teether: Best for Teething
Why we love it:
- Made with eco-friendly materials
- Can handle rough play
- Looks like actual kale
What skills it helps develop:
- Teething skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Color identification
Kendall The Kale Teether is a great toy that’s fun to play with and helps babies control their sore teething gums. When a baby’s teeth start to grow, it can be very uncomfortable, and what better way for them to teeth than with a toy that resembles the exact thing they should put in their mouth, food.
Being able to identify what’s edible and what’s not can be very complicated for babies and hard for parents to teach. With a teething toy that resembles a vegetable, however, babies won’t have a problem learning the difference between food and toys.
The toy is made from 100% natural rubber coming from Hevea trees and is hand-painted with natural food-grade dyes to ensure the toy is safe and non-toxic to place in a baby’s mouth. Although biting just any toy shouldn’t be encouraged, teething can cause a lot of discomfort for babies which is why they need a healthy and safe way to cope with it.
Kendall The Kale Teether is BPA, PVC, phthalates, and nitrosamine free and is designed without holes for bacteria or moisture to be stuck. The teether is also very easy to sterilize and clean by applying warm water or proper cleaning liquid.
The toys are hand-made with love which means that every single one will look slightly different from one another. The toy is extremely easy to grip and is easy for babies to play around to practice their hand-eye coordination.
Teething can be a very uncomfortable experience. Give your kid the best way to deal with this discomfort in the safest way possible.
Coastguard Boat Bath Toy: Best for Bath Time
Why we love it:
- Made with eco-friendly materials
- Can handle rough play
- Looks like actual kale
What skills it helps develop:
- Teething skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Color identification
The Coastguard Boat Bath Toy is the best companion for babies to transform bathtime from a dreaded activity to a fun playtime. Another important advantage of the toy is that it comes with a reforestation program meaning every toy purchased is a step towards helping the world.
Keeping a baby engaged during bath time is not only difficult, but sometimes it just doesn’t work at all unless you have a fun-designed toy to make sure bath time is still playing time. A problem with using just any toy for bathtime is that some toys aren’t designed to get wet and can be very unsafe due to their design.
When a toy isn’t designed for bathtime, it could collect dampness which is a host for bacteria or mold when not cleaned properly. Although the Coastguard Boat Bath Toy has a few holes, it can still be easily cleaned by applying pressure, wiping thoroughly, and leaving out to dry in a safe area.
The toy is designed from sawdust that is then transformed into a waterproof wooden composite making it a sustainable option. The materials used for the Coastguard Boat Bath Toy are non-toxic and easy to clean thus the perfect accompaniment during bathtime.
Make bathtime perfect by giving your baby the best accompaniment for water play.
Green Toys Stacker: Best for Hand-Eye Coordination
Why we love it:
- Ethically manufactured
- Helps babies practice hand-eye coordination
- Easy to clean
What skills it helps develop:
- Hand-eye coordination
- Motor skills
- Grasping skills
- Strength
The Green Toys Stacker is a great toy for kids to practice their hand-eye coordination. While there are many other stacker toys out there, this toy is recycled from yogurt pots and promotes ethical manufacturing processes.
Making a conscious decision to prioritize buying sustainable toys is a great option for parents that also care about the environment. Providing your child with the best development tools is important but parents should also prioritize buying toys that were created in an ethical manner.
Stackers are a great tool for children to practice hand-eye coordination. One of the first skills a baby should learn is how to grasp a toy and control their hands. If a baby struggles with stacking, the stacker can still be used as a bath toy, chewing toy, or even sorting cups.
The Green Toys Stacker is a great toy for kids to practice holding things, throwing things, and later on, placing things together. Every day is a new journey in a child’s development and stackers should play an integral part in it. Babies need to stack toys every day on top of each other to help them improve their fine motor skills.
Stackers are an important part of a child’s development. These toys might not always be ethically manufactured which is why it’s important to choose the most ethically-forward stackers.
Hevea Kawan Natural Rubber Duck: Best for Visual Development
Why we love it:
- Made with eco-friendly non-toxic materials
- Flexible for teething, bathtime, and visual development
- Natural colors make babies focus on details
What skills it helps develop:
- Teething
- Bath play
- Visual development
- Motor skills
- Sensory development
The Hevea Kawan Natural Rubber Duck is a great toy for babies to learn how to identify certain parts. Through finger sensory and recognizable parts, the toy is a great tool to teach babies about the eyes, bills, and wings of a duck aiding vision development.
Details are important for babies to learn how to identify certain features and what better way to do this than with a rubber duck. The rubber ducky is also designed to be a great companion during bath time to keep your baby entertained while getting cleaned.
The Hevea Kawan Natural Rubber Duck is designed without holes from non-toxic materials that are both plastic-free and made from sustainable materials. The toy is designed to be hole-free to help prevent molds from building up. It is also hand-crafted and hand-painted with natural pigments while being manufactured from natural materials making it more durable and compostable at the same time.
The toy is great for three things, playing, teething, and bathing along with helping babies identify certain features of the Hevea Natural Rubber Duck. When it comes to teething, the toy is made out of eco-friendly rubber that is non-toxic in nature and not too hard or too soft to hurt your baby.
The toy is a great gift to give your child or the children of others due to its elegant design, hand-crafted manufacturing process, and durability to last a long time.
Baby Key Rattle Toy: Best for Motor Skill Development
Why we love it:
- Good for motor skill development
- Good toy to bring on trips
- Light and won’t cause harm
- Natural materials so non-toxic
What skills it helps develop:
- Fine motor skills
- Hand-eye coordination
- Grasping skills
The Baby Key Rattle Toy is the perfect tool to help your kid develop their motor skills despite lying down on the bed due to its small size making it perfect to hold. The thing about babies is that they don’t always want to play but when they do, it’s nice to have a toy that’s safe to play around in bed or wherever they may be.
Babies often mimic what they see and are more likely to play with toys that they recognize their parents playing with. The toy is designed to be simple enough for a baby to recognize what the parent is doing and follow suit.
The toy is designed for babies to shake and grab to practice their motor skills. The toy isn’t too tough for a baby to have a hard time teething but is designed to be just soft enough to help soothe sore gums. The Baby Key Rattle Toy is also rubberized enough to not hurt whenever babies accidentally flick the keys around.
The toy is small and light enough for babies to hold but not small enough for them to swallow. The Baby Key Rattle Toy is made of rubberwood trees with water-based dyes, organic pigments, and even formaldehyde-free glues to ensure the safety of your baby when placing the toy in their mouth.
Compared to some toys in the market, the Baby Key Rattle Toy is tested in order to meet both US and EU toy standards to ensure the safety of your child. The toy can easily be brought along during road trips, strolls, and playtime on the bed or crib.
The early stages of your child’s motor skills are critical. Start giving your baby the tools to get started practicing grips, hand-eye coordination, and more.
Toys for Babies Natural & Sustainable: Buying Guide
Finding the perfect toy for babies that is both natural and sustainable is difficult. We’ve made things easier by providing a guide to help parents choose the perfect toys for babies that are ethically made.
What we Look for When Choosing Toys for Babies that are Natural & Sustainable
When choosing the right toy for your babies, it’s important to look out for certain features to ensure the safety, development, and assurance that the toys were manufactured through ethical procedures. Here’s what to look for when choosing the right toy for your baby:
Materials Used
When it comes to babies, broken toys can be more hazardous for younger babies compared to older kids. The first thing parents need to look out for is the durability of the toy since it is important that it doesn’t break during break time.
Aside from the quality and durability of the toys, it is important that they are non-toxic and ethically collected. Non-toxic materials usually carry some sort of certificate. If the certificate isn’t included in the description, always ask the seller to clarify what materials were used to manufacture the toy.
Paint or Colorings
Aside from the materials, the paint is also equally important. Parents should look for a dye that is non-toxic and safe for kids to place in their mouths. This part is tricky since some dye might be safe on the outside but harmful upon digestion.
Although toys aren’t designed for their paints or colors to be ingested, the longer they are used, the more likely their paint peels off. Just to be safe, parents should still clarify with the seller regarding what type of paint or colorings are being used on the toy.
Material Sourcing
In order to ensure that you are buying toys for babies that are natural & sustainable, it is important to know where the materials are being sourced. Eco-friendly materials aren’t just enough to ensure you’ve bought an ethically manufactured toy, it is also important to ensure that the toys were sourced ethically as well.
The best type of natural & sustainable toys is those that come from recycled materials. Instead of creating more trash or waste through toys, you can help make a positive impact on the planet by purchasing toys made from ethically sourced materials.
Smooth Surfaces
In order to ensure the safety of your child, it is important that the surfaces are smooth and without sharp edges. Since younger babies aren’t too delicate when handling toys, it is important that they do not get harmed when the toys are flung around despite potentially hitting them.
Smooth surfaces make sure that should the toys be flung around, they won’t cause any harm to your baby. Before buying a toy, take a good look at its design to ensure that it has no sharp edges. Each angle should be smoothened out with no potential for your baby to be hurt.
Size and Weight
The size and weight of the toy matter and for younger babies, the toys should be small and light to ensure that no harm comes to them just in case they accidentally get hit. It’s also important to make sure that the toy is not small enough for the baby to fit in their mouth or has parts that are small enough for a baby to choke on.
In the event that the toy is broken, it is important that the parts are not small enough for babies to swallow. When it comes to the weight, the only thing that parents have to ensure is that they are light enough for the babies to grasp and carry in their hands.
Age-Appropriate
It’s important for babies to play with toys that are age-appropriate in order for them to develop according to their pace. When it comes to education, giving a baby age-appropriate toys is a great way to ensure that they develop the right way.
Although some babies might move on to more complex developments, it’s important to help them fortify the basics by giving them toys that are appropriate for their age. One of the first things that babies develop is their motor skills.
Affordability
Toys for kids can range widely from affordable for regular households to luxury toys that could cost thousands of dollars. To buy the most effective toy, however, you shouldn’t first look at the price but rather look at the benefits that the toys bring.
When you’ve spotted a toy that you think is effective for your baby and find that it costs too much, there’s always an option to look for more affordable alternatives to the toys. When it comes to looking for an affordable toy, it’s important to look at reviews or videos of the toy to see what it actually looks like.
Developmental Focus
Some toys are more advanced than others and this won’t always be the best for your child’s development. When looking for the perfect toy for your baby, make sure that they help your child develop the particular fields they need.
It also helps to have different toys for different situations: one for bathtime, a few for bedtime, some for teething, and others for traveling. Instead of buying random toys, make sure each toy is designed with a different developmental focus. For young babies, it is not recommended for parents to buy versatile toys but instead one toy for each focus.
Cleaning Procedures
When buying toys, it’s important to look for ones that are easy to clean and sanitize. Aside from design, it’s important to look for toys that can be played within a safe and hygienic environment. There are certain toys that can’t be cleaned with soapy water or hot water and need special cleaning liquid in order to fully sanitize.
Before buying any toy, make sure to ask about how the toys should be cleaned. Although it pays to buy special cleaning liquid, parents might not always have the time to clean them one by one. This means it pays to have certain toys that can easily be cleaned through regular methods.
Benefits of Using Toys for Babies that are Natural & Sustainable
Using natural & sustainable toys for babies comes with multiple benefits not just for babies but also for the environment. Here are the most important benefits of using natural & sustainable toys for babies:
Keeps Babies Calm
Due to a baby’s curiosity, they are often susceptible to stress when they are not entertained. Because of this, it’s important to have toys around to make sure the babies aren’t bored whenever they aren’t being entertained by their parents.
Having a few toys around helps babies keep calm by being busy with their toys. Another trick to keep babies calm is by providing them with natural-colored toys. It’s also important not to clutter a baby’s surroundings with too many toys since it can have the opposite effect and result in stress for babies.
Good Family Bonding
Aside from just playing with toys alone, parents can also use the toys to interact with their babies. Toys play an integral part when it comes to interacting with babies and can be used as powerful learning tools not just for learning but also for bonding.
The more time a parent spends with their kids, the faster their kids will start to recognize their parents and connect with them. Spending time with your kid is important but there’s a limit to how many peek-a-boos you can do continuously. With the best toys for babies, however, you’ll be able to find more entertaining ways to play with them both for you and for your children.
Helps With Development
Toys are an integral part of a baby’s development since they help them build the foundational skills to help them progress into other activities later on. The first thing a baby tries to develop is hand-eye coordination and gripping control. Due to this, toys have to be designed to help babies practice their gripping skills and identify visual cues.
Having toys that help babies practice their gripping skills helps them progress faster since these toys can be used whenever the baby is awake or looking for something to hold. The availability of toys around is very important since this allows them to practice whenever they have the energy or curiosity to do so. The more often toys are available, the more babies can practice and the more they practice, the faster they develop.
Ethically Right Choice
Providing your babies with the right toys to help them develop certain skills might not be enough and it is important to also look for toys that were ethically manufactured to ensure that you are not only helping your child, you are also protecting their future. Child toys result in a significant amount of waste and take up a lot of new materials to create.
If the toys are ethically sourced and manufactured, this could help minimize the negative effect on the environment. Of course, ethically sourced toys don’t mean you’ll have to compromise when it comes to your child’s development. You can easily look for ethically manufactured alternatives to ensure your toys are safe for your kid and safe for the environment as well.
Safe Environment
Non-toxic and ethically sourced toys can create a very healthy environment for your baby. Not only are they able to develop their skills, but they will also be able to do so in an environment that is not dangerous or harmful to them. Providing toys for your baby is a great way for them to be entertained and not feel neglected whenever parents aren’t holding or carrying them.
Sometimes, even carrying the baby is not enough and they still need stimulants to help them satisfy their curiosity cravings. One thing most prominent in a baby’s mind is to explore the world and what better way to do so with toys that are safe, natural, & sustainable.
Strong Foundations
Giving your baby the right toys helps them develop strong foundations for later development in terms of cognitive and physical abilities. The term “baby steps” should be taken with utmost importance which is why parents shouldn’t always skip the basic toys in favor of more advanced ones.
Once a baby gets comfortable with playing and learns better hand-eye coordination, they will be able to progress into more advanced toys later on. The important thing about basic toys for babies is that they are able to play with them in a safe space. Since toys for babies are usually flexible, parents have the option to choose natural & sustainable toys that help them develop the building blocks of more important skills later on.
