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Imagine that you could tell your children exactly how their toys are made. Imagine that you could tell them exactly who made them and show them in the map the country, starting an interesting conversation about other cultures and traditions.
Imagine that you would not have to worry about lead or toxic materials, imagine that with every toy you purchase there is a family being supported directly with at least 15% of the sales price going to them, no matter how far away they live.
Fair Trade Toys are not only educational and creative; they are also safe and unique. Most of them are handmade and use natural materials just because that what is available for small craftsmen in developing countries.
Another reason to buy fair trade toys is because it supports the principles of socially and economically responsible business by providing fair wages to the artisans, and you know that what we do speaks louder than what we say. What better example for our kids?
Critics often say that fair trade products are too expensive, and it some way it is true but you just can not compare a hand knitted finger puppet with a mass produced item, nor you can compare a plastic car with a wooden toy.
When buying fair trade, we get better products and better understanding of the impact of mass producing an export product because we are drawn to compare prices and what it means to the producers.
Now, not all toys made in China, or the Far East, are "bad", just as not everything that's produced in Europe is "good"; but if you're asking for toys that are morally produced, and unique, then, yes, they're not overly easy to find because there are not loads of them and they also tend to be of the more educational variety. This is in part because the toy trade is a cut-throat business and some consumers want things to cost as little as possible. Not you, of course.
However, there are many companies that have direct relationships with small-scale handcraft producers making fairly traded toys. Inca Kids ( http://www.incakids.org/ ), for example, is a project working exclusively with unprivileged Peruvian artists offering hand knotted finger puppets, fabric storybooks, backpacks, musical instruments as well as accessories, Bishopston Trading (bishopstontrading. co.uk) sells a range of toys and dolls clothes made with Fair-trade-certified cotton, Oxfam also sell fairly traded toys.
Whether cuddling, pretending, music making, or storytelling, there are excellent options in the market for parents concerned with the safety of their kids toys. You just need to look for them
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