The Wood Doll Is The New Paper Doll

I wasn’t all that much into dolls when I was a kid, to tell the truth. I had more fun climbing trees, riding a bike or playing hide and seek with my neighborhood friends. For some reason, though, I was in love with a paper doll that my grandfather gave me as a gift, one day, for no particular reason.

The doll came with lots of paper dresses and accessories. I would dress that doll 20 times and day, pretend play that we went places, and sometimes I simply stared at her in the different outfits she would try on. The downside of paper doll was that, being of paper, it didn’t last very long.


I had a flashback in time this past February at the New York City Toy Fair when I saw this beautifully designed wood dolls that were just like the paper dolls I used to play with but, well, probably sturdier. The All American “Daisy Girls”, by Shure Products, are a set of two dolls with 40 different outfits and accessories to dress them. The dolls have a piece of metal inside of them—that you can’t see at all—and the outfits have rubber magnets behind so that they can hold with no hassle on the doll’s body.

There are two sets of Daisy Girls, the dress-up girls and the ballerinas. One nice detail about them is that, in every set, there are two dolls, which makes it a great toy to play with friends or siblings. The Daisy Girls are beautifully designed, the outfits are super cool, the colors warm and bright, and the price makes a perfect every-occasion gift.

Good thing I have a young daughter –my perfect excuse to enjoy dressing up these lovely dolls.

Toys and Books to Honor The Earth All Year Around

It’s never too late to introduce children to the importance of taking care of the environment, and what a better way than giving them books and toys that, in and of itself, make a contribution? Here are some of our favorites, at Kobold Toys:

Eco-toys

Back when the environment was in nobody’s mind, it was in PlanToys owner, Vitool Viraponsavan’s mind. How? Mr. Viraponsavan thought that it would be great to put all the rubber trees that would otherwise be burned down to good use. Seizing on his creative mind and child’s heart, Mr. Viraponsavan begun to design some of what, in our view, are the most beautiful wood toys in the world.

What makes PlanToys toys beautiful? First, their minimalist design, with clean lines and bright colors; second, their unbelievable smoothness to the touch; third, their safety, by having the toys painted with soy-based paints and glued with non-toxic glue.

Eco-art

Faber Castell, the art supplies company founded in 1761, has designed an entire line of eco-pencils, which are made with 100% wood from nursery trees, so that the forests can remain untouched. One of our favorite products is the Jumbo Triangular Colored Eco-Pencils for the youngest artists. These pencils are made of natural wood and decorated with little bugs and flowers. Another favorite is the Metallic Colored Eco-Pencils for older kids, with funky metallic pinks, greens, reds and blues.

Eco-books

How do I really tell my 3-year-old that it is important to save the biodiversity? Since, at Kobold Toys we believe that, the best way to help our planet is by doing your "little bit”, we recommend that you introduce your children to ideas on how to do “their little bit” before getting into a complex explanation. At Kobold Toys, we have found a wonderful book that tells the story of a little boy and his recycled bag. “My Bag and Me” is a simple, short story of a little boy who goes grocery shopping with his mom and takes with him his own reusable bag. I read this book to my son’s 3-year-old classroom today and they were shouting “paper and plastic no more!” and later swore to me that they were going to remind their moms to use the “precycled” (read recycled) bags.


Bringing eco-friendly toys (and the most gorgeous eco-friendly gift wrap paper you will ever see) to you is what Kobold Toys does to “give a little bit back”. Well, that’s not all. During April, we will donate 1% of our sales revenues to our favorite green foundation: The Nature Conservancy.

To Buy Or Not To Buy Toys From China

Almost a year ago, a huge toy recall from several large manufacturers made a lot of us, parents, to suddenly pay a lot more attention than usual to the quality of toys that we buy for our children. The fact that the toys were made in China, perhaps, made the whole issue look even more alarming. After all, China is a developing country, plagued with corruption, so it was kind of easy to conclude that the country didn’t have the same, high safety standards that we want here in America.

If you didn’t know anything about toys, but you know that China is the world’s new “factory”, and somebody asked you to imagine what kinds of toys were made in China, most likely you would have thought that they were cheap toys, made of plastic, with annoying noises and lights--which is what you usually find in any big city's Chinatown. Perhaps for that reason plus the safety concern, wood and cloth toys --many of which look hand (and home) made--had such huge sales growth last year. Many families didn't mind paying a few bucks more for the sake of their little loved ones. Other families perhaps discovered a charm in toys that are less mainstream.

The irony about the China scare is that virtually all toys, whereas made of wood, plastic, metal, cardboard, fabric or wool are, in fact, made in China. Most of the “European toys”, praised for their design and educational value are also made in China. The reason? Because, to this day, no other country beats China’s quality to price ratio. None.

This is not at all to say that we, parents, shouldn’t worry about the quality of toys our children play with. Toys are an extremely important outlet for children to discover themselves and the world around them.

What should drive us to buy some toys and not others, however, is the toy’s quality, design, materials, colors, textures and, most importantly, their educational value, regardless of where they are made. There are many brands, such as Brio, PlanToys, Playmobil, Papo, Le Toy Van, that pride themselves on the high quality standards that they set for their products and make sure that those standards are applied regardless of where they are made. Many of these brands do manufacture their toys in China, under their own quality control, in order to bring parents the highest possible quality, at the best possible price.

Back to the wood

If you have young children you probably noticed already that ever since the so-called "China scare" last year wood toys have made a huge comeback. I would dare say that wood toys have been coming back even before the China scare, perhaps due more to many parents' nostalgia of the simple toys they had when they were kids than to fear of toxins in today's toys. Nevertheless, the issue with China was, no doubt, the last "push" wood toys needed it to make their comeback, well, huge. According to Toy Directory Monthly Magazine, an industry research organization, a large number of retailers they spoke with have said that "wooden products are highest in demand" and many of them have stocked up wood toys to about 50% of their total toy inventory.

Now, what wood toys are worth buying? The market seems flooded with Melissa and Doug wood products, but Kobold Toys has found some other brands that are not massive yet but offer wonderful, educational wood toys with exceptional design, detail and functionality.

Our first favorite is PlanToys. We have carried PlanToys for 4 years now and love them! Why? for many reasons. First, their commitment to create toys that encourage coordination in young children (such as the Spin Bell) and imagination in older ones (as with the Forklift). Second, for their commitment to the environment, since the early 80s, by using wood from trees that otherwise would have been burned down. Third, for their social commitment to the people who work at PlanToys.

Our second favorite is Le Toy Van. Our customers cannot get enough of Le Toy Van's gorgeous doll houses. The houses are 100% made of wood and hand painted. They all look very British and very stylish. My best friend got her 3-year-old the Bay Tree House for Christmas. The little girl was so in awe, so overwhelmed that she couldn't say a word and couldn't stop staring at it. That girl spends hours pretend-playing with that beautiful house. Our other favorite is the very girly fairy train set, for girls who love wheels yet want to stay feminine.

Finally, we love our very own USA designed Shure Daisy Girls. Do you remember those paper dolls that we used to dress up with paper outfits? Well, now Shure makes them with wood. Girls, 4 years and up especially, can't have enough of them. They come in a bag, so are totally portable and can entertain children just about anywhere.

Wood is, indeed, making a comeback. Check out for wood toys outside what you find in mass markets, and you'll be amazed.

Technorati Profile

Have your child save the planet "one bag at a time"

Toy Fair time is perhaps one of the most exciting times of the year for any toy store (apart from Christmas time, of course). My partner, Carmina, and I were walking at the last Toy Fair in New York looking for new, cool toys and suddenly this little cool book caught our eye: My Bag and Me. Its author happened to be there and showed us the book and told us how she thought that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the pride kids take on doing good things and getting the thumbs up (some times, I know...) and introduce them to the issue of taking care of the environment.

My Bag and Me is a simple, short story of a little boy who goes grocery shopping with his mom and takes with him his own reusable bag. As I do with many of Kobold Toys products, I tried this book on my three-year-old and he just loved it. The book includes a reusable bag that my son held while I read the story to him. As I read the story, he asked me a million "why"s (it is that age...) about the earth, the environment, recycling, and why the little boy took a bag.

After a few days, we went grocery shopping and he took the bag with him. I have about 5 or 6 bags that I bought at Whole Foods and keep in my car to try to do my share and that day we went shopping but I forgot them in my car. When we were at the register, he screamed to me: "Mom! you forgot to bring your bags! It's not good for the planet!" Well, the Whole Food staff laughed with him (and at me) and were so proud of him that they gave him two sheets of stickers.

This book is a great way to introduce children to the issue of taking care of the environment --something they will probably have to make a pressing point of by the time they turn 18 years old. My Bag and Me is available at Kobold Toys so that you can have your little one help save the planet "one bag at a time".

Our Store Featured in a Dad's Blog

Since when shopping is mostly a "woman thing"? Kobold Toys has an extraordinary program for busy, yet thoughtful, dads, to help them surprise their families when it comes to family commitments. See one cool dad's comment about our store at his blog: Building Camelot.

Kobold Toys Featured in Women Home Business!

See a story on Kobold Toys’ origins featured at Women Home Business, an online networking group that shares best practices and success stories of women (and men too!) who have succeeded in their entrepreneurial ventures.

This Week's Featured Product

50 Unit Blocks, from PlanToys

The wood blocks from PlanToys are a classic.

This wonderful set of blocks has nature's simple, yet powerful beauty in it. The wood is extremely smooth to the touch, has many different shapes to build anything from houses to bridges and it has just the right weight for an older toddler to handle.

My son loves this set of blocks. I got them for him when he was 2 years old and he spent hours making towers and tearing them down. Now that he is almost 4 years old, he uses them to make bridges under which his cars run imaginary races, or houses in which his cars can park. This great, clean set of blocks does not need buttons, sounds or colors to entertain him and certainly leaves plenty of room for his imagination.

You may rightly wonder whether a toy made of wood is, ironically, the anti-green toy. Well, it all depends on how its manufacturer handles the raw material.

PlanToys, one of our main brands, is a company that makes wood toys and has proudly been environmentally and socially conscious since its beginning, in 1981. I met his owner at the last toy fair in New York and was really impressed to hear his approach to toy design and manufacturing. He was one of the first manufacturers to use replenishable rubber wood to make wooden toys. The rubber wood is recycled from rubber trees that are no longer able to produce latex. Three years before the wood is used, no fertilizer is added so that the wood stays chemical free. The toys are assembled using a special, non-toxic glue. The wood is colored with water-based dyes without toxic elements such as lead or mercury. And to minimize the impact of their manufacturing on the environment, they print their catalogues, boxes and other marketing materials in recycled paper and soy-based ink.

This year, PlanToys will celebrate Earth's Day (on April 22, 2008) throughout dozens of toy stores around the world. Kobold Toys is very proud to be part of that effort! Check out our website for more details in the coming weeks.