Comments (4)

By Mom Unplugged, January 11, 2009 10:49 am

Help save hand-crafted and high quality European toys!

A quick update on more that you can do to help revise the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA):

This is really easy, will take you less than a minute, and could be potentially very effective in raising awareness in Washington about the issue of overly broad toy testing requirements:

Go to this link at Change.org:

Save Small Business From the CPSIA

and vote for this cause. The top 10 causes will be presented to President-Elect Obama for review. This issue is currently #4 and so it is definitely in the running! Hooray! Read more about what your vote means here.

You can also put this widget on your blog or website to help spread the word:

If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, here is a brief summary:

In August 2008 Congress passed the CPSIA with the goal of improving toy safety. It bans lead and phthalates from toys and children’s products and also mandates lots of extra testing and labeling. Well, the thought is nice, but in reality only large corporations will be able to afford the certification required. There is no exception for hand-crafted toys, or toys already certified under strict European standards.

The statute is overly broad and will effectively prohibit the sale of handmade toys in the United States. Even German toymaker Selecta has decided that the new law is too burdensome and has already withdrawn from the U.S. market.

If you want to, you can read more about this issue in these posts of mine:

Auf Wiedersehen Selecta (…Good-Bye Hand-Crafted Toys?)

Our Last Selecta Toy

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Comments (8)

By Mom Unplugged, January 3, 2009 9:18 pm

For me, the New Year inspired many diverse hopes for a better 2009 and beyond. However, it was also the official start of my Selecta Mourning Period.

As I mentioned in a previous post, German toy company Selecta is the first casualty of the overly broad new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Unable to afford the additional testing required by the CPSIA, Selecta ceased the distribution of its toys in the US market on December 31, 2008.

My prediction is that Selecta is simply the first of many high quality European toy manufacturers who will eventually succumb to the new burdens placed upon them. As for the lovely homemade toys currently available from Etsy sellers, or lesser-known “Mom and Pop” toystores such as Wood Toy Shop, Quiet Hours Toys, Down to Earth Toys, or many other favorites from my Unplugged Toystore list - their future is very uncertain.

Honestly, only mega-manufacturers such as Hasbro or Mattel and their Chinese mass-produced toys will be able to afford to jump through the added hoops. Although these toys might be deemed “safe” at the end of their journey, for the most part, they are not what I want to offer my children.

Since my newly 3 year-old daughter has a January 2nd birthday (so close to Christmas, poor thing!), I decided to buy a farewell Selecta birthday gift for her. I chose the Stellina Star Sorting Puzzle. She really likes puzzles and this is a puzzle and a sorter combined. Put the arms of the star puzzle together, choose an awake face or an asleep face for the star in the middle, and then add the pegs of assorted sizes and colors.

She loves it! At this time, there are only three left at Amazon and I don’t know about other stores. So hurry up and Google Selecta to stock up before all these wonderful German toys are gone.

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To learn more about the new CPSIA and how it affects small and foreign toymakers, read more here: Help Save Handmade Toys in the USA from the CPSIA.

For some suggested improvements: Possible Solutions to Improve the CPSIA.

What can you do to help? Write to your Congress Person or Senator to request a change to the CPSIA which would exclude toys made in the US, Canada or Europe. Here is a sample letter, or compose your own.

Useful links:

Find your Congress Person

Find your Senator

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Comments (0)

By Mom Unplugged, August 24, 2007 6:15 pm

Varialand is not really a puzzle, I would call it more of a collage. It consists of 80 wooden picture tiles that can be combined any way a child wants to make different scenes. Some tiles are parts of houses, some are clouds in the sky, many are animals or trees.

This is the ultimate in creativity for children. I guarantee that kids will never make the same scene twice!

Plus it is made out of very durable wood. The images are printed on the tiles, not glued on. All in all, this is a toy that should last for generations to come.

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By Mom Unplugged, August 14, 2007 8:46 pm

Maggy The Cow, by French toy manufacturer Djeco, wins my award for cutest shape-sorter!

Colorful, wooden cow is a nice baby size (about 4″ x 7″). Her head bobbles up and down on a spring and she sports a stylish red string tail. The six bright blocks fit in holes in the top and sides.

My 19 month-old loves it, but at this stage she just opens the top and drops in the blocks. Why mess with stuffing shapes into strangely-shaped holes when you can do it the easy way, right?

This toy makes me wish I were a baby again!

Comments (13)

By Mom Unplugged, August 11, 2007 8:40 am

We just returned from vacation and a great unplugged travel game that I discovered for the trip home is a cute travel-sized version of the game “Connect Four.” The goal, or course, is to get four pieces in a row before your opponent does. This is such a simple concept, yet it encourages the development of strategic thinking skills and can lead to quite a complex game. Plus I can also highly recommend it since it kept my 5 and 6 year-old entertained for the better part of a 4 hour flight (although we might have lost a few pieces on the plane).

Another really nice one (but a bit harder to find) is Haba’s 4-In-A-Row game. We have this one and my husband and I play it more often than the kids! I should have thought to bring it on the trip because the small size (a 4″ X 5.5″ tin) is ideal for travel. Plus, it is wood so it feels like it will last forever. You can buy it here for $6.99.