Toys are great for kickstarting your child's play and supporting their development. They encourage imagination, creativity and problem solving. But as we are evolving into more of a sustainable world, it is important that we start to consider buying eco-friendly and ethical toys that are good for the planet. This teaches children from a young age, how to care for the environment and respect what they have.
Pebble's Ethical Toys are a prime example of this. Their products are hand made in Bangladesh by the extremely talented and capable artisans at Hathay Bunano.
Read on to learn more about Pebble and how you can encourage your children to play in a more sustainable way with their gorgeous range of ethical toys.
About Pebble
Bangladesh is an amazing country but it's also a place of incredible poverty.
In 2004, shortly after founder Samantha Morshed arrived in Bangladesh, she started Hathay Bunano, a non-for-profit organisation that aimed to bring sustainable and flexible employment to rural women in Bangladesh who are poor and often disadvantaged. What started with teaching 12 people how to knit, became an opportunity for over 2000 Bangladesh women to work, and in 2010 Pebble became international!
As such, Pebble toys has helped support families in rural Bangladesh by removing the need for economic migration to the cities and by providing women with flexible working opportunities close to their homes. Their living standards and ability to help pay their children's school fees has improved.
Babies Love Black And White Toys
Did you know that from birth babies can only focus to about 20-25cm away?
Up until about 6 months old, babies respond best to contrasting colours and geometric shapes. Experts suggest that visual extremes catch a baby's attention best. With that in mind, black and white are very much contrasting colours, meaning children will tend to engage with it longer. As a result, they are stimulating their visual development, whilst growing their physical development with things like, touch, learning to grab and feeling different textures. There's also been studies that show that contrast colours can lead to stimulation of the brain, better concentration, greater creativity and curosity.
Some of the black and white toys we stock are the Spotty Ball Rattle and the Spotty Panda.
Pebble Ethical Toys
Pebble products are made entirely by hand with 100% cotton yarn. They are soft to the touch but are very strong. Did we mention they are a rattle too? How cool!
Their range is huge! They have everything from, jungle animals, safari animals, farm animals to stick rattles and teether rattles and fruit and vegetables. So there's bound to be a toy your child will love! You can shop the range here.
Pebble aims to put "smiles on faces worldwide!" Here's how - children are smiling with wonder at their toy designs, parents smile at their little one's joy and knowing they have helped make a difference to Bangladesh families, whilst the artistans at Hathay Bunano smile knowing that they have sustainable, regular and flexible employment and a chance to give their own children a better life.
So not only does Pebble provide beautiful ethical toys for children, but their overall purpose is to address all the reasons why a woman might not be able to work and to support her so that she can work and can earn money to support her family.
Next time you you buy a gift for your children - choose Pebble. Be confident knowing your are providing you little ones with quality toys that don't cost the earth and are supporting a greater good.
We absolutely love the story of Pebble and think it's truly amazing to see the power of one person, who seeks to make a difference.
If you're interested in finding out more ways you can incorporate sustainability and ethical practices into your life, we think you love the blogs below:
Resparkle's New Plastic Pollution Campaign | "It Only Takes A Minute"
