With so many toys on the market, I prefer to shop for ones that are more than just a simple play thing but promote creativity and imagination. I also tend to favor wooden toys for their durability and they are certainly more eco-friendly than their plastic counterparts. For these reasons, Dandelion Baby is one of my favorite online stores. Care is taken with each and every product selected at Dandelion, whether it’s eco-friendly, fair trade, or made in the USA.
What will you find at Dandelion Baby? Clothing, Baby Gear, Shoes, Arts & Crafts, Lunch Gear and of course, wooden toys!
A recent addition at Dandelion Baby is the Maya Organic wooden toy line.
Maya Organic (MO) toys are made by lacware artisans of Channapatna in Karnataka, India. MO assists artisans and worker co-ops to develop and market high quality products and services, supporting skill development of workers. MO ensures access to health and education facilities for all workers and their families, while promoting independent businesses that do not employ children. Buying MO products contributes to the growth and betterment of these workers.
I recently had the opportunity to try one of the wooden toys from Maya Organic. My grandson, Liam, is fascinated by trains so I knew without a doubt that the Pom Pom Rail Pull Toy would win his heart!
The handcrafted Pom Pom Rail has one engine, two wagons and is made from sustainable hale or rubber-wood. One of my favorite features of this train is the finish. Maya Organic uses only non-toxic, natural dyes and finishes. So the blue paint you see is actually made from extracts from the Indigo Plant. This ensures a high level of quality and safety, something that is important with little children who may still put things in their mouth. Couple the natural dyes with the wooden construction and you have an eco-friendly toy that will last from kid to kid.
The Pom Pom Rail measures just over 10 inches long making it the perfect size for little hands. It has an adjustable safety pull cord. YES, a safety cord! This has long been a complaint of mine when purchasing pull toys. I had visions of cords being wrapped around little necks and it always scared me. In fact, we either cut the cords off to mere inches (I know, right? Why buy a pull toy?) or stored the pull toys high in a cupboard when she wasn’t being fully supervised with it.
The Pom Pom Rail’s cord is comprised of three sections that velcro together. So if a child happens to get the cord tangled around himself, it will detach. It’s also a great feature to adjust the height of the cord to fit the child pulling the train.
So what did Liam think? Well, it’s safe to say, he loves the Pom Pom Rail. He spent the afternoon, pulling his train and trying to keep up with Kinsley. It rolls swimmingly across any surface and aside from a few times that I had to flip the last car over after he ran too fast with it, we had no issues at all.
This is where I give you a word of caution. The concrete is not gentle on the paint nor the wood. Because the sidewalk surface is so porous, it can damage the train. We had one little smoke stack look slightly tattered after the days events. I am keeping this train indoors or on the grass from now on.
The Pom Pom Rail is a big hit and as always, our love for Dandelion Baby has grown even more!
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Buy It
The Maya Organic Pom Pom Rail Pull Toy is available on the Dandelion Baby website for $29.00.
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One lucky reader is going to win the Pom Pom Rail!
*I received the above mentioned product free of charge to facilitate my review, however all opinions are my own.
What makes this shape sorter extra cool? Shape sorters are a traditional baby and toddler toy but I have yet to see a baby actually sort shapes. Kinsley is three and doesn’t have problems sorting, but Liam at age 16 months, hasn’t quite figured it out. Each end of this sorter has an elastic across the openings that keep the shapes in until you are ready to sort again.
