The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the best toys are not toys at all. Fuzzy blankets and empty boxes rule when you are inside; wild flowers, sticks and rocks 
for when you are outside. A blanket becomes a cape or a tent and a box becomes just about anything. This is the stuff that makes for rich imaginative play. It is the season of garage sales where I live, and I’ve been checking them out lately. Holy cow, there is a whole lot of plastic junk out there. At least folks who have a garage sale (or who shop there) are trying to reuse these toys and extend their use a bit still… yikes!
I’ve also been reading the Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession With Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health – and a Vision For Change by Annie Leonard. It is a real wake-up call. I try to be environmentally conscious – but by reading this book I’ve realized there is so much more we as a country can – and should – be doing. Leonard reveals, “We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, we’re consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets!” My only hope is that this horrifying oil disaster will be the rude awakening our country needs.
(It’s not a spill, by the way. A spill is what my son does with his glass of orange juice. It’s a pain to clean up the spill, but we can do it in a few minutes. What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico is a man-made disaster. Definitely not a spill.)
Do the world a favor and forgo all the thousands of Toy Story 3 plastic junk, and all the other aggressively marketed single-purpose toys, and opt for good old fashioned imagination-inducing fabric scraps, empty containers of any type, art supplies, pebbles and the like. Its not easy to break the habit of consumption – believe me, the LEGO situation in my own house is admittedly out of control. We are working on it, though, and my husband has finally agreed that there is such a thing as “too many LEGOs”. Check out this fantastic article Children, Commercialism, and Environmental Sustainability by Tim Kasser, Tom Crompton, and Susan Linn.
Related posts:
Empowered by Play’s Toy of the Year Award: Nature!
When Did Sesame Street Become $esame $treet?
Announcing TRUCE’s Infant-Toddler Toys, Play & Media Action Guide!
For even more information check out Susan Linn’s blog post for today – on this same topic!
http://commercialfreechildhood.blogspot.com/2010/06/real-toy-tory-by-susan-linn-edd.html
I have a number of wooden toys that I’d love to donate..blocks, Tinker Toys, a wooden train sets with magnetic cars little ones can push along as they pass wooden neigborhoods and ladscapes…and Legos… Do you know an organization in the Hudson Valley I could donate them to?
P.S. I cannot believe Toy Story “went there” and invited another Barbie, in the form of open-shirt Ken, to the story line…yuck.
Sure, I can help you with the toys you want to donate. Send me an email at geralyn@empoweredbyplay and we can work out the details. With all the hoopla around the movie, I thought for sure my sons would want to see it. One said: “No! Why do we need to see Barbie come alive?” And his brother commented, “or toys being burned in a fiery incinerator?” Guess we will some of the few who sit this one out.
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