My wife introduced me to Green Toys, a company that makes toys out of recycled milk containers. And they’re made right here in the USA. To my delight, I learned that Green Toys offers USA-made tool toy sets!
The tool sets come with a small tool box, a hand saw, a hammer, pliers, a wrench, two screwdrivers, a pair of toy nails, a pair of toy bolts and nuts, and a pair of fastening plates.
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I should probably give you a bit of the background of how I feel about the brand and how I came to learn about their tool toy set.
Aside: General Review of Green Toys
We started off by buying some toy keys. You the kind, where you have a plastic keyring and some keys for a baby to rattle around and chew on. I forgot that this was a Green Toys product until my wife reminded me.
After that, we bought a 4-pack of Green Eats’ feeding spoons for our son. I guess the company has different names depending on the product category – Green Toys for toys, Green Eats for utensils and dishes. I liked the spoons, and think we’ll buy some of their snack bowls or cups in the future.
My wife also previously bought our son a Green Toys stacker. I prefer Fisher Price’s tried-and-true traditional donut stacker, but Green Toys’ one has a very different design and is made in the USA. I had rather neutral feelings about the brand. But then a couple of days ago, we received the toy airplane my wife had ordered for our now-toddler son. After giving it a quick lookover, I promptly ordered a bunch more of Green Toys’ toys for our boy.
The fact that the tools are 100% made from recycled milk jugs threw off my expectations. I keep expecting the toys to be flimsy or slippery, but they’re not. The keys, spoons, or stacker should have been evidence enough, but single solid pieces of plastic vs. an assembly with movable parts is completely different. I guess the “green” environmental aspect is a selling point for some, but I’m just happy to find that the toys are tough and sturdy.
It’s worth repeating and emphasizing – the toys are tough and sturdy. They’re rigid too. I was impressed. And if something as complex as an airplane toy with spinning propeller, rolling wheels, and well-defined molded engine parts and cockpit controls can be done so well, I’m betting that all of their stuff is top-notch. Overwhelmingly positive user reviews seem to confirm this.
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Back to the Point
When searching around for other Green Toys products to impulsively buy for my son, I came across these tool sets. There are two sets – one with traditional boy colors: blue, green, and yellow, and the other with traditional girl colors: pink, purple, and green.
Our son is too young for these tool toys, but you can bet that I’ll be buying one for him in a couple of months. Right now he has tool-related musical and activity toys, but I think these will be his first tool-shaped toys.
I have NOT bought these tool toy sets yet, but I definitely will when our son’s ready for ’em. My experience with Green Toys’ toys so far has me pretty convinced of their quality.
Related Discussion: Tool Sets for Kids??
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Green Toys offers these in “girl colors” too. While some might be offended by the “boy colors” and “girl colors,” I think it’s a great idea. They’re same exact tool toys, but in different colors. Right now the pink/purple/green set is a couple of dollars cheaper than the blue/green/yellow set.
Again, I haven’t bought these yet; my experiences with Green Toys are with other products, but I won’t hesitate to buy these when my son’s of the proper age.
The toys are made from 100% recycled milk jugs, they’re packaged in recycled materials and with soy ink, they’re phthalate-free and BPA-free, and dishwasher-safe.
You should also take a look at Green Toys’ other offerings. I think I’m going to buy another of their airplanes for me to try to add LED lights and sounds to.
Price: $20 to $25
Buy Now(“Boy” Tool Toy Set)
Buy Now(“Girl” Tool Toy Set)
See Also(Green Toys via Amazon)
See Also(Green Eats via Amazon)
And if you’ve got an infant or toddler at home, check out my post about how I use Milwaukee’s bucket-shaped tool box as a baby gear carrier!
MattP
We got these for our nieces in “boy” colors a few years ago because the whole “all girls’ stuff must be pink/purple” is ridiculous. Big hit, highly recommended.
Mahalo
Matt, I’m with you on the “girl” color sets. The “boy” colors are more congruent with the reality of available tools on the market and I think that girls can enjoy them equally.
Stuart
I tried to think about whether it would be better if they just had one gender neutral set, rather than boy and girl color-leaning sets.
People have been given Lego grief for their girl-focused “Friends” sets, but they seem to have been massively successful.
One thing about Green Toys is that they don’t specific their toys as “boy” and “girl” colors. Their photos show the blue set being used by a boy, and pink set by a girl, but they seem to be very neutral in how they market these and their other tools.
I am fairly certain that, if they only offered the blue set, a lot of people would have been left wanting a set with pink, purple, or other such colors.
I think this is the only one of their products that one could even say has typical boy and girl color options.
When my niece and nephew are old enough, I’ll likely get them pink and blue sets, only so that they can better tell them apart.
As for boy vs. girl toys, I recently saw so many greater offenses at the store. Superhero Little People toys for boys, and only princesses for girls. One could break from the conventions, but it was obvious how the toys were marketed.
For what it’s worth, my sister and I played with many of the same toys. She had medieval and spaceman Legos, I had police. And I’m pretty sure we shared during playtime. We both played with blocks, and when she played Barbie I brought my Ken over.
Jerry
We got a couple green eats plates/bowls as a gift when our oldest was born. She’s now 9 years old, and her little sister is still using them. I can’t quite describe the plastic properly except to say that it is rigid enough so they don’t flex when in use, not flimsy at all, yet don’t crack when dropped. The blue isn’t as vibrant as it once was, but the plates still get regular use and have been through countless dishwasher cycles.
John
First off, I *do* find the “girls’ colors” thing offensive. So much so that when my girls were younger I would make certain to never buy a toy from any company that marketed their products in this way. (A fascinating tangent, for those interested, is to learn that pink used to be a signifier for baby boys! Here’s a link to a Smithsonian article, one among many on this topic):
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/?no-ist
Toys in “girls colors” just perpetuates so many gender stereotypes (absorbed by both children and their parents). Those stereotypes would make it difficult these days to buy a toy/bicycle in black/yellow for a girl or pink/purple /light green for a boy, but the green/blue/yellow colorway pictured above is, in fact, gender neutral and the manufacturer could have just stopped there.
As for the Green Toys set itself: Am I missing something, or is there anything to *do* with these tools? They appear simply to be “props” — which is fine as far as it goes. (And, yes, that can go very far! Young kids need lots of fantasy/pretend play, and open-ended toys of all kinds are preferable to toys and games where the manufacturer imbues every piece with the content pre-arranged. Just look at how Legos — once the pinnacle of open-ended play — have devolved as more and more of the pieces have assigned meanings).
When my girls were young, I bought them an Ikea set called “Bygga”. Looks like Ikea no longer sells this, but I did find it elsewhere online (just google it). Google image search shows many photos of this kit and the various objects that can be made: helicopter, tractor, motorcycle, etc. It came with a plastic screwdriver, a wrench, maybe a hammer. It wasn’t strictly an open-ended toy (though you could, if you wanted, just attach the pieces however you wanted), but as a construction set I liked that the pieces were simple and modular and the same shape could be used in so many different ways (you can easily see this in the various photos). And everything was black/red/yellow, which my girls certainly had no problem with.
Adabhael
My daughter got this when she turned 2. Excellent quality, very highly recommended. They are mostly props, although the pliers do move, and screws and nails can fasten into the box. Like John, I think for the target age they are good to set up free play. My daughter agrees and often “fixes” things as part of her imagining. She also likes to bring her tools to “help” whenever daddy is working, which I think is great, and setting the stage for real (if small) tools. Just like preschoolers who “read” by making up a story to go with pictures in a book.
Mike
My first thought is an opportunity is being wasted here. Eliminate the Phillips driver and screw heads from the set and include Robertson or Torx ones instead. Get the kids used to something other than Philips.
Or make the set more realistic. Make half the Phillips screw heads unable to properly fit the driver, have the other half strip out when more than 2 inch pounds of torque is applied. Make the kids learn to despise Phillips.
Either way would get children on the right track and make Phillips an alien concept to them. Then maybe this country will finally get away from it once these kids get to the age where they are in charge.
Jon
My son has the airplane and loves it. We bought a Green Toys submarine for my niece and nephew and they love it!
Green Toys is a great brand.