A Toy Garden Bean Bags

I.Love.This.Store. Oh, I’m so excited for Eco-Friendly Toy Week to begin! Why do I love A Toy Garden so much? It has a huge, fantastic, selection of both handmade and toys from different cultures around the world. It is a wonderful online store and I can’t wait for you to see it, especially the bean bags!

This is how Sonya and A Toy Garden started…when my daughter was 2 years old (10 years ago). She asked for a pretty apron just like mine. When I looked around, all I could find were aprons with children’s patterns that were cute but not beautiful.

I purchased some beautiful French Provincial cottons and made her an adorable apron. Then I made more for her friends and decided I could make a bunch and start selling them! The rest is history. I started making bean bags with batik fabric, baby blankets, and so on. I designed all my own patterns and sold at holiday fairs.

Eventually I started buying wholesale from other vendors who made wood toys and my business grew. Then we started selling online and stopped selling at fairs. I have found wonderful craftspeople all over the US and other countries and specialize in buying directly from the crafters themselves, often designing or specifying what I want. I do buy from a few larger companies from various countries but only for select items I can’t find handmade or made elsewhere. Offering handmade toys is what makes this business meaningful and rewarding. I enjoy supporting the crafters and giving them a sales outlet and I think it is vital that our young children have handcrafted toys that are made with love and that are not mass manufactured.”

The first toy that I received from A Toy Garden was this that I won! We love blog giveaways right? 😉

My boys went cuckoo over this as I knew they would and love love playing mail!

Then Sonya agreed to be a part of eco-friendly toy week because she wanted to show off her bean bags! She MAKES them!! Each bag is  home-made in a variety of quality cotton prints – each with a fruit or vegetable theme -  and are filled with beans and organic herbs (lavender, mint, or chamomile) for a multi-sensory effect. They sound, feel, look, and smell wonderful. These 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ bean bags can be played with, tossed, stacked, counted, matched, slept with, used as doll furniture, carried in wooden trucks, balanced on one’s head, juggled, used as weights to hold silks over play stands, moved from basket to basket by busy little children.

My boys have found endless activities with them. C’Man shoots hoops from across the room while O’Bear bugs me to play bean bag toss daily and baby P’Diddy? He loves throwing the bag  and then crawling to get it and throwing it again. It keeps him occupied forever!

And you read that they are smelly good right? Made with real dried herbs that the scent will last for years!

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite finds at A Toy Garden. They have the neatest variety of handmade gnome toys.

One more thing I found on their website that I love…A Note about our “carbon footprint”. Whenever possible we reuse bags, packing materials, and supplies. What we can’t reuse, we recycle. I am a frequent dumpster diver for packing boxes and rarely leave any store without several “already-been-used- once” empty boxes to bring home and use to ship out orders. I also have many friends who frequently drop boxes and packing materials off on my doorstep to reuse! (Thank you to all my Box Fairies!) Our basement warehouse is made of concrete and SIPS panels, this new technology allows us to work all year (partially underground) without using any heat or air conditioning. We think shopping online saves you from running around town and the letter carrier was going to come to your house anyway. We honestly don’t think you could find our selection in any one town in the US, so grab a cup of tea, sit back, and enjoy browsing!

Okay, I think I am finally done telling you all the wonderful things about A Toy Garden. Can’t wait for you to check it out!

Also be sure to check out my DIY Wax Candle Making Kit post from A Toy Garden!

WIN a set of 8 Herbal Play Bean Bags in a Fruit and Vegetable prints. Handmade by Sonya and stuffed with real beans and dried organic lavender, mint, or chamomile! (AV $20)

Good Luck!

A Toy Garden sent me a set of bean bags for this review but I was not compensated in any way for the post and all opinions are my own.