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New Era of ‘Green’ Toys Push Kids to Solve Energy Crisis
These are kind of dark, but new eco toys are fun and interesting
Nearly $84 billion worth of toys are sold every year all around the world. Most of those toys are total crap. I know you’re with me on this, just look in the toy box. Half (or more!) don’t get played with. Or they take batteries, which have died and you don’t want to replace (noise!). Or they’re just. plain. boring.
And they keep coming in, these toys. Birthdays, Christmas, weekends with grandparents. Taking up room in the house. Slipping their pointed corners under your feet. Wrecking the planet.
We can’t do anything about grandparents — they’re always going to overindulge. And home organization is a never-ending problem.
But that planet thing? There’s hope, if what showed up at a trade show in Germany over the weekend ever makes it to market.
The Nuremberg Toy Fair featured hundreds of green toys, and we’re not talking all-wood, lead-free stuff. Some of the most promising toys were, sure, made from sustainable materials but also had a mission to teach kids.
There were hydro-electric powered toy cars. Dollhouses with wind turbines and rain catchers. A space station with solar panels that only work if your kid puts a red energy rock inside.
The goal is to get kids to think about where energy comes from. Genius!
An a spokesperson from Playmobil told the Associated Press its a mission of her company to not just be environmentally friendly but also involve kids in it.
“Energy is the question of the future and we are definitely thinking about this as we move ahead,” said Judith Schweinitz, a spokeswoman for Playmobil, maker of the solar panel-fitted space station. “It is increasingly being brought into our play concept.”
What do you think? Good mission or hopeless?
Photo: shopstopstore.com
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