The 6 Best Sites for Beautiful Toys

Before motherhood, the luxury of getting in a car, driving to a store, finding a parking space, and spending as much time as I needed to find and purchase whatever I needed or desired was an enjoyable way to spend my time.

Now that idea is a nightmare, right? I already suit up for the two-kid sprint through the aisles of the grocery store once a week, but they are at least contained in a metal basket and maybe only ask for one or two recognizable items from the shelves. But try this in a toy store? That is madness.

I guess I could have settled for the plastic-light-up-noise machines that were gifted continuously by friends and family, but I took a different tack. I researched, networked, sniffed out, and cataloged my way to find toys I would love as much as my children did. And there are so many great online toy store option! Here is my current list of favorites, in order of how much I love them:

Etsy: Search ‘Montessori toys’, ‘Waldorf toys’, or ‘wooden toys’ for endless handmade, wooden, and inexpensive items.
Bella Luna Toys: Very Waldorf oriented. Behind this online store is a small store based out of Maine.
Nova Natural: Also very Waldorf, and lots of variety for different age groups.
Magic Cabin: Big catalog company with a strong internet presence and nice collection of toys.
The Wooden Wagon: All toys are made out of wood.
TAG Toys: Really high quality Montessori type toys. Definitely on the pricey side though.

---

BY KATHRYN GRANTHAM

KATHRYN HAS A PASSION FOR HEALTH AND AN ACTIVIST’S FERVOR FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, AND A TRACK RECORD OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. IN 1999, AT THE AGE OF 22, KATHRYN FOUNDED BLUESTOCKINGS, AN INDEPENDENT SOCIAL JUSTICE-THEMED BOOKSTORE IN NEW YORK CITY. IN PARALLEL, SHE WAS DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF NATURAL HEALTH AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET, AT THE INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION. SHE SOLD THE BOOKSTORE IN 2003, ATTENDED HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL (MBA ’05), AND LAUNCHED ROOTS REMEDIES, A LOCALLY-SOURCED HERBAL PRODUCTS COMPANY IN 2008. SHE LIVES IN CAMBRIDGE, MA WITH HER HUSBAND AND TWO YOUNG SONS. 

FOR UNIQUE toy RECOMMENDATIONS FROM KATHRYN, CHECK OUT HER MAMAJAMAS LIST HERE.

Welcome!

Thanks for checking out the Mamajamas blog. I’m hoping this blog will be a mix of mamajamas.com product updates, parenting resources, and experiences from my own life.

Just to be upfront, I definitely have strong opinions about parenting that are often outside the mainstream. Those will come through here.

While I try to never judge other people’s parenting styles (I really believe people should do what feels right for them and their family!), I tend to follow a combination of evolutionary and attachment parenting. I also love a lot of what Maria Montessori espoused, and like many aspects of the Waldorf education movement.

How does my parenting philosophy fit with mamajamas.com, a truly consumeristic site in many ways?

Well, when I was pregnant I was very overwhelmed by the process of buying baby gear. I just wanted to know what my parent friends, with similar values, had gotten, and get those products. But I didn’t have an efficient way to find that information or organize my product acquisitions.

That’s where Mamajamas comes in.

Ultimately, I want to help people focus less on stuff and more on pregnancy and new parenting, and help them find baby gear that matches their values.

Also, I think that all the baby consumer sites right now are super targeted towards very modern and mainstream parenting, and that there needs to be some avenues for all different types of parents to find what they need.

Eventually, I hope that Mamajamas will become a site that isn’t just about “buying stuff,” but actually about a process of connecting to other like minded parents, building some communication between current parents and new parents, and sharing ideas. But you gotta start somewhere!

Please please let me know if you have any feedback or ideas for the site to make it more useful. My email is: angie (at) mamajamas.com. And thanks for checking it (and this) out.

–Angie (Founder)