Nobody likes to talk about survival of the fittest when it comes to earth-friendly companies founded by green dreamers driven to create fun stuff for kids. Not hard to imagine why. But it's there, and it's a safe bet that San Francisco Bay Area company Green Toys and Boulder, Colorado-based Sprig Toys have been watching each other very closely over the past couple of years, while doing their best to keep their own products secret until they're ready to launch.

However it happened, this spring marks the most intense direct competition for green-parent dollars the two companies have ever engaged in. Not only have the two companies launched infant-to-toddler toy lines, but both lines include (a) chunky plastic Lego-style building blocks and (b) a variant on the stacking ring toy, each minus the stacking pole. Not only that, but each company has a new product that offers a twist on a core product offered by the other company - Sprig with play dishes that are beginning to horn in on Green Toys' bread and butter products and Green Toys with a bathtub boat that is just plain more bathtubby than Sprig's Dolphin Adventure Playset, which we love but which does take on water.

We'll talk about Sprig's new products, and both companies' blocks, as we get them for review. But we have been playing with two of Green Toys' new products lately here at ZRecs, and we love them both.

First, Green Toys' brightly-colored Tugboat has a toddler-friendly handle and pours water from a spout at the front and a sieve-like grid on the deck.


Hmm, there's a boat-like word for that, isn't there? You know, the part Smokey went through to grab the captain of the Black Rock just before he was about to run through Richard Alpert with his rapier! (Self-imposed ban on mentioning Lost on ZRecs? Uncorked!)

Anyway, it's cute, functional, and well-designed. This is the kind of classic bathtub toy your parents bought in shiny red plastic without worrying about lead or BPA or phthalates or any of that other stuff, refashioned by a company you can trust to steer very clear of all that stuff, as well as made of 100% recycled materials in the U.S. (short supply chains are always greener) and sold in 100% recycled cardboard packaging.

The Tugboat retails for $13 and is available with yellow, blue, or red on top.



Next up is Green Toys' My First Stacker, also selling for $13 and standing at a serviceable 7.5" tall. Now, we are not up in arms about ring stacker poles and have not heard much buzz about children being stabbed, blinded, or otherwise maimed by them. (If you know of any, yes, please drop us a line.) Be that as it may, the idea of a stacker without a pole has some pretty cool design advantages, and Green Toys and Sprig each took advantage of a different one of them. In the case of Green Toys, they made a set of stacking shapes that also make a fantastic bathtub toy set. We check out this play option with anything made of a hard plastic we believe to be safe (regular readers will remember that Wedgits did not disappoint) and Green Toys' My First Stacker was like those nesting cups on toddler-sized steroids. Plus, getting this toy wet will not run the risk of causing dyes to bleed off of it, because colors are mixed into the plastic itself.


They would also make decent Cheerios-serving sombreros in a pinch. (Did we mention Green Toys is launching real children's bowls, plates, and utensils as well?)


The way Green Toys are made is pretty remarkable in itself, a conscientious manufacturer's response to issues raised by the locavore food movement. If this doesn't make you want to support this company, nothing will.



For the target audience and purpose these two toys were designed for, both toys are nearly perfect. I could quibble about the company's failure to allow breathing room for fonts whenever they decide to mold words into their toys, but that hardly seems fair - babies can't read, anyway, it's just another jumble of shapes to them! We highly recommend both of these toys, are naming their Tugboat a ZRecs Top Pick, and can't wait to try the rest of their spring product line.