Are you and your family planning a trip to the beach this summer? Or maybe just getting ready for some fun in the sandbox? Avoid those cheap plastic toys this year and opt for non-toxic and eco-friendly sand toys, instead.
Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes endless opportunities for outdoor play and lots of fun in the sun. Whether your kids are building sandcastles at the beach or digging out in the backyard, these toys are perfect for whatever summer adventure comes their way. So, let’s get ready to dig, build, and play with these fun non-toxic, and sustainable sand toys!
Why Eco-Friendly Beach Toys?
Choosing eco-friendly brands for your children’s toys is important not only for the environment but for your family’s health as well.
Traditional beach toys, such as plastic buckets and shovels, are often made from non-biodegradable materials and can take hundreds of years to break down in landfills or the ocean. This can lead to significant environmental damage, including harm to marine life and ocean ecosystems.
They also are made from cheap plastic material that contains harmful chemicals such as BPA, lead, phthalates, and PVC. These toxic chemicals can have negative effects on the health of your whole family and it is best to avoid them whenever possible.
Eco-friendly beach toys, on the other hand, are made from sustainable materials such as bamboo, recycled plastic, or natural rubber latex. These materials break down much more quickly and do not release harmful chemicals into the environment.
In addition to being better for the environment, eco-friendly beach toys often have a longer lifespan than their traditional counterparts. They are typically more durable and better made, which means they can be used for multiple beach trips year after year rather than needing to be replaced every summer.
If you are looking for eco-friendly and non-toxic water toys to go along with your sand toys, check out this post!
This post may contain affiliate links. I promise to only recommend products that I use with my own children. You can read my full affiliate disclosure policy here.
What Are Sustainable Sand Toys Made From?
Sustainable toys are made from healthy, non-toxic, high-quality materials. The best beach toys are made from:
- natural rubber latex
- bamboo
- silicone
- high-quality plastic
The Best Eco-Friendly Beach Toy List
Blue Gingko Silicone Beach Set
The Blue Gingko Silicone Beach Set is such a great collection. This beach toy set is made from soft and flexible premium silicone. It includes a beach bucket, a sand shovel, and 4 sea creature sand molds (a dolphin, sea turtle, seashell, and starfish).
This set also includes a cotton mesh tote bag making it easy to grab and go, especially for a day trip. It comes in 6 different matte color options: green, blue, beige, yellow, pink, and pale pink. And is the perfect size for little hands.
The Blue Gingko Beach Set is a favorite amongst my children and is one that gets fought over constantly.
Blue Gingko Ice Cream Sand Toys
Blue Gingko also makes an ice cream set of sand toys. This set is so much fun and encourages a lot of creative thinking. It is small enough to throw in the beach bag, yet big enough to make a perfect size sand cone. This set is also really fun for water play as well.
The Blue Gingko ice cream set comes with 4 mix and match silicone cones in 3 different color varieties: blue, lavender, or pink.
Tate and Jane Silicone Beach Set
Tate and Jane make a silicone sand set that is made from high-quality food-grade silicone. It is a set of 8 pieces and includes a sand bucket, a shovel, a mesh cotton tote, and 5 different sand castle molds.
This set comes in 3 different color versions: beige, mint, and mauve. It is the perfect set for young children looking to build lots of sand castles this summer.
Green Toys Sand Play Set
Green Toys makes a really great sand set from recycled plastic. We have had this set for a really long time and it has really held up.
While it is perfect for the beach and sandbox, my kids also love to use it in the dirt as a gardening set too.
The Green Toys Set includes a bucket, spade, sand rake, and a sand castle mold. There is also a version that has a watering can as well.
Green Toys are made in the USA and are free from all toxic chemicals. The set comes in either green or pink.
Green Toys Wagon
Another really great addition to your collection of sand toys, as well as outdoor toys, is the Green Toys wagon. It is so fun for toddlers to fill the wagon up with sand (or dirt or rocks or toys) and pull it all around. Then dump it out and start all over again.
Just like all Green Toys it is made from sturdy recycled plastic and an all-cotton rope. This is such a cute and classic little toy that your little ones will have a blast with!
Quut Beach Toys
If you are looking for beach toys that are a little different from your average bucket and shovel this set from Quut is perfect for you. Quut is an Australian company that is all about innovation. The bucket, or as they call it ballo, is a sturdy cylindrical shape that helps to prevent spills. It comes in two different sizes, a small size for younger kids and a larger size as well. There is also a wide variety of fun, bright colors. The Quut ballo is made from durable rubber.
The Quut Triplet, as they call it, is a 3-in-1 sand tool. It acts as a shovel, rake, and sifter. It is the coolest sand toy that I have ever seen. The triplet is made from strong durable plastic and is BPA, phthalate, and latex free. It also comes in a variety of fun bright colors: mellow yellow, calypso pink, lagoon green, and vintage blue.
Haba Sand Bucket Scooter
Haba makes some of the best wooden toys on the market. They also make some excellent plastic sand and beach toys. The Haba sand bucket scooter is the perfect collection for beach days, as well as park days and everyday backyard days.
This 4 piece set is so durable and a lot of fun. It includes a bucket scooter, with big wheels making it easy to move in the rough sandy terrain, a sieve, a car mold, and a trowel. It also comes with a mesh storage bag.
The Sand Bucket Scooter Set is small making it the perfect size for young toddlers and children.
Haba Sand Drill
The Haba Sand Drill is hands down the number 1 toy that I have ever bought for my boys for their beach adventures. I had to buy a few of them because they constantly fight over who gets to play with it. They love to “drill” perfect holes in the sand all around our towel and look and see what they can find down in the hole.
Like all Haba sand toys, it is strong polypropylene plastic and comes with a 5-year warranty.
Haba Sand Trucks
Haba also makes a really fun collection of sand digging trucks. My kids keep these in the sandbox, but they are also really great at the beach as well.
There are three different types of trucks available (separately):
- The Tanker Truck: which holds quite a bit of water and contains a funnel making it perfect for building sand castles
- The Excavator: which is the sand and dirt digger and transporter.
- The Dump Truck: the dump truck carries all of the sand and water perfectly for your child’s beach/sandbox construction site and then easily dumps it out at the next location
Haba Spilling Funnel
This is the last of the Haba sand toys on this list. We just really love our Haba toys at my house. This spilling funnel is such a great, toy, that encourages a lot of creative play.
You fill one part up with water and the other part with sand and then it mixes together within the toy and spills out. It is fun for making different types of sand castles, but my kids also love to spell words in the sand as well with it.
Hape Monster Digger
The Hape Monster Digger is a fun truck shovel. It is very sturdy and durable and is the most fun shovel you can get. The monster digger is made from high-quality plastic and non-toxic child-safe paints. It is free from PVC, BPA, and phthalates.
This digger is sure to get tons of outdoor play.
Hape Beach Basics Sand Toy Set
This set is a high-quality, affordable, basic set that has everything your child needs for a day at the beach. It comes with a bucket (that has an easy-to-pour lip), a sifter, a shovel, and a hand rake. This sweet little set comes in green or red.
Spielstabil Beach Toys
The Spielstabil Bucket Mill Set is so much fun. The set is made in Germany from long-lasting, food-grade ABS plastic and is free from all toxic chemicals. The colors are so vibrant and classic.
This bucket mill is a step up from just your average bucket. My kids love to turn the mill on its own and also pour sand and water directly on it to make it spin as fast as they can.
All I can say is the quality of Spielstabil toys is unmatched. We have had toys from them for years and keep the outside year round and they look as good today as they did when we first bought them, years ago.
Ekobo Bamboo Sand Play Set
Ekobo makes really cool sand toys. The toys are made from eco-friendly biodegradable bamboo fiber and come in bright, cheery colors.
They sell a lemon yellow bucket that is ergonomically designed to make it comfortable to carry around the beach. Especially for those trips back and forth from the water.
The sand tool set is really fun. They come in 3 different sea animal shapes: a manta ray shovel, a turtle sifter, and a whale scooper
This sand play set is so cute and sure to be a favorite with your children.
Buying eco-friendly and non-toxic sand toys is a simple but effective way to promote sustainability, protect our environment, and safeguard the health of our children and families.
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