Gardens

Green Toys Indoor Gardening Kit

Recycled, durable toys

Green Toys’ Sand Play Set, Tea Set and Indoor Gardening Kit all made their way into our home as gifts and then won us over across generational lines. They’re constructed of recycled milk cartons (high-density polyethylene), have a clean, attractive, colorful-but-not-garish aesthetic and are just shy of bulletproof. I could see the Green Toys sets we have looking new long after they’ve been handed down a handful of times.

The gardening kit’s a pleasure because it requires parental involvement (for the recently post-toddler set, at least), and patience from grownups and kids, alike: Plant a seed and watch it grow is a long-term activity, after all. The kit comes with three seed options – basil, sunflower and zinnias — if you don’t already have a supply on hand. Your child gets to choose what she wants to plant and take some ownership in the process. The toy’s renewable in that once your seedlings have grown enough to be transplanted elsewhere, you can plant another round. And another. Seasons permitting, of course.

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Structurally, the green base tray with recessed spots to hold the three pots is an earnest attempt to maintain tidiness for indoor use, and it does keep order as well as provide a moisture barrier when placing the kit on top of furniture. Slightly deeper indentations in the base would help to hold the pots in place better; we’ve had some spills. Regardless, hydrating the compressed soil pucks is a reanimating spectacle for kids and parents.

-- Elon Schoenholz 07/17/09

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