A young child approaches every living being with trust and openness. They can love a fuzzy caterpillar, fearlessly embrace spiders, and offer you a torn blade of grass or a wilted dandelion with such affection, as if they were presenting the world's greatest treasure. And when we, as adults, take a moment to look within ourselves, or rather, attempt to see everything through their eyes, perhaps we can assist in nurturing their innate ability to live in harmony with nature and become more conscious.
We believe that through play, children can most effectively be guided towards important values, and with the unique, handcrafted toys we create, we aim to aid in this endeavor.
At Dadu's wooden toy store, you'll discover a variety of animal-themed toys that not only provide joyful and carefree play but also offer a wealth of knowledge about different animal species, their habitats, and the importance of preserving this wonderful diversity in the world.
The little ones enjoy playing with the elephant nursery puzzle, and as they arrange the colorful little elephants, you can tell them about how remarkably bonded these giant animals are, how they raise their young with great care, attention, and love, and the vast territories they traverse in search of food and water. You can emphasize the significance of preserving their natural habitats.
Slightly older kids may collect all sorts of insects in the garden, but if there's no opportunity to observe the bustling world of countless insects outdoors, you can introduce them to BigBugBand's large, decorative bugs or the smaller, lifelike insects and butterflies right in their playroom.
For older children, our Savanna and South American wooden animals become part of their role-playing games. This opens up opportunities to talk about rainforests and savannas, as well as the many species threatened because they are losing their natural habitats.
With our DaduGarden Playset, there are countless opportunities to talk to children about the importance of protecting and caring for our immediate environment. While planting toy flowers together, you can share stories about pollinating insects. Through plant grower games, they can learn about the different stages of plant development, and with the pondside sets, you can discuss the significance of aquatic habitats.
Those who learn to care for their toy plants from a young age are sure to grow up wanting to nurture real trees, not pave over everything with concrete, plant more than they cut down, preserve swallow nests, and keep our fields free from litter.
Of course, we do everything we can to minimize environmental impact when crafting dadu wooden toys. For us, wood is a treasure. We source raw, unedged, untreated lindenwood (and a few other types) planks, which we use to craft dadu toys. Bee nurseries are crafted from often cracked, weathered plank ends, some of which we happily send as gifts with ordered toys, but most are placed in our own garden. We've raised many hundreds of bees here. We don't use only the most perfect, flawless pieces of wood; we incorporate beautiful ‘boo-boos’ wherever we can. Since we don't use templates but draw our toys freehand onto the lindenwood planks, we draw them closely together to minimize waste. Anything that does fall to the ground doesn't go to waste; it's repurposed in our garden. Larger pieces are neatly piled into heaps, and we eagerly watch how many different creatures find cozy, protected homes within them. Hedgehogs, lizards, slowworms have become our housemates, and who knows how many tiny residents. Wood shavings, smaller fallen wood pieces, and sawdust find use as mulch or go into the compost.
Every dadu toy is crafted from solid wood, specifically cut from untreated lindenwood planks. Most of our toys are painted using the vibrant, radiant colors of Natural Naturfarben, a beeswax-based, biologically tested, baby-friendly product. Surface treatment is done with Biopin, a 100% natural, Bio-high-tech certified wax-based product, also safe for children.
Ordered toys are shipped in cardboard boxes made from 100% recycled paper, sealed with paper tape, and nestled in wood wool. Whenever possible, we make an effort to consolidate shipments to minimize environmental impact.
Cover photo: Bőti Anikó, special education teacher - Játék rengeteg — Thanks :)
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