Eco-friendly sand fun - Sprig Hollow from Sprig Toys

I first heard of Sprig Toys around Christmas when my crunchy friends were raving about the cool trucks they were buying for their little boys. At first I was confused by their excitement; these were cute, but looked like plastic. But, Sprig Toys are actually made of a unique material called Sprigwood - a biocomposite of recycled wood and recycled plastic. They are tough and waterproof like plastic, but have a fresh-cut wood smell. Mmmm.... And are completely child-safe as well as being eco-friendly. And cute! And affordable!

So that's what they were so excited about.

Sprig makes tough yellow construction trucks and kid-powered Adventure Rigs, and now they make sand toys that are fun for boys, but pretty enough for girly girls. We got to try Sprig's newest line, Sprig Hollow.

The line consists of three playsets.

Sprig Hollow DuneBug's Sand Truck ($16.99)



Sprig Hollow Bee and Butterfly's Farm Playset($26.95)





Sprig Hollow Dragonfly's Heliscoopter Playset($15.99)



Each playset contains parts which are snapped together to form trucks, a heliscooper, even a barn. And, each has parts that come off to be cool sand toys like a funnel, rake and scoop. But the best part -- the cute little bugs.

Coincidentally, the toys arrived on Earth Day. Linnea and I had just come home from taking Arielle to preschool, and we found a big box outside our door. I assembled everything quickly and lucky Linnea had everything to herself for a few hours. I love how serious she looks while she tucks the "Little Baby Bugs" into the truck.











When Arielle came home, she tried them out as well and pronounced them "Fun!" and "Pretty!" The little bug figures were very popular. That night, we tried them in the bath where the bugs were shampooed in bubbles and the funnel and leaf shaped scoop from the farm set were especially well-liked.

The big test came last weekend. It was a glorious, sunny weekend and we spent much of it enjoying being outdoors. They played with the toys quite a bit in the sandbox (while I built a composter), but then discovered that trucks and dry leaves are a fun combination.

Here are the pictures.











All Sprig Toys are battery-free, come in eco-friendly packaging, and are compatible with each other. They are available at a variety of toy stores, nationwide.