I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  Natural Pod is one of my favorite natural toy vendors!  Natural Pod gets it, they really get it.  Only the highest quality, sustainable products are featured, and you can shop freely without having to scrutinize each product for greenwashing.  Recently, my children and I had the pleasure of playing with two Natural Pod products:  Tree Branch Blocks and Felting Kit.

• Tree Branch Blocks:  I’ve always wanted to make my own tree branch blocks, but it is one of those projects I have never gotten around too.  When we opened our set, my daughter exclaimed, “Cool toy, Mom”, “Cool blocks”, “Look what I made”, and “How did they make the blocks so smooth?”   She observed that the blocks are not all the same size, which makes children use their brains to create organic structures not possible with standard unit blocks.  She also asked me what they were made from, and I guessed wrongly birch. They are actually made from “Kiln dried locally sourced Alder. 14 pc. with Harmonic wax finish”, and the bag they come in is made from “locally made natural cotton”.  Perhaps this tree branch set will inspire us to make our own to add to the collection.
• Felting Kit:  I am a fiber artist (I can still say that even though I haven’t created for a few years, right?), thus I was super excited to get the felting kit from Natural Pod. This kit comes with nine colors of wool all dyed naturally! “The colors are created by using various combinations of madder root, osage orange, marigold, mushroom (Phaeolus schweinitzii), indigo, cochineal, logwood, lac, and cutch to provide a full spectrum to play with.” The kit is made by a Waldorf mother on Vancouver Island and includes a felting needle.  It is inspiring me to get out my wool and start dyeing again with coffee, onion skins, and lichen.

Both the felting kit and tree branch blocks are affordable and make wonderful, inspiring, open-ended gifts this holiday season.  You really can’t go wrong with Natural Pod!

Disclosure:  I was given the above described products in order to complete this authentic review. There were no advance assurances given as to whether the review would be positive or negative.