Contact Us:
Email: bambinoecotoys@gmail.com Text: 0416 087 394
What do we do?
…We do what we love
…We do what we love
- Bambino delivers to your door the sweetest baby and toddler products from the best baby toy designers in Australia and Europe.
- Bambino specialise in the highest quality, safest and well-designed gifts for toddlers, baby showers and new borns.
- Everything in our lovingly curated range is chosen to enhance your child’s emotional, social, physical, and/or cognitive development.
- We specifically choose playthings that offer long-term play, learning and enjoyment.
- All are designed to encourage your child’s natural curiosity and echo your child’s developing abilities which builds their self confidence.
- The brands we choose are ethically made (many are Fair trade) the wood is sustainably sourced, and all the paints are baby-safe and earth-friendly.
At Bambino we believe it is vital to teach children to think for themselves & be responsible caretakers of their local environment & our planet. We think this begins with toys made from natural materials, of great quality and beauty, that are worth taking care of.
Playing with open-ended toys encourages your child’s imagination and helps them build confidence that their efforts bring results.
We believe that play is the best form of education, as it helps children practice reasoning, judgement and problem solving.
For all thing we believe in quality over quantity.
We think the only “expensive” toys are the ones that pollute the planet, because they cost the earth.
- And as a small, local business owner- I definitely do a “happy dance” from each and every order, hold my breath until it’s delivered to your place, safe and sound, and live for positive feedback that you, my lovely customer, has been delighted by your new toys and the service.
- My goal, vision and mission is to bring the same kind of delight and happiness, that we provided from our physical store, to all of Australia.
Our philosophy
Why do we stock….?
Wooden toys
Non-toxic wooden, tree rubber, bioplastic, wool, silk, cotton, children’s toys are a no-brainer if you care about your child’s health, their future planet, the ocean, the air we breathe, etc which I am going to assume you do. When your kids are older and ask you why you gave them plastic toys, which have harmed sea-life, the quality of the air, and the health of the soil and thus our food, you cannot say you did not know. We know.
Wooden toys are antibacterial because they are made out of wood – studies show that wood is the most effective antibacterial qualities vs plastic.
They look beautiful – and children deserve beautiful things, this leads to appreciation of the things they own.
Back to the Earth When they do eventually end their life of use – they simply crumble back into the earth – like any part of a tree, they don’t sit in landfill for thousands of years or end up choking a turtle.
Dolls and plush toys
are very important for social development and emotional security. This is why we offer such a varied and fantastic range. Soft Dolls and plush toys are great because children are able to cuddle, carry, squish, hug, talk to, cry on, argue with and are soft and safe for a toddler to sleep to provide security and company through naps and nighttime.
Sensory toys
sounds like a buzz word – but what this refer to is a toy that is made for a stimulating a child’s developing senses. So that it will have different textures or types of fabric, rough, smooth tags, some wood, some teething rubber, some scrunchy parts, it might dingle, jingle, squeak or rattle once child takes an action such as shaking, squeezing, turning, touching etc. This is when a child learns their actions lead to a result. They exert influence, control -power – watch out! That is confidence and self awareness development right there. Examples of this are Grimm’s bead grasper, Manhattan Toys Skwish, OB Designs plush teether rattles, and their sensory balls, Alimrose squeakers and rattles, Hape Rice-made rattles and teether sets, etc. Look in Sensory Toys for more of these – babies and toddlers need a variety of these.
Blankets
– security and warmth now, link to the past as they grow. Our blankets are cotton, organic cotton or cashmere blends. Many are fair trade, all are handmade and all are safe and beautifully made for your baby to love now and forever.
Swaddles, Muslin Wraps
– security and closeness for soothing and relaxing a baby, becomes a comforter as they grown and handy for everything you could image(burp cloth, breast feeding cove, shade cover in stroller, pram or car, place on top of any “change mat” for anywhere – the park, a friends house, the mall, the back seat of the car – wherever you need to suddenly change a nappy, or lie baby down. All bubs and their parents need lots of swaddles. and there are so many lovely ones to choose. Cotton, Bamboo, muslin fine, jersey stretch or larger or smaller. Natural fabrics breathe and provide warmth in winter and are cooler in summer. They get softer with washing (throw them in the machine) and dry quickly for quick turn-around.
Benefits of wooden, rubber and other natural teethers and other natural material toys
They are organic.
Wooden teethers are non-toxic because they do not contain any BPA, phthalates, lead, latex, or any other potentially harmful chemicals. Wooden baby teethers and toys are antibacterial because they are made out of wood – studies show that wood is the most effective antibacterial qualities vs plastic.
They look beautiful – and children deserve beautiful things, this helps them to appreciate and take care of the things they own.
Back to the Earth: When they do eventually end their life of use – they simply crumble back into the earth – like any part of a tree, they don’t sit in landfill for thousands of years.
Our beginning, our journey
What began in 2009 as a crystal shop (Wonders of the World) with intentions of helping people with minerals and crystals- beautiful natural products from the earth, evolved slowly into a store that focussed on naturally made toys.
The gradual change to children’s toys began once I added Amber teething beads to the crystal selection. I began to feel that a more practical offering like natural toys may, in fact, be of more direct benefit to parents and children than collecting crystals. I added more wooden toys and after two shop moves – Narraweena to Freshwater -and then from an arcade in Freshwater to the main street in Freshwater- “Wonders Toy Shop” emerged as a place people could find interesting, natural and curiosity-inspiring toys for babies to 12yo. We stocked Grimm’s, Grapat, Qtoys, OB Designs, rainbow ripple blankets, fair trade toys and dolls and LOTS of wooden toys.
When the building in Freshwater was to be demolished, due to a new development, we moved to Sydney Rd, Manly Beach, down the hill from Freshwater. I renamed the shop “Bambino Manly’ and decided to only stock items for 0-4yo to double down on those early years where choice of toys and playthings are crucial to a child’s sensory, cognitive and motor skills early development.
This was then able to reflect my interest in children’s cognitive development – acquired during my B.Sc Degree (Psych) which I had completed as a single mother with two bubs under 3yo.
Firstly, I chose to focus on baby/toddler years, because this is the age of so much development plus the time when bubs put everything in their mouth, as part of natural sensory learning and speech muscle tongue development as well as teething relief, so non-toxic teethers and sensory toys are vitally important.
These first couple of years of a child’s life are such an important age for learning and confidence development and in the age where even babies are given technology, I felt it was REALLY important to make sure children were holding onto blocks, banging physical things together, creating the range of sounds that come from physical play and feel the range of textures in their hands, in their mouths and against their skin.
So each toy or bib or blanket or doll or teether etc that I choose is based on your child’s needs now and the best interests of their future planet.
During the approx. 10 years of trading as a bricks and mortar shop – I had the most amazing, dedicated, intelligent, friendly and wonderful staff – Grand mums, Mums and Daughters they all cared for about our shop , and you, our customers, in ways I know you appreciated and in more ways than I can ever thank them.
But now online, working from home, it is an introvert’s dream job.
I hope to bring the same kind of joy and happiness we provided from our physical store to all of Australia through packages like rainbows, emerging all over the country.
More than a solo effort, nothing could be achieved without the support of fantastic suppliers, above and beyond Australia Post workers, my now-adult children who lend me an ear to both rant and rave, my mother, whose infinite patience is mysterious and my sister and brother who also run their own businesses who are always ready to chat about the good, the bad and the ugly.
Diversity and Inclusion: We embrace the value of promoting diversity and inclusion in our business, our staff, our suppliers, our customers and the products we choose to sell.
Diversity to us, means understanding and respecting that each individual is unique, and recognising our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, intersex status, gender identity, cultural background, caring responsibilities, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.
Inclusion for us means providing products and images of product that respect and represent the diversity of individuals. We endeavour to offer a range of dolls for example, of various gender and skin colours – enabling children to see their own individual differences in a doll or pictured playing with a toy etc.
We have never had “boy” or “girl” sections in our shop, nor considered any toys, or colours, or clothing, only for “boys” or “girls”. We feel children, when given the chance, choose to play with, wear or develop preferences for colours etc according to their individual differences.
In particular we want to state we believe Black Lives Matter in Australia and all over the world. And that I continue to educate myself about history, culture and struggles of indigenous people in Australia from pre and post settlement by Europeans. Any indigenous resources such as books, felt Australian country range are provided as a starting point for teaching children and ourselves about Australia’s long history and with respect to the original owners of this land. And with the recognition that Australia pre-European settlement was owned by as many as 400 different nations. Where we operate from now, Dee Why, is part of the traditional land of the Aboriginal people we have come to call the Guringai. This name is now in common usage but recent research indicates that this is not the name the local people used themselves. They were more likely to be Dharug people. Evidence of the way of life of Aboriginal people can still be found in the rock engravings and other sites which are close to Dee Why.
Our Acknowledgement of Country
“I would like to begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Guringai or Dharug people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we operate
I would like to pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, also paying my respects to your Elders, past, present and emerging.”
Immediate question? – sms: 0416 087 394
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Email on bambinoecotoys@gmail.com
