Plan Toys Change Their Range

One of the big surprises for me at the Nuremberg Toy fair was the Plan Toy stand with a lot of their existing products changing as they have started to use a new green manufacturing technique, which looks like compressed wood chippings moulded into shape. This has however fundamentally changed the look and feel of some of their classic designs.

The new version of the Dancing Alligator:

The old version:

 

But what the pictures don't show is somehow the old version just feels nicer, you can feel the lovely quality of the rubbewood and it looks and plays like a real wooden toy. The new version is more like a moulded plastic toy and the colour seems more muted. I'm not convinced that such a change was necessary as rubberwood is a very sustainable material anyway. Maybe the new styled products will grow on me, but just in case I'm off to buy the classic versions while my local toy shop still has them.

As I find out more about the process used I will report back.