oompa Company and Purchase Review

oompa is a good site to find eco-friendly toys for kids. I found it shortly after Tomato was born and it has been a great resource for us to order gifts for her and other children. Their mission is to provide buyers with simple, imaginative toys that are made of natural fabrics, fibers and other materials. Many of the products are made in Europe, but some are made in the USA. You can even choose to shop by country on their homepage. The store can also be searched by company, developmental age or toy category. They often update their stock with new toys and will allow you to place items on a wishlist for others to purchase for baby showers and birthdays or even if you want to maintain an idea list for yourself. They also have a points program where you can earn money off your next order based on the points that you have accumulated shopping and writing reviews. Also, if you recommend oompa to a friend, you can also earn points when they shop there. It’s a simple and easy to use website that has garnered a lot of great toys for us. oompa is currently moving and the website suggests shopping at Julabug until the store is settled and running again on September 15th. So, while we have been happy with the site, it is in transition and may need some time to restock and be fully functional in the next week or so.

So far, we have ordered the Manhattan Toy Skwish in the Natural Color, Skip Hop Farm Build a Blocks Set, Haba Magica Clutching Toy, Plan Toys Clapping Roller, Haba Cozy Pet Chicken, Haba Hablinos Fabric Book, Noted Handmade Felt Puppet Frog and Chicken. Unfortunately, not all of these are still available on oompa, but since I am reviewing both the site and the products in this post, I have provided you with other purchase locations below if it is not at oompa.

Manhattan Toy Skwish

The Skwish has gotten a lot of use in our house. Tomato loves the gentle clinking sound and also like to see how far she can throw it. I chose the natural just because I thought it would be nice to have something simple since the other toys would have a lot of color.

Skip Hop Build a Barn Blocks

These blocks match Tomato’s Skip Hop Playmat. Unfortunately, they are no longer available on oompa, but are on the Skip Hop site. We have enjoyed the various sounds and textures that the blocks offer.

Haba Magica Clutching Beads

As always, Haba comes through when color and dexterity development are in mind. These clutching beads have been great for Tomato to play with, manipulate and demonstrate how sound travels when they are rapped on different surfaces. This too is currently out of stock on oompa, but is available on Amazon.

Plan Toys Clapping Roller

This guy might be the most fun! He never goes where you intend him to roll, which keeps both you and your baby on your toes. It makes a soft clapping sound and Plan Toys always uses non-toxic paints and finishes on their products. It is no longer on oompa, but is available on Amazon.

Haba Cozy Chicken Clutching Toy

I love the look of this guy. Tomato has been playing with and shaking him around to make the sound and she has just started to put him in the nest and take him out. Again, no longer at oompa, but follow the link to Amazon if you think you’d like to have one as well.

Haba Fabric Book Habalinos

This has been a great find to have Tomato play with on the changing table. The fabric crinkles, the illustrations are bright and colorful (although a bit bizarre like the horse with the fishing pole – not quite sure where he’s going with that), and there is a squeaker in the center. It must have also been a winter 2010 item from Haba, so oompa does not carry it right now. It can be found here on Amazon.

Noted Felt Chicken Puppet

Noted Felt Frog Puppet

These are the final two items that we have purchased from oompa as of today. We sent them off to friends whose daughter had turned 1. We understand that they have fit in well in their puppet theater. In what must be a shop transfer issue, these are not at oompa currently, but were right before the move. If you can’t wait until the 15th to have them, check out Brooklyn5and10.com.

In the end, we have been happy shopping with oompa. I am curious to see how the shop move goes and what comes of the inventory stock once the move is done. Hopefully, they will have more things in stock and we will look forward to continuing to shop with them as Tomato grows.

Do any of you have some online green toy resources to share? We are always looking for more to know.