shumee toys: Proudly Made in India

We create original designs for engaging, open ended wooden toys, games, and activity boxes. These are handcrafted locally by Indian artisans, with great skill and care. 

Many toys available today fall into the trap of being too structured; they encourage children to repeat pre-determined outcomes or steps, or 'tell' the child how to think or what to answer. Many of these are also made of made of plastic and electronics, which contain chemicals harmful to our kids and the earth. At shumee, our attempt is to bypass all these problems.

Our toys, games, and puzzles are designed to be simple and open-ended, engaging kids in meaningful ways without taking away the simple joy of play. Let children play—learning will happen along the way!

Behind the Scenes at shumee

Before designing any toy, we ask ourselves these questions:

  1. Can the child play with this toy multiple times over, in many ways and not get bored? 
  2. Does this toy allow for the child to be creative and imaginative? 
  3. Can this toy encourage independent and collaborative play?

Each toy that makes it to our catalogue meets these standards!

The choices we make today decide what kind of world we can leave for our children tomorrow. At shumee, we firmly believe in sustainable manufacturing.  

 

Did you know? Our toys are also...

Eco-friendly: Our toys are made of natural materials such as wood and cotton and never contain batteries, plastic, or electronics. 

Child-safe: We use only water-based paints (no lead or other toxics) and beeswax for our polish. Our toys are ASTM and EN71 certified for safety and quality. These are respected international product safety standards.

Skill-building: Every toy is designed to help your little one develop crucial skills appropriate for their age. These range from fine and gross motor skills to problem solving, creativity, communication, and self-expression. On every product page, we have a section that tells you what skills the toy/game will help build.

 

Learn more about the story of shumee and our founder here.