There is no shortage of places to find kids' outerwear, but I've been enjoying checking out a new online retailer called PlayOutdoors.com. The site features a thoughtful selection of clothes, accessories, toys, and gear designed to encourage active play in the sun, the snow, and the great outdoors. You can find camping equipment, water bottles, tons of backpacks, the most adorable knit hats (like the spidey one pictured), and toys including a junior field explorer's kit and a set of sand toys made of recycled plastic.
The site also features a blog and an ingenious fit guide, which allows you to enter your child's measurements and save them. The site will then determine the size you'll need, no matter which manufacturer you choose (and what its sizing system is).
Here, from the site, are the product selection guidelines:
- We are an ecologically- and socially-conscious business and seek out manufacturers and service partners who are like-minded.
- Products we represent must first exceed expectations for durability, fit, and performance.
- Products are manufactured and handled with sustainability in mind.
- Products must be real-kid tested.
Photo courtesy PlayOutdoors.com
If the fit guide actually works, I am there! We just got the warmest, nicest kid gloves from L.L. Bean — using a tape measure and the manufacturer’s guidelines — and both are too big for our children. ARGH!
I would love to find mittens that actually stay on my toddler.
We spent all our outdoors time in VT and Maine last week retrieving fallen mittens.
The explorer’s kit looks cool!