Our Story
Welcome to Alder & Alouette!
As a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, you want to give the children in your life the best foundation possible. This includes surrounding them with natural material, open-ended toys, crafts, art and school supplies.
Too many big-name businesses offer mass produced plastic products for children with flashy bells and whistles that do little to contribute to developing creativity or imagination.
Alder and Alouette is committed to offering high-quality, safe toys, crafts and other products for children and families that encourage imaginative play, creativity, and developmental milestones.
Our quality products are built to last. They’re eco-friendly as we look for responsibly made products made from natural materials like wood, bamboo, cotton, wool, linen or silk with their end-life destination in consideration.
We offer toys that, if taken care of, can be passed down for many years. Our natural craft supplies encourage such things as fine motor skills, problem solving and creativity. Our school supplies are some of the best with heavy papers, refillable non-toxic glues-inks-paints, natural play doughs, ergonomic pencils and gorgeous, hand-crafted musical instruments.
Our carefully curated selection of products can help you provide that natural space for your children that encourages open-ended play and help develop important skills and milestones.
Join our family at Alder and Alouette and let's make the best environment possible for your child.
A Little Bit About Me
Hi. I’m Laura, an experienced career educator, scientist, wife, mother of three, grandmother of six and the owner of Alder and Alouette, a small family owned and run business in the Pacific Northwest.
As mothers do, I devoted my life to raising my children in the best way possible. It was the late 1980’s. Plastic, prefab furniture, boxed food and cheap, synthetic products were all the rage. Everything seemed to be artificial, and I found this frustrating.
I missed my childhood playing in the woods, following ladybugs and caterpillars, climbing trees and having dolls that were made of natural fabrics! I missed the wooden toys of my youth and the creativity I had in using anything I wanted in open play, such as logs for a pirate ship, a stick for my sword and autumn leaves as the ocean waves. I had imagination. My friends had imagination. And we thrived.
I wanted that for my children and began searching for a better way for them to play, grow and learn. During their childhoods, I struggled to find natural toys, art and craft supplies. They were hard to come by then, and I resorted to making most by hand.
When my grandchildren came into my life, I didn’t want their parents struggling to find quality toys and art and craft supplies like I did, and I knew what I wanted to do. I planned my new adventure, Alder and Alouette, to help parents find high-quality, safe, eco-friendly, natural material toys and supplies for their children.
We hope you find something you love in our shop.
Warmly,
Laura
Owner of Alder and Alouette
Need to get in touch? We would love to hear from you.
Navigate to our Contact Us page and fill out the form. One of our staff will be in contact as soon as possible. You will also find other ways to get in touch, such as a postal address and email.
