Yellow Blue has compiled 10 Ukrainian brands that make toys from safe materials, collaborate with global companies, and add characters from popular cartoons to their collections. The selection includes magnetic and mini-brick construction sets, detailed wooden 3D models with moving parts, modeling clay that does not leave stains, Montessori system-based developmental equipment, plush toys, and large-format coloring posters.
Construction sets
Trendformer
About the brand. Trendformer has operated since the early 2010s and brings together three brands: Hey Clay children’s modeling clay, which does not stick to surfaces and hardens on its own, and the Pixio and Voxart magnetic construction sets. The company’s signature feature is interactive mobile applications where users can watch tutorial videos and upload photos of their creations.
Hey Clay sells modeling clay in sets and collaborates with companies that hold licensing rights to cartoon characters. For example, the brand offers clay sets with instructions on how to sculpt characters from Bluey or the Minions from Despicable Me.
Pixio is a construction set with small magnetic pieces sold in themed sets such as “bright animals,” “orange animals,” or “country flags.”
Voxart is a large-format construction set. It can be used not only to assemble toys, but also home decor or animal masks worn on the head like helmets.
What is available. Hey Clay modeling clay sets with instructions for sculpting animals, plants, monsters, cars, Christmas or Easter characters, and heroes from popular cartoons.
Pixio construction sets come in themed kits with step-by-step guides and from 50 to 1,600 colorful magnetic cubes. Voxart offers large construction sets that can be assembled into home decor items such as potted flowers, oversized animal masks, or custom-designed creations.
Ugears
About the brand. Ugears was founded in 2013 when designer Denys Okhrymenko created a moving wooden 3D construction model, and entrepreneur Hennadii Shestak invested in its production. Later, Okhrymenko sold his share, and Shestak became the sole owner and head of the company.
Ugears employs several hundred designers, and its production facilities are located in the Kyiv region. At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the territory was occupied. Russian troops burned down a warehouse with finished products, and shelling damaged the brand’s workshops. After de-occupation, the company quickly restored production. Today, its puzzles are sold through partner stores in more than 70 countries. These include, for example, branded stores in Disney theme parks.
Ugears has official collaborations: construction sets inspired by Disney, Harry Potter, and Star Wars universes. Customers can assemble Cinderella’s carriage, Hogwarts Castle, or Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing starfighter.
What is available. More than 55 models: cars, clocks, trains and ships, dinosaurs, and construction sets based on cartoons and films. The models come in three difficulty levels. Among the most complex are a working safe with a three-digit code, moving wind-up locomotives and sports cars, and a hurdy-gurdy, a replica of a real musical instrument that can also play music.
Some parts of the models can rotate or shift. For example, dragons from Harry Potter flap their wings and move their heads, tails, and jaws once the mechanism is activated. Racing cars feature working gearboxes and a drift mode that imitates side skidding while moving.
Wise Elk
About the brand. Wise Elk was founded in 2015 by Bohdana Rumak and Konstiantyn Rolyn. The brand operates under three trademarks: Wise Elk clay construction sets, Cubika wooden toys, and Artwille paint-by-number kits.
The brand does not have its own production facilities. All products are outsourced to Ukrainian manufacturers. Wise Elk products are sold in more than 800 stores in the United States, including large chains such as Imberdoodle, Rainbow Resources, and Hobby Town. They are also available in the European Union, Australia, and Southeast Asian countries.
What is available. Wise Elk offers sets with clay mini-bricks, glue, and step-by-step instructions for assembling replicas of historical landmarks and buildings, such as the Tower of London or Akkerman Fortress. Cubika produces wooden construction toys made from colorful cubes for children aged two and older. Artwille offers paint-by-number kits and cotton tote bags that children can paint with acrylics.
Wooden furniture and developmental equipment for children
WoodAndHearts
About the brand. The story of WoodAndHearts began in 2019 when the daughter of marketer Denys Shkribliak was diagnosed with delayed speech development. The rehabilitation center where she received therapy used special equipment, such as a Bilgow balance board. Shkribliak recreated the device by hand for home use and later turned the production of such products into a business.
WoodAndHearts manufactures more than 40 types of children’s furniture and developmental equipment based on the Montessori system. Production facilities are based in the Kyiv region and use natural wood and hypoallergenic paints. All products can withstand loads of 100–120 kilograms.
During the occupation of the Kyiv region in 2022, most of the workshop burned down. The brand resumed operations after the liberation of the area, and by 2023 had already surpassed its pre-war figures. Over seven years, WoodAndHearts has sold more than 200,000 products in 60 countries worldwide.
What is available. Sports and play furniture sets for children of different ages with gymnastic rings, pull-up bars, ladders, ropes, slides, and swings. Developmental equipment that improves coordination, motor skills, and balance. Furniture including beds, nightstands, desks, and chairs. Guides for parents on raising children according to the Montessori system. On the WoodAndHearts website, products are divided into four age categories: 1–3 years, 3–6 years, 6–8 years, and older children.
BusyPuzzle
About the brand. In 2018, spouses Julia and Ihor Balan were looking for a toy for their son Lucas that would be convenient to take on trips. Eventually, they designed a wooden puzzle themselves. That became the start of BusyPuzzle, a brand of Montessori-inspired wooden educational toys including puzzles, busy boards, and stacking toys.
All products are handmade from birch plywood or maple, painted with non-toxic water-based paints, and treated with linseed oil. BusyPuzzle holds a European Union declaration of conformity, meaning its toys meet EU quality and safety standards.
Today, BusyPuzzle is the most popular Ukrainian store on Etsy. More than 800,000 families worldwide have ordered its products. What sets the brand apart is that almost all products are personalized. For example, customers can order a puzzle made from the letters of a child’s name or add a name to a busy board.
What is available. More than 50 types of wooden products: busy boards, vehicle toys (cars, trains, airplanes), stacking toys, puzzles with animals, numbers, English letters, or parts of the world. BusyPuzzle also makes custom-named night lights from wood and plastic, as well as home decor for Christmas and Easter. All products are made to order.
Dodo Toys
About the brand. Dodo Toys creates puzzles and developmental toys for children. The brand was founded in 2014 by the Kharkiv-based couple Olena and Dmytro Terpai.
Dodo Toys manufactures more than 350 types of products, including puzzles, board games, magnets, brainteasers, and coloring books. The brand uses unique illustrations created by Ukrainian artists, as well as images of popular characters such as those from PAW Patrol, Peppa Pig, and Harry Potter. To use them legally, the company collaborates with Paramount, Hasbro, and Warner Brothers.
In spring 2024, a Russian missile struck near the facility of a Kharkiv contractor producing arts-and-crafts products, puzzles, and children’s books for Dodo Toys. The contractor’s employees were not injured, but people at neighboring businesses were killed.
What is available. A wide range of puzzles from 2 to 1,000 pieces, puzzle-construction sets, magnets with animals, vegetables, numbers, and the Ukrainian and English alphabets. The brand also offers several English-language board games. In one of them, players race to find objects from the Harry Potter universe on a map.
Plush toys
Charity toys by Animalism by UAnimals
About the brand. Animalism is the charity brand of UAnimals, an organization founded in 2016 that works to protect animals and the environment. Its founder is activist and entrepreneur Oleksandr Todorchuk.
During the full-scale war, UAnimals has been supporting shelters and nature reserves and rescuing animals from frontline territories. The stories of two rescued animals, a horse named Smailyk and a dog named Viki, became the basis for a mini-collection of charity plush toys. Profits from sales will go toward the organization’s projects.
About Animalism by UAnimals charity products. The plush horse Smailyk is based on a real horse rescued at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The horse had a broken leg and was going to be euthanized, but recovered after being rescued and now lives in a shelter. The toy version of Smailyk wears a red bandage on its leg, just like the real horse did during rehabilitation.
Viki the dog is a plush toy inspired by a real animal. The real Viki suffered a severe injury and lay by the roadside near Dobropillia for two weeks. The UAnimals team found her and took her to a hospital. Viki survived, but her front leg could not be saved. That is why the toy also has three legs.
In addition to the two plush toys, Animalism offers a creative set, a “Chicken” game in which players guide a metal ball through a maze, and a sticker pack featuring endangered animals. The brand also has collections for adults, including clothing, home decor, jewelry, and accessories.
Sunny Bunny
About the brand. Economist Natalia Goyzhevska became interested in sewing while on maternity leave, completed specialized courses, and started making dolls for her daughter. In 2011, she founded the Sunny Bunny brand. Today, it offers dozens of plush toy designs and also creates toys based on customer sketches.
What is available. Plush toys of real and fantasy animals, glove puppets for children’s theater, pillows and travel neck pillows with animal faces, handbags, and small wigwams.
Kalyaki.Malyaki
About the brand. "Scribbles" in Ukrainian. Kalyaki.Malyaki is a brand founded by a Ukrainian mother who has been sewing plush toys based on children’s drawings since 2015. The craftswoman tries to reproduce the shape, colors, and details of each sketch as accurately as possible. One toy takes about a week to make.
What is available. Custom-made toys recreated from children’s drawings.
Coloring posters
O`Kroshka
About the brand. Kyiv resident Volodymyr Bovsunovskyi was 23 years old when he created the large-format coloring brand O`Kroshka. The brand has been around for 11 years, and the designs are created by artists. They depict themes interesting to children, such as dinosaurs, pirates, and unicorns.
What is available. Coloring posters measuring from one to two meters in length and about half a meter in height. All illustrations are highly detailed and are filled with recognizable characters.
