Canadian Brands for Kids: Toys, Clothes & Everyday Favourites

From wooden toys made by a Waterloo family for generations to colourful Montréal kidswear and a British Columbia baby brand started by twin sisters, these are some of the Canadian kids and baby brands worth knowing on Shoppa.ca.

Canadian Brands for Kids: Made for Growing Up

Childhood leaves its traces everywhere. On the toys that survive years of play. In the clothes passed from one child to another. In the things parents keep long after they are needed, simply because they have become attached to a particular time in the life of a family.

Some of the most interesting Canadian businesses for children begin in that world. They are built by people who remember what they loved as children, who notice what their own families need, or who have an idea they believe will make childhood a little better.

Over time, those ideas become businesses. And behind many of them are stories every bit as interesting as the things they make.

These are a few worth knowing.

Wooden toys, still made the old-fashioned way

Thorpe Toys (ON)

Thorpe Toys began with Jerry and Rosemary Thorpe making toys for their own children in Waterloo, Ontario. Then came toys for nieces, nephews and friends, followed by local craft shows and fairs. What started around the family has grown into a Canadian toy business that has been making its own original wooden designs for decades.

The appeal is refreshingly uncomplicated. Boats, trucks, trains, drums, push toys, games and learning toys are handcrafted in Waterloo, with many designs inspired by the kinds of wooden toys previous generations grew up with.

On Shoppa, Thorpe’s Made in Canada assortment includes the Baby Boomer Drum, Push Duck, Pickup Truck, Transport Truck, Tractor, Solitaire Board Game and other wonderfully low-tech toys. They are the kind of products that make a strong case for play without screens, batteries or an instruction manual.

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A Canadian game that became a family business

Crokinole Canada (ON)

Few games come with a more naturally Canadian story than crokinole, and Crokinole Canada has built a family business around keeping that tradition going.

Founders Ted Fuller and his wife Alanda began small in St. Marys, Ontario. Ted had acquired the crokinole.ca domain while developing his multimedia skills, and the business started as a modest drop-ship operation. As demand grew, the couple added warehouse space and eventually moved the operation to a country property with barns and a warehouse used to store and ship boards and accessories.

Today the company works with skilled craftspeople and sends boards well beyond Canada. Shoppa carries Made in Canada Crokinole Canada boards, including traditional sets designed for family play that can span generations.

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Baby essentials born from two sisters and one handmade teether

Loulou Lollipop (BC)

Loulou Lollipop began in British Columbia in 2015 with twin sisters Eleanor Lee and Angel Kho. The original idea grew from a handmade silicone teething necklace and expanded into a much broader baby and children’s line built around design, safety and everyday usefulness.

The company is still very much a sister story, but it has travelled a long way from its beginnings. Loulou Lollipop says the brand is now sold in 37 countries and more than 1,100 boutiques in Canada and the United States. It also became a certified B Corp in 2023.

Shoppa’s baby assortment includes Loulou Lollipop sleep bags, muslin crib sheets, silicone bibs, teethers and other practical products with the playful prints that have become part of the brand’s identity. The hockey helmet teether and ice-hockey sleep products are particularly fun Canadian touches.

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Montréal kidswear built for colour and Canadian winters

Deux par Deux (QC)

Deux par Deux is a Canadian kidswear story with real history behind it. Co-founder and head designer Claude Diwan followed her mother into fashion, first bringing her mother’s smocked dresses from Paris to Montréal. In 1986, Claude and her husband Maurice Elmaleh launched Deux par Deux.

Colour, original prints and a willingness to make children’s clothing feel like fashion helped the Montréal brand stand apart early. Then Québec winter gave it another specialty. In 1989, Deux par Deux moved into snowsuits, turning the realities of cold, snowy winters into one of the company’s defining categories.

Four decades later, the business remains family-run, with the founders’ son Zacharie Elmaleh now leading the company. Shoppa carries a wide Deux par Deux assortment spanning baby and kids clothing, outerwear, accessories and school-ready pieces.

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Play that gets kids moving

Goodevas CA

For toddlers, sometimes the best toy is the one they can climb over, crawl through and turn into something entirely different five minutes later. That is the idea behind the Montessori-style climbing sets and indoor play equipment in the Goodevas CA assortment on Shoppa.

Shoppa currently carries Pikler-style triangles, arches, ramps, indoor jungle gyms, swings and shelving from the brand, with a number of products carrying Shoppa’s Made in Canada designation. The modular designs are built around movement, balance, open-ended play and giving younger children a place to explore indoors.

This is a particularly useful part of the Shoppa kids assortment because it moves beyond small toys into larger pieces that can become part of a playroom or family space.

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