Hybrids are for Kids Too
Date: November 13, 2008 | Category: Kids, Toys
Your mother always told you to play fair. Good advice, but what about playing green?
That task just got easier thanks to green toy maker, Sprig Toys. Named for Sprigwood, a bio-composite material made from recycled wood and reclaimed plastic (yes monstrous hybrid, but so much better than the alternative), Sprig Toys promises lively, child-safe products that are good for kids and better for the environment - than the other behemoths out there at least. Geared toward preschool-aged children, the Sprig Adventure Series vehicles are chunky, brightly colored, and come with a fun assortment of characters. Better yet, none of the toys require a battery, just the power of your child’s imagination.
I like the company’s Sprig Adventure Series, a collection that uses the kinetic energy created through push-and pump-action to power flashing lights and create sounds so zany they might make you wish your child had a little bit less of an imagination.
Fair Play
Date: November 4, 2008 | Category: Lifestyle, Toys, Travel & Leisure, ecoMan
The concept of playing fair has just gone far beyond the court. With the Respect basketball you can smoke the competition and look out for the welfare of workers and the world we all live in.
With an eco-certified rubber exterior and interior, this basketball from Fair Trade Sports is the only enviro-ball capable of increasing your street cred. The all-weather, high-grip surface, which retails for $19.99, allows for year-round fair play. Check out the full line of equipment on their site that at times feels like a mystery game. With a small amount of effort you will dribble away with the prize.
Green Art, the Easel Way
Date: October 29, 2008 | Category: Furniture, Kids, Toys
Got a budding artist living in the house, one who will draw or paint on any surface within her reach? There are really two choices as we see it: repaint your pad when your kid turns 18, or inspire your tiny Twombly to create in the right place.
As a mom of mini Dalis, I love this EcoTots Art Time Easel by InModern designs. It assembles and disassembles quickly without tools, and the easel (like all of the company’s furniture) is made from 100 percent renewable FSC Certified Smart Wood and boasts a non-toxic water-based finish. To make the easel even more thoughtful, it is shipped flat to conserve packaging and reduce waste. Maybe I’ll even re-learn to express my artful side…
Calling all Half Caesars and Cleopatras
Date: October 15, 2008 | Category: Featured, Kids, Toys
Safe, sustainable baby toys can be difficult to track down, but the plethora of organic playthings on Under the Nile’s website will help get you out of the creek, paddle and all.
Under the Nile offers an excellent alternative to conventional cotton toys and apparel for infants and children. All of the company’s products are made from 100% hand-picked organic cotton, grown in Egypt without the use of pesticides. The products are soft as a baby’s bottom and durable enough to stand up to those sharp little baby teeth.
The toys are colored using metal-free vegetable dyes and any toys that come with accoutrements - like buttons or zippers - are made from sustainable elements such as wood, shell or nickel-free metals.
With prices ranging from $6-$10, the playthings are adorable, affordable, chew-safe and destined for a nice long crib (or chariot) cuddle.
An Encore for Equipment
Date: October 8, 2008 | Category: Kids, Stores & Resources, Toys, Travel & Leisure
Most kids need lots of sports equipment but unfortunately they quickly either outgrow the gear or lose interest in activities quicker than most of us can run a lap. If your hall closet is anything like most Americans, there is a pile of gently used rackets, clubs, bats and mitts in your closet or garage that are in perfectly good condition.
Since most discarded sporting goods will wind up in a landfill if they are thrown away, a better solution is to get them into the hands of children who will rack hours of play time to your family’s otherwise useless stuff.
In the spirit of reusing and recycling, here are two eco-friendly options: Play It Again Sports, is a company that buys and sells gently used sports and fitness equipment for adults and children. You can send in your child’s unneeded lacrosse stick and get a hockey stick. Or replace your too tight ice skates with some that actually fit.
Alternatively, if you are feeling philanthropic, you can donate your items to SportsGift.org, an organization that will redistribute your child’s used equipment to needy kids around the world who otherwise would not be able to afford the equipment they need to play sports.
Either of these options seem like a win-win, both for your hall closet and for the environment.
Orange You Glad We Found This Website?
Date: September 24, 2008 | Category: Care, Clothing, Food, Furniture, Kids, Toys
Why is it that tiny newborns raise such big questions in the minds of new moms? Instinctively, mothers want the best for their babies and often even the most thoughtless person will veer towards eco-friendly baby products when they become a parent.
When Generation Orange founder Shital Mehta gave birth to her son Krishna, now 20 months, she was intent on using only the most natural products on the market. So when she couldn’t find baby bottles made using BPA-free plastic in stores, she contacted a distributor of the bottles and ordered a case to share with friends who had also been trying to track the bottles down. As she researched other clean infant items, she realized that bottles weren’t the only hard-to-find sustainable products.
Founded by Mehta with her husband Prashanth Mysoor, Generation Orange is built on the principles of health, sustainability and community. The site provides one-stop-shopping for stylish baby and child products, including toys, clothing and foods, all made with the most natural materials available.
Generation Orange also puts a premium on giving back and works hard to partner with companies who take that principle seriously too; about 90 percent of the companies whose products are sold on the site give a portion of the proceeds to charity.
It seems that when you mix green with giving you make orange.
These Crayons Rock
Date: September 10, 2008 | Category: Featured, Kids, Toys
We love these Crayon Rocks, not only as an alternative to conventional color sticks made from non-renewable resources, but also because the unique shape is both creative and designed to strengthen young kids’ grip muscles in preparation for learning to write. Occupational therapists frequently use these colorful pebbles to help young ones develop fine motor skills.
In truth, they’re just downright fun (and fabulous) to draw with for people of all ages. Made of a soft soy wax (grown in the USA) and tinted with natural mineral powders, Crayon Rocks make vibrant colors and beautiful textures (like pastels) while remaining completely non-toxic. Small things create beautiful, refrigerator-worthy masterpieces. But if the result isn’t all that, the vibrant stones are so appealing, they could create an art installation of their own!
Block Party!
Date: August 20, 2008 | Category: Kids, Toys
These handsome, hand-crafted, vintage-inspired wooden blocks from Bok Toys offer a challenging, non-toxic 3-D puzzle for enterprising preschoolers. The 12-block set is made from a variety of untreated reclaimed wood, including maple, oak, walnut, cherry and poplar. (more…)
Green Tea Time for Toddlers
Date: August 13, 2008 | Category: Kids, Toys
If you’ve been biting your lip each time your princess puts her toy cups and saucers in her mouth, we have wonderful news! The old-fashioned children’s tea party is finally civilized, thanks to Green Toys.
Game On!
Date: July 30, 2008 | Category: Kids, Toys
For decades Monopoly has been teaching our kids how to be good little capitalists: to exploit opponents in times of financial duress, to maximize mortgage-debt ratios beyond reasonable risk and to gamble on windfalls when all else fails. With all due regard for the fruits of free trade, we think it’s high time we teach our children a different game.
Enter Earthopoly, an educational board game where players compete to earn carbon credits –i.e., clean air–for their properties!
