Green Options

Melissa and Doug See and Spell is a wooden puzzle in which children select letters that fit into recessed spots to spell the word that matches the picture on each wooden “card”. When evaluating my preschool learning environment, one thing that was required but missing were puzzles that spell words. Melissa and Doug See and Spell filled this [...]

Two years ago, my daughter received a magnetic princess dress up doll similar to Melissa and Doug’s Princess Elise Magnetic Dress-Up Doll. The magnetic parts adhere to the doll easily and are durable, compared to paper doll clothing. Not only are the magnetic backed wooden parts long lasting, but they are much easier for little hands to manipulate and thus do not cause the frustration. I [...]

For my daughter’s first birthday, we gave her Melissa and Doug’s Deluxe Wooden Fold and Go Dollhouse. The recommended age rating is three years old, but we felt we could watch her closely and hide away small parts until she was older. Five years later, she still plays with her Melissa and Doug’s Deluxe Wooden Fold and Go Dollhouse, although she does wish [...]

Both male and female children love to play with tea sets as part of their dramatic play. We have previously owned a ceramic tea set, but inevitably cup handles, plates, etc. broke. You also have to be cautious when purchasing a ceramic tea set to be sure the glazes do not contain lead. A few months ago, we discovered Magic Cabin’s Children’s Tin Tea Set. This little tea set is [...]

I still remember the day my daughter graduated from wooden peg puzzles to real puzzles with interlocking pieces. It felt like a rite of passage, as she explored the spatial relationships and put images together. My daughter’s first puzzle was the Melissa and Doug Bugs Floor Puzzle. Three years later, this puzzle is still a favorite, and the large pieces are easy for little hands. [...]

We have both the Melissa and Doug Wooden Sound Vehicle Blocks and the Melissa and Doug Wooden Farm Sound Blocks. By matching up the images on both blocks, children are positively reinforced with the corresponding sound. Just like other Melissa and Doug natural toys, the sound blocks are made of high quality wood. My daughter thinks it is funny [...]

Today, Treehugger reports that children are already bearing the brunt of global warming. Children in third world countries are the ones most at risk from global warming effects. “The reason, as Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts it is because ‘The poorest of the poor in the world — and this includes poor people in prosperous societies — are going to be the worst hit,’ and ultimately [...]

Every child deserves a good set of Standard Unit Blocks! Blocks are perhaps the quintessential toy for child development. Creative play and imagination abound when playing with natural toy blocks. If you buy your child a toy car, the toy car is always a car. If you give your child blocks, a block can be a car, a train, a telephone, a bed, etc. The only limits are your child’s [...]

Melissa and Doug’s Pound and Roll toy is a very affordable, great gift for a toddler. My children began to play with this natural toy around two years of age. The Pound and Roll is a variation of the classic pounding toy you probably grew up with, only this toy has the added bonus of balls rolling down chutes. Do watch those fingers! Most children will inevitably hit their fingers when [...]

In follow up to the Magic Cabin Mini Kitchen post, it was suggested by Jeremiah McNichols of Z Recs that I review other dramatic play kitchen items that are less expensive. Our cabin is small, and we do not have room for a separate play kitchen. By purchasing a few natural toy kitchen items for pretend play, we have been able to foster our children’s natural instinct to cook and prepare [...]

I am so excited to have found a non-leaching, safe sippy cup made by Klean Kanteen , the stainless steel alternative to plastic. Klean Kanteen makes the best stainless steel water bottles. They are odor free and do not taste like metal. We have tried other stainless steel bottles that smell horribly and are lined with epoxy. Plastic/polycarbonate bottles leach bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that mimics the hormone estrogen, and can [...]