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 […]

After a trip to a local toy store to buy a birthday present for a friend, my daughter was frustrated with the fact that I would not buy plastic toys, yet those are the ones she is most drawn too. On the drive home, she composed a letter to Disney, asking them to become more eco-friendly. The letter was entirely her inspiration, and I was quite proud. Here is the letter she wrote […]

Any toy that can encourage a child to help with household chores is a good toy in my opinion. Add quality wooden construction, and I am sold! Magic Cabin offers a Child’s Cleaning Set that contains real cleaning tools. The set includes a metal dustpan and broom, string mop, and a broom; all child-sized!

We have had the Child’s Cleaning Set in my preschool classroom for four years now, […]

“Be a force of nature” is the motto of Xeko, a trading card game created by the Matter Group in collaboration with Conservation International. This eco-game asks children (and adults) to take on the critical mission of creating the strongest ecosystems in the threatened hotspots of our planet. By playing Xeko, children learn about the complexities of ecosystems […]

The ABC’s of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyondis an amazing book on nutrition using the ABC’s to organize the content. The book begins with each letter boldly illustrated on the left hand page, including the featured fruit or vegetable and a side bar of additional ones that start with the letter. On the right hand page, a rhyming description of the fruit or vegetable accompanies a […]

My six-year-old daughter has become quite observant to greening/green washing efforts around her. Her optimism is something to be cherished, when news of climate change, politics, etc. can be quite the opposite. She sees changes, and she tells me, “Mom, the world is getting greener.”

Out of the mouths of babes astute observations occur. On a recent shopping trip where we purchased 100% organically grown bed sheets from a major retailer, […]

My daughter has her own “garden”, which amounts to a flower bed in front of our house. We used to press flowers in a large art books with wax paper to protect the pages, but when I saw Root Children Flower Press, I thought she might enjoy pressing flowers without adult assistance. The Root Children Flower Press is a nice way for children to preserve a little bit […]

I could not wait to have children so that I could buy the Tibetan Mandalascoloring book by Tatjana Blau. For some reason, I could not justify buying this book for myself, but once I became a parent, this was one of my first purchases. Now, I have a coloring book both my children and I enjoy.

The Tibetan Mandalascoloring […]

If you have children, you know that they have boundless amounts of energy. It only makes sense to use this energy to power toys, and Zen Design Group has come up with a line of toys that does just that. These “environmentally friendly,” kid-powered SEE Toys will be available online September 15.

SEE Toys has created five different kid-powered toys: Dyancar, Dynatiger, Dynafly, Dynashark, and Dynadolphin. SEE stands for safety,

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