Green Options

Remember back in the day when opening a bottle of glue or using markers at school would give you a headache? Or at the minimum a contact buzz?

I am betting those art and craft supplies were not very safe. I am trying to keep items like those out of my little artists’ hands.

Thankfully there are places like Stubby Pencil Studio that offer safe arts and crafts supplies for kids…and their young at heart parents. I’ve already borrowed my daughter’s pencils and markers to sketch in my notepad.

Art supplies are wonderful and versatile. What other items offer fun play, creative expression, and learning all in one…for very inexpensive prices?

With art supplies children have the world at their fingertips. There is so much that can be done, be made, be transformed…but with toxic ingredients like lead showing up in kids’ products you want to be sure that the creative supplies are not only fun but safe for the little ones.

Stubby Pencil Studio offers the biggest selection around that I have found, of eco-friendly, non-toxic art supplies and old fashioned games and toys. Perfect items to stuff in Easter baskets.

Envirosax have a whole line of bags just for kids and they make great eco-alternatives to Easter baskets, like this adorable pink bunny bag at Stubby Pencil Studio. The bags are pretty big, 17 3/4 inches by 15 3/4 inches and will hold the equivalent of 2 plastic grocery store bags full of stuff.

The Envirosax kids bags are perfect for filling with Easter goodies then reusing for school, sports, as an overnight bag or a shopping bag just for the kids. Each kid could get their very own bag as they come in several designs other than the bunny, including: Piggy, Rusty, Dino, Marshmallow, Flower Power, Tubby or Wingnut. Designs both boys and girls will love.

Whether you are Christian or not, children love to hunt for a basket full of goodies on the springtime holiday of Easter, which this year falls very close to the spring equinox. My childhood memories of Easter are filled with fake, green plastic grass, gross gooey marshmallow bunnies, and of course, the ubiquitous chocolate bunny. My children’s Easter gifts are a much more eco-friendly than those of my youth. Here are a few ideas I have come across this year for an eco-friendly Easter:

• Green Gift Ideas: Stubby Pencil Studio is now carrying wooden toys. The Spinny Speller is great for teaching children phonemic awareness and reminds me of the homemade phonics mediators my grandmother used to make for her first graders. The Made By Me wooden kits are perfect for little hands to decorate and assemble. Both toys are made in the USA. Stubby Pencil recycled cards and eco-art supplies also make nice additions to your child’s Easter basket. The cards now come in eco-friendly packaging consisting of a custom button/string tie envelope made from 30% post consumer recycled paper and green seal certified.

Congratulations to Carrie for winning our Green to the Letter Giveaway, sponsored by Stubby Pencil Studio.

Over the course of a walk in the woods and through our yard, my three year old daughter said this:
“The trees
the birds
the clouds
the sky
Oh mama isn’t it beautiful?
I like berries to pick and eat.
Blueberries
strawberries
raspberries
oh and our apple tree is nice to me.
I like that too.”

Carrie blogs at Rhubarb Sky.  Congrats Carrie, and thank you to everyone [...]

Last week, Kelli shared with us Green Valentines made by Stubby Pencil Studio. Stubby Pencil Studio offers 100% recycled (post-consumer) coloring, interactive cards, as well as eco-friendly art supplies for children and adults (see Victoria’s post on Crafting a Green World about toxic art supplies). Stubby Pencil Studio has graciously offered to give a “Green to the Letter” Stationery basket to one of our readers, a $60 value! Included in the basket:

6 packs of Color ‘n Kids cards (winner’s choice of styles)
5 Smencils (winner’s choice of scents)
Box of 24 Soy Crayons
Box of 12 Forest Choice colored pencils

To enter: Have your child write a slogan or poem about living green and post it as a comment to this post by Wednesday, February 27, 2008!