kids

Feeding Kids from Berkeley to New Orleans: Edible Schoolyard and Blue Bottle Coffee

thegreenconnoisseur — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:12:52 -0400

The Edible Schoolyard has been one of the most visible sustainable food projects of our time. Surprisingly controversial -- Is it really elitist to feed good food to public school children? -- there is no denying that Alice Waters' Delicious Revolution is made manifest in Berkeley's educational system. As models go, it has its proponents and detractors(To see this full story and more, follow The Green Connoisseur Blog link on our homepage @ http://thegreenconnoisseur.com )!!

Green Gifts for Little Foodies

scleaver — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:54:45 -0500

Looking for something for your toddler or young child this year that will satisfy their desire to cook and play pretend, but isn’t BPA plastic? Look no farther.

These green toys, including cooking and dining sets, are produced in California, using minimal packaging that’s recyclable. So, when they’re opened on Christmas day, they’re easy to open and ready to play with.

Pick up some play ice cream from Oompa Toys, you’ll get two double sided scoops of ice cream with two cones. Or, check out Lilly Bean for handcrafted play food, sandwiches, pita sandwich, pizza, doughnuts, and more.

For the real deal, Think Baby has kids’ tablewear that’s BPA free and their newly released six-piece feeding set has stainless steel bowls and storage containers covered with polypropylene covering.

Image from Eco Child's Play.

Eco-Friendly Baby Gifts

scleaver — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

With all the discussion about BPAs in baby’s bottles and dangerous levels of chemicals in toys, expect to see an abundance of organic and natural presents for the younger set this year. So, to start the season off right, here are some adorable, organic, and healthy toys and snuggly items for the infants on your list.

Baby Earth has organic clothes, onesies, and other organic cloth products, including the adorable Bunny blanket friends from Under the Nile Organics.

Really Natural recommends the Sassy Cuddle Dolls from Sassy. The dolls are made with bright, textured fabrics, and scented with lavender to stimulate the sense of smell and calm them.

Organic Baby Wearhouse sells bedding, clothing, toys, and bibs like the sustainable bamboo tie bib and the super-adorable organic orange giraffe rattle.

Photo from the Organic Baby Wearhouse.

8 Steps to Organize a Clean-Up Day in Your Community

akronheim — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Eww, there's trash everywhere, and somebody's gotta clean it up. Ever wanted to organize a group of people to do just that? I've done it at Ithaca College (IC) and many others have done the same. The IC Environmental Society has Green Teams who clean up after home football games and keep the good stuff (free unopened beer, sweatshirts, etc) recycle what we can, and throw out the rest. Even a group of high school students cleaned up their local park in New Haven recently and younger kids did it last year for Earth Day.

Here's 8 easy steps to get on your way to cleaning up your campus/park/area:

1. Find 5-10 loyal friends/sustainable companions to take on this endeavor.
2. Pick a day and time that works for all of you.
3. Decide where exactly on your campus you want to focus on for this first clean up day...where's the trash?
4. Create advertisements to recruit extra volunteers for the clean-up day. Make sure there's contact info for RSVPing, the date and time for the day, and a meeting place that everyone would know about.
5. Compile the list of volunteers.
6. Buy enough gloves, garbage bags, and maybe even plastic body suits if you want, for everyone for the clean day. You can ask departments on your campus or student organizations for money for these kinds of purchases easily. (If you really need help, with that, let me know!)
7. Send out a reminder email or phone call to every volunteer the day before the big day.
8. CLEAN UP! And maybe even start a group with all these extra people that wants to do this every week/month.

Toys That Move, Flash and Whir -- No Batteries Needed

RiverWired.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It's Good: Zen Design Group's new line of "See Toys" feature moving parts, color-changing LED lights, a variety of noises, and endearing figurines that range from insects to race cars. In a word, kids won't be able to put them down.

It's Green: The See Toys are all propelled by a wind-up feature, and never require batteries. So, as long as your kids keep going (and you know they do) the toys will, too.

It's Here: www.ZenDesignGroup.com

It's: $14.99-$19.99

Can We Build It?

ellen — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

For those of you without small children, let me introduce you to the greenest builder in America.

Bob the Builder, on PBSKids, runs a full-service construction shop in Bobsville. Recent projects have used solar panels and daylighting for energy use reduction and straw bales for a high insulation factor. Bob, Wendy and their team of skilled construction machines built a recycling and composting center for the town and assembled a flat-pak modular eco-home for Marjorie who runs the sunflower oil factory. Bob’s own shop is an earth-sheltered garage with a green roof to house the machines.

Recently, Bob and the team won a competition to design a new master plan for Sunflower Valley. After seeing the submissions (the one from the architect showed giant glass skyscrapers planted all over the bucolic valley, and the developer’s idea was to build a big mall with lots of parking), Bob and the team stayed up all night to build a cardboard model showing how the new buildings could work with existing natural landscape, use recycled materials and be powered by wind and sun.

Of course Bob and the team won the competition and they how have the commission to build the entire new town.

While I applaud the use of sustainable practices as if it’s always been standard construction methods, does the only architect ever shown on the show have to be such an environment-destroying doofus. Hey, there are kids watching!

However, as I watch with my 3-1/2 year old, I can fantasize about how the team can renovate an old barn with loose plaster and peeling paint into a completed art-gallery (including hanging the art and arranging the food for the opening) in 1-1/2 days. Sure, it must be nice that Bob has no payroll, insurance, permit, union or personnel issues to deal with since all the workers are friendly, skilled and colorful machines.

….and my 3 1/2 year old runs around shouting REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE at the top of his lungs all day. That’s got to be good for something?