Living Green
Gardening ideas for kids
Ideas to help create great spring and summer memories in the outdoors.
Give a child their own space to plant seeds and flowers.
Just dig in the mud or sand. Give your child a part of the garden, a pot or a sandbox to dig and play.
Have your child (of any age) help dig the holes before planting.
Give your child some garden seeds to look at and examine the differences (not recommended for children under 5).
Give your child their own pot to plant whatever they choose. They will be in charge of watering and taking care of it.
Let your kids help pick the vegetables from the garden.
Let your kids eat fresh out of the garden.
Talk together about how you are eating the vegetables or fruit grown in the garden.
Pick a bouquet of flowers together.
Draw pictures of plants and vegetables.
If you do not have a place to garden, look into the community gardens in your area or visit the local farmers market for fresh produce.
Drop your own pruning shears and check out all the neat stuff in the outdoors through your child’s eyes.
Kids Toys – How to go greener
Tips to reduce your carbon footprint when buying toys:
- Wood is good. Buy toys made from sustainably grown wood. As a guarantee, look for an FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) logo.
- Buy organic toys. Toys that are made with organic materials are perfect for babies and toddlers who still put items in their mouth.
- Buy toys that are made with ethical practices in mind.
- Buy local. Choose items that are made in Canada or the USA.
- Power down. A seemingly unavoidable feature of modern childhood, electronic toys are usually made from petrochemical-based plastics. They create significant carbon emissions in their manufacture and produce yet more in their use and disposal. If your child is truly desperate for an electronic toy: Buy secondhand toys. Check out kijiji, Craigslist, yard sales, or your local classifieds for nearly-new bargains. Also invest in a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger – ideally a solar-powered one.
- Spark your child’s imagination by giving them everyday items like cardboard boxes, fabric scraps, shells, or pieces of wood to adapt into their own toys or craft projects, providing hours more fun than manufactured toys.
- Try to choose toys that are well made and won’t break within weeks.
Earth Day Activities
Take this day/week to share the importance of the earth to your children by spending time together learning about the importance of energy and the earth’s resources. Here are a few things you can do to teach little ones ways they can help, one little thing at a time.
· Reduce electricity – explain why we need to shut the lights off when you leave the room or shut of the TV when you are done watching. Children as little as 2 or 3 can start learning these habits.
· Re-cycle – get kids involved with recycling and composting. Get them to help sort or put the recycling in the bins. Let them know why we recycle and where it would go if we did not.
· Take an hour and visit a thrift shop or recycle depot to show kids how items can be re-used.
· Take a walk outside together and look at the trees, bugs and birds. Teach them how we all co-exist together.
· Read books about the earth, animals and the environment.
· Take part in any community events or pick up the trash in your neighborhood.
· Get outside and find some fresh air – a bike ride, stroller ride or walk to a new park.
Back to school – great tips to start off the school year
- Re-use supplies if possible
- Buy eco-friendly paper and binders
- Use re-usable BPA-free containers and water bottles
- Invest in a PVC-free lunch bag
- Walk or bike with your child to school if possible
- Carpool to sports activities
- Buy organic clothing and non-toxic shoes
- Use refillable or environmentally pens and pencils
- Re-use last year’s backpack
- Pack healthy lunches – buy organic and local when you can
- Try making homemade snacks such as granola bars and fruit salad
- Avoid individually packed items like cheese, carrots, and fruit
Eco-friendly Baby Shower Ideas
Many new parents are thinking about how the products they buy and receive impact the environment and their newborn baby. Here are a few ideas to hold a green baby shower.
Send out invitations electronically and save ink and paper! If you really want paper, use invitations made out recycled paper.
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Ask guests to buy organic, eco-friendly and natural baby gifts.
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Ask guests to use gift wrap that is re-usable. Cloth bags, baskets and gift bags are a good choice. Receiving blankets or Or secure a cloth diaper secured with reusable diaper pins work great too!
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Decorate the room with flowers from the local market and fresh fruit. If you purchase decorations, make sure you pass them on for the next baby shower or re-use them for birthday parties.
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Visit your local farmers' market to source for fresh organic foods, organic flowers, and even organic vino, if it's available.
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Use napkins, plates, bowls and utensils that are non-disposable, biodegradable or made from recycled materials.
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Focus on togetherness and celebrating a new baby rather than gifts.
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Use an organic cotton onesie in lieu of a guest book. Everyone at Wyatt's shower signed their names using fabric pens, creating an instant keepsake for both Mom and baby.
Bathing baby safely
Bathing your child is part of most families nighttime routine. Knowing what you are putting in your child's bath can ensure you are not exposing his or her to harmful chemicals.
Recently Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found 1, 4-dioxine in a range of children's bath washes and bubble baths. The EPA lists 1, 4-dioxine as a probable human carcinogen. Most parents are unaware that the FDA does not require safety testing on cosmetics before they are sold; this means that there could be harmful chemicals in what you are putting in your child's bath.
Healthier and organic options are available like Dimpleskins Naturals, Matter Company and Little Twig. Visit Skin Deep (www.cosmeticsdatabase.com) for a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.
10 green New Year's resolutions - Making 2011 sustainable
Tips from Greenpeace on how to make 2011 a little greener in your household.
1) Eat less meat. While not everyone is ready to become 100% vegetarian, there is little doubt that eating less meat is one of the fastest ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Pick one or two days a week where you will only cook vegetarian food. Find a good vegetarian food cooking book to learn the best recipes, and you're set!
2) Pick seasonal and local fruits and vegetables. While it can be tempting to eat strawberries in winter, when they have been imported from halfway across the planet or grown in energy-hungry greenhouses, they're hardly sustainable. Do some research into what is naturally grown in your area in the season, and prefer these. This way, you'll also rediscover the pleasure of meals changing with the seasons!
3) Take your bicycle out of the shed. People who re-start cycling to work and/ or the supermarket often say that it's lovely to rediscover their neighborhood that way. In fact, unless you live in a very mountainous area, this could be the most relaxing resolution you take!
4) Use public transport. Granted, in the middle of the mountains or when there is half metre of snow outside your door, cycling sounds less appealing. If that's the case where you live, start using public transport to go to work and the supermarket. If public transport connections are poor in your area, then it's time to wake up the local campaigner in you and ask for it - make 2011 the year when your community stood up for sustainability. more.
5) Make your home efficient. By now, I assume most of you have switched to CFL lightbulbs - so it's time to take home efficiency to the next level. Check your house for heat loss (there are companies specialised in this if you don't feel expert enough) and make it your DIY project in 2011 to fix them. If you haven't yet, lower the thermostat during the night. The ideal temperature to sleep is around 16 degrees celsius. If that's too cold for you, do it in steps - half a degree less each month. You might realise you even sleep better - and you will see it on your heating bill!
6) Become a toxics-free This might take a while in research, so plan to do it over the whole year. From beauty products to clothes detergent and computer parts, we have become used to toxics products in our daily lives. Time to stop it. When buying new products, check what they are made of, and pick the one that will have the least toxic residues.household.
7) Keep your electronics. Our consumption of electronics is reaching records. Make a break, and promise not to buy new electronics this year, unless the one you already have breaks down (and when it does, ensure it is recycled properly!).for the year.
5) Make your home efficient. By now, I assume most of you have switched to CFL lightbulbs - so it's time to take home efficiency to the next level. Check your house for heat loss (there are companies specialised in this if you don't feel expert enough) and make it your DIY project in 2011 to fix them. If you haven't yet, lower the thermostat during the night. The ideal temperature to sleep is around 16 degrees celsius. If that's too cold for you, do it in steps - half a degree less each month. You might realise you even sleep better - and you will see it on your heating bill!
6) Become a toxics-free This might take a while in research, so plan to do it over the whole year. From beauty products to clothes detergent and computer parts, we have become used to toxics products in our daily lives. Time to stop it. When buying new products, check what they are made of, and pick the one that will have the least toxic residues.household.
7) Keep your electronics. Our consumption of electronics is reaching records. Make a break, and promise not to buy new electronics this year, unless the one you already have breaks down (and when it does, ensure it is recycled properly!).for the year.
8) Take recycling to the next level. You probably have two different bins in your kitchen, sorting your waste to have it recycled. It doesn't end here though. In 2011, try to reduce the amount picked up by the garbage truck. If you have a garden, start your own compost. When you're at the supermarket, prefer products that are not overpackaged (you know the one: plastics wrapped in plastic, itself wrapped in cardboard...). If there are too many of these items in your local supermarket, time to start campaigning! Write to the store manager and express your concerns - and convince your neighbours to do so as well.
9) Spend more time outdoors. Learn to enjoy nature again. Make a habit of taking a weekly walk outside. We have become so used to live in our houses and in our cars, many people have no idea what nature looks like anymore.
10) Convince (at least) 3 friends to sign up with Greenpeace Why three? Because almost everyone knows three people they can influence. If those three convince three more people next year and so on, we will grow a movement capable of protecting our planet - and the resolutions above will become a no brainer for everyone..
10) Convince (at least) 3 friends to sign up with Greenpeace Why three? Because almost everyone knows three people they can influence. If those three convince three more people next year and so on, we will grow a movement capable of protecting our planet - and the resolutions above will become a no brainer for everyone..
Source: www.greenpeace.org
Eco-friendly holiday gift wrapping ideas
- Re-use your gift bags, paper (if it is not torn or damaged), bows and ribbon every year
- Buy wrapping paper made from recycled paper
- Re-use colorful newspaper print (comics are great) to wrap boxes
- Paper shopping bags can be cut to create sheets for wrapping, get out the crayons and personalize the paper
- Old calendars make great gift wrap, what else are you going to do with them?
- Gather up any un-used fabric to sew together a gift bag, some websites offer patterns to make re-usable bags
- Use ribbon to decorate a cloth shopping bag
- Use your child’s art by taping the pieces together to wrap a package
- Cut up last year’s cards to create gift tags, punch a hole and use ribbon to attach
- If a gift is put in a box don’t re-wrap it. Use ribbon to decorate the gift if it needs it.
Make your Halloween a Little Greener This Year
Tips to help turn Halloween from orange to green:
- Make your own Halloween costume from old clothes or items around the house. You can also find used costumes at yard sales and thrift stores.
- Trade costumes with friends or family as children age.
- Choose candy that uses minimal packaging. Another alternative is to avoid candy and give out useful treats such as bright pencils, play dough, erasers in fun shapes.
- Donate your costumes to day cares if you have no use for them after Halloween.
- Use reusable bags or containers for trick or treating. You likely have one at home and don’t need to buy a new one – cloth shopping bags or pillow cases make great alternatives.
- Trick or treat close to home and avoid driving to other neighborhoods when you can.
- Buy locally grown pumpkins for carving and decorating. Roast the pumpkin seeds and serve them as a Halloween treat.
- Use recycled or recyclable materials to create Halloween decorations – sheets and pillow cases make great ghosts!
- Add your pumpkins and fallen leaves to your compost pin or drop them off at the local compost.
- Save and re-use your Halloween decorations for next year.
- Explain to your children about how littering affects the environment and teach them to put their used wrappers in their treat bags until they get home.
Challenge your family to an eco-friendly vacation this summer. You have probably visited the nearest park, pool and beach several times already….so what’s next???
Here are some green summer ideas to spice up your vacation while still keeping in mind the impact your family has on the environment.
- Visit a destination nearby using public transportation such as a bus or a train
- Plan a bike tour around your city
- Head out to the local farmer’s market
- Plan a camping trip, picnic or a bbq at one of your provincial or city parks
- Go on a hiking adventure – be sure to bring snacks and drinks in re-usable containers!
- Have a picnic lunch or a camping night in your own backyard
- Have a garage sale or go garage sale shopping – get the kids involved in making signs or pricing items
- Choose an eco-friendly hotel or resort for your vacation destination
What is Fair Trade?
Baby Green Sprout carries a selection of products and companies who comply by fair trade standards in the manufacturing of their products. Many products are also designed and manufactured in Canada and the USA which also supports our local economy.
May 8th, 2010 was World Fair Trade Day and is celebrated every year on the second Satuday in May…but what does Fair trade really mean?
What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South.
Fair Trade organizations have a clear commitment to Fair Trade as the principal core of their mission. They, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade. They can be recognized by the WFTO logo.
WELCOME to Baby Green Sprout, a one-stop organic baby shop with a wide selection of organic and eco-friendly products for moms, babies and toddlers. Choose products that are healthy for children and the planet.
Our mission is to provide healthy and safe products for families that will help reduce their carbon footprint on the planet.
Gardening ideas for kids
Ideas to help create great spring and summer memories in the outdoors.
Give a child their own space to plant...