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Just as a new feature I am going to start highlighting some of the awesome new toys for natural kids that I come across. Today I want to highlight a great new toy for toddlers from Plan Toys, one of my favorite toy companies, Hammer Balls!

This new toy is is basically a natural rubberwood block with slots for three balls. Kids fit the balls into the slots and hammer them until they release on the underside. A hammer comes with it. This is a great toy for improving hand-eye coordination (aligning, slotting, aiming), combined with all the fun of hammering. What toddler doesn’t like to hammer on things??? I know my 2 year old one does! I also like the fact that the balls just fall onto a shelf or path on the underside of the block so that you don’t have to worry about your furniture getting hammered.

It is made with natural, chemical free, recycled rubberwood and finished with non-toxic water based dye all from a green company.

Available at KangarooBoo for only $17.90!

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Cool off with delicious Popsicles this summer made with BPA free Popsicle molds! AND if you live in my house you get good old fashioned veggies or greens in your Popsicles too. Yum! And I fully disclose the ingredients…no sneaky chef here. My kids know they are eating spinach pops or kale pops or whatever the case may be and they are cool with it because they taste good. Seriously, as I was writing this my 7 year old son popped his head in my door and asked if he could have a spinach pop.

My own kids are crazy about homemade Popsicles and I have been making them for about two months straight now. I make green smoothies daily in my household and I always make extra so I can fill Popsicle molds.

Some recipes my kids love:

Almond-Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds

3 just ripe bananas

2 tsp raw honey

3 cups water

Blend up the almonds and the water to make almond milk. Strain the milk through a nut milk bag. Blend the almond milk together with the rest of the ingredients and either drink or pour into popsicle molds. Enjoy!

Also…

Green Pineapple Paradise

Ingredients:

1/4 fresh pineapple, chopped

3 large Kale leaves

1 ripe banana

3 fresh mint leaves

2 to 4 cups water

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth and either drink or pour into popsicle molds. Enjoy!

We also make sure to put them in BPA free Popsicle molds. Here are some ones that I recommend. I confirmed with the manufacturing company that these Tovolo brand popsicle molds are made with polypropylene and are BPA free. Also, obviously silicone would be BPA free as well.

Groovy Pop Molds, Set of 6

Tovolo Green Shooting Star Pop Molds

Tovolo Blue Rocket Pop Molds

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A reader recently asked me about natural/green highchairs and what I would recommend. This is an awesome question and one that becomes important as we learn more and more about how certain plastics are just not safe for baby. Most conventional highchairs are made of plastic so therein we have a problem.

So….what natural and/or green highchairs do I recommend? I do in fact still have a child in a highchair and we opted to get a wood highchair…so that would be my first recommendation…wood before plastic. It will last longer and it is sustainable. My son has a restaurant style highchair and we love it. Even better, we got ours second hand at a yard sale. It is very good quality and will last a long time…it is too bad we won’t be having any more kids. For $45.00 at Amazon you can’t beat that price at all even if it does have a not-so natural finish…you can always sand and paint using zero VOCs paints. The best feature is that it has no tray (no plastic) so you can just pull baby up to the table to eat with the rest of the family.

IF I did have another child and for some reason didn’t have a highchair my first choice would probably be the Euro-Baby Family High Chair. It has a hardwood tray for little babies and then it converts to a chair that can be pulled up to the family table. And THEN in converts into two other size chairs…for children up to adult. SO really this chair can start out as baby’s highchair and then wind up being their desk chair when they are teenagers. Well worth the investment as these chairs run right around $200.

But I might just as likely get a Tripp Trapp Highchair (pictured above). It has no tray, it fits right under the family table, and it too converts into other size chairs so they can continue using it as they grow. There are also pads you buy separately that are gorgeous….like this artsy stripe print. I would use it to make a pattern and sew my own. These chairs also come in many great finishes and colors. The price is anywhere from $229 to $270 if you get a chair with a cushion and a baby rail.

I also like the PRIMO POPPY PLUS II but the vinyl pad would have to go. I would sew my own chair pad most likely made of organic cotton and easily washable. This chair is made of wood and it converts into a toddler chair with a little table so it has multiple functions as well. The price isn’t bad either…$89.75.

So, I hope I have given natural, expectant moms some ideas for highchairs. I suggest looking at yard sales and estate sales first for antique or used wooden highchairs. I see them all the time in my neck of the woods. If you do buy used just make sure to supervise your baby well because they might not be up to date on the latest safety features. If you want to buy new there are certainly some good options.

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It is a challenge for green families many times to buy sustainable furniture. Certainly what you find in most conventional furniture stores is not so eco friendly…perhaps they sourced the wood unethically, they used toxic dyes and paints, or they doused the furniture with toxic flame retardants. My solution for that is to buy used…that way I am not contributing to the consumption of new materials and whatever it is has had ample opportunity to off-gas. I do think it is wonderful though that so many companies are making green furniture…I just think they need to lower the price to a more reasonable level so that more people can consider this option.

We recently got an EcoTots project table for the kiddies and it is a nice piece of play furniture…much better for the environment than the SpongeBob table and chairs we got a Wal-Mart a few years back (and still have) but alas I am torn about the price because how many can afford to spend $400 on something like this. The MSRP is $400 but you can get them on Amazon right now for only $250. Still…no small chunk of change for a kids play table.

The design is rather beautiful…very artistic and retro. We have the Red Fire table and it is a really gorgeous color, adorned with eco-friendly, non-toxic, water-based stains. UV cured for reduced greenhouse gases emissions. I love the way it looks against our family room rug.

The wood is 100% formaldehyde-free birch plywood SmartWood®. All materials are sourced in North America and wholly designed and manufactured in the USA. The manufacturing company is a member of the SFC (Sustainable Furniture Council) and their products have a lifetime construction guarantee.

Oh and one REALLY nice feature is that you don’t need any tools to put them together. They kind of fit together like puzzle pieces and a little twist secures them. The stools also fit nicely underneath the table when not in use. The table set comes in four groovy colors: fire, natural, leaf and cocoa.

The kids really like the table but not more so than their Spongebob table. So this furniture is really for mom and her green piece of mind but my piece of mind can be bought with second hand stuff so I doubt I would buy up the rest of the EcoTots collection. Although I love their little coat racks and easel. I don’t love the price however. But for moms who will spend that kind of money at say…Pottery Barn…this stuff would be a better alternative. EcoTots really does have a pretty snazzy collection.

Here is some “in action” pictures at our house:

My daughter reading…

And my son playing with his Bausteine Eene, Meene, Zoo Haba blocks and drinking from his safe sippy.

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Raw Watermelon Cakes Recipe

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Well, this is not big news. PVC is a bad thing to expose our family to. It has, however been getting a lot more bad press lately and rightly [...] Continue Reading…

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When I wrote fairly recently about avoiding commercialism I hinted that sewing would be extremely helpful in this regard and I got one or two comments/emails that sewing your [...] Continue Reading…

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My 4 year old daughter Paige is thrilled with a new addition to her library…the Nana Star books. Even better, these books come with dolls. What more could a [...] Continue Reading…

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TGIF! Have an awesome weekend everyone!

My blogging efforts have slowed just a bit in case you haven’t noticed. I think I am enjoying summer too much. I have been [...] Continue Reading…

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