Getting your kids outside more often sometimes means adjusting your own outdoor space to fit your kids needs. Going wild is a great way to get the kiddos interested in what’s happening outside their door. Here’s how.

If you like a manicured yard, that’s fine, but if you leave one small corner a little wild, it’ll attract cool creatures like worms, snails, and pillbugs that kids will like to see. Creatures like these enjoy a little cover – so a pile of leaves, a few more weeds than normal, and so fourth encourages visits.

Make sure to go native to attract the wild. If you grow only non-native plants, fewer animals like birds and insects will visit. Native is not only a sustainable way to grow but it’s attractive to local wildlife.

Hang up a DIY recycled tire swing or make a recycled tire sandbox so that kids can get wild and active with play.

Create the sort of garden that actually attracts the wild to your yard. For example, a butterfly garden or place a birdbath and birdhouses around for flying friends.

Make it utterly fun with a wild sunflower playhouse, a pizza garden, bean teepees and more. Kids love an adventure and if you give this to them in your yard, they’ll be more inclined to go outside. See 10 Fun Organic Gardening Projects for Kids for ideas.

[image via stock.xchang]

It’s been a while since I’ve done any sort of link love post around here. Too bad, because there’s been some cool green family news lately. Here’s a recap of some issues and topics that green families can use.

Origami stars via Zen Crafting

Make homemade origami stars with the kiddos – I recently posted about some hyper cool eco-friendly origami stars elsewhere, but the downside was the price tag. With this tutorial you can make your own for much less. You could even switch out the paper for a recycled brand.

eco umbrellas – green and fashionable – actually, I didn’t think an eco-umbrella was possible because of all the materials. However, it is, and if you live in a rainy area or ever come visit Oregon, I’d bring one. If you move to Oregon don’t bring one though – umbrellas pretty much divide the natives from the tourists here.

How to deal when your teenager says, “Mom, I want to be a vegetarian!“

A “Green” & Natural Method for Cleaning Stainless Steel

Which is a better eco-choice; organic foods or local foods? This article looks at your options.

It’s a newish green magazine for the whole family! Check out Kiwi for tips on green living, healthy lifestyles, and news especially for parents and kids.

What cool green news have you been reading lately?

Lately I’ve had off-grid living on the brain. Probably because I read WAY too many green building / home books, which without fail, contain an abundance of self-sufficient homes to obsess over. I’ve also been thinking about off-grid in an urban context. When I lived in Humboldt and New Mexico I knew plenty of folks who were living off-grid to varying degrees but most of them lived in fairly rural areas so that was my example.

I currently don’t live in a rural area and for various reasons, I won’t be moving to a rural area anytime soon. So the question is, how to manage off-grid in an urban setting. You can, in fact live off-grid and urban at the same time. Here’s one awesome example:

If you haven’t considered off-grid living, you should know that there are plenty of benefits, such as… Read more

Product: Creamy Cleanser from Earth Friendly Products

Uses: Replacement for toxic scouring powders. Effective at deep cleaning and polishing stainless steel, porcelain, hard surface counters, corian counter tops, and other bath and kitchen surfaces.

Ingredients: Purified water, Lemon oil, xanthan gum, crystalline silica, 100% natural anionic coconut kernel oil-based surfactant.

Cost: $4.09 for 17oz. Also available in bulk.

Eco facts:

• All Earth Friendly Products are non-toxic and plant-based.
• This cleaner is free of phosphates, chlorine, petroleum chemicals and an amazing amount of other harmful ingredients.
• 100% biodegradable cleaner.
• All parts of the container are easily recycled; even the cap! HUGE plus.
• Septic and greywater safe.
• Never tested on animals.
• The company donates to and participates in a number of eco-minded local and global organizations.
• Company posts all their MSDS product sheets online. BIG bonus points!

WHAT I THINK: Read more

With kids, you end up with a lot of gear. I’m a minimalist pretty much and it’s obnoxious because after Cedar, my son was born, we started accumulating all kinds of nonsense items. People give you TONS of baby and kid stuff, plus, it seems like there’s always some new item they’ve outgrown or out-smarted, thus new ones are in order. First of all you can try to minimize kid gear (easier said then done), secondly you can donate or recycle items, and thirdly, if you get creative you can re-purpose old gear into new gear.

Here are some ideas:

1. Pants that are too short: Cut the middle seams and make a cute little skirt for a girl.
2. Too small kiddie pool: Use as a drink holder (fill with ice) at family reunions, make a sand box, punch holes in it and use for a big ol’ round planter.
3. Dried out markers: Dip in water to revive them long enough to use an impromptu paint brushes.
4. Old rain boots: Use for a cute little herb garden planter.
5. Single socks: Make puppets and other stuffed pals.
6. Old board games: Make a collage game table.
7. Cloth diapers: Cleaning rags! Great for car washing too – nice and soft.
8. Stuffed toys: Use them at the office – no, really!
9. Broken crayons: Make cool solar crayons in nifty shapes.
10. Old chunky Legos: Someone here says, “Build a doghouse” – you’d have to have lots, and some waterproof adhesive, but I like the idea.

What are your ideas?

[image via stock.xchng]

When it comes to green topics, some get people talking more than others. Case in point, Tree Hugging Family has been around for almost two years, we’ve had around 1,300 posts and about 5,500 comments. However, the comments that folks leave tend to be in huge groups on specific posts. It’s not well-rounded, and oddly, doesn’t always represent the most popular posts overall here, although, it does show what tree hugging families like to discuss.

In case you’re curious, and because I thought it might be entertaining, the following posts are the green topics that have created some lively (or just plain popular) discussions here at Tree Hugging Family…

Ah global warming – not only does everyone have an opinion, but people have cranky opinions. Fun.

People LOVE baby turtles, soap, and Tree Hugging Baby Names.

People REALLY LOVE homemade sugar scrub.

Peggy sounds off about how Palmolive eco+ Gel Dishwasher Detergent is greenwashing and everyone has something to say about it, including me.

32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas – this post resulted in a ton of comments, many with helpful extra tips.

We all hate Dixie paper product commercials and overly priced green goods.

Bring up female green period options and just see what happens in the comments!

I can’t believe people have so much to say about dryer sheets.

Seven Evil Ways I Harm the Planet – turns out I’m not the only one.

25 safe, non-toxic, homemade cleaners – this post has had a ton of comments, some questions, but many are cool helpful hints from readers so very worth a read.

Should we Raid spiders? Readers come up with other options that I won’t try.

People have super mixed emotions about Seventh Generation dish powder.

Eco-friendly ways to reward kids – cool post, cool comments.

Surprisingly people have a lot of opinions about reusable coffee filters.

Homeschooling goes illegal and everyone chimes in.

I really like our chats about consumerism, for example, on posts like If you’re so against having stuff, then why show all these products on this blog?,

This kitty litter post got more comments than we thought it would.

Of course there are other posts with many comments, these are just the ones that come to mind. Check some of them out and contribute your own thoughts in the comments.

[image via stock.xchng - altered by yours truly with actual THF comments]

Today let’s find out which Tree Hugging Family reader is going to win a $25 electronic gift certificate from Earth Mama Angel Baby.

The randomly drawn winner is…

Tina who says, “I would love to try the Angel Baby oil for my daughter & me!” Congratulations to Tina, and I’m sure you’ll love the oil, if that’s what you decide to try (it’s awesome). I’ll be emailing you with more info about your prize. Please check your spam filters if you haven’t heard from me within two days.

Thanks to everyone who entered and kisses to our friends at Earth Mama Angel Baby for sponsoring this giveaway.

If you missed any of the Earth Mama Angel Baby posts over the last couple of weeks check out;

• Eco-perks of Earth Mama Angel Baby
• Monthly comfort tea – postpartum tea review
  
• Angel Baby Kit Review
• I Love My Mama Gift Set Review
• Green Product Review: Organic Mama-To-Be Tea Sampler
• Safest mama and baby care products

This is the absolute last day you can enter the Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway here at Tree Hugging Family, and to end this giveaway event, I’ve got one last product review for you…

PRODUCT: Mama-To-Be Tea Sampler, comes with a mix of 16 tea bags – Morning Wellness Tea, Heartburn Tea, Third Trimester Tea, and Peaceful Mama Tea.

USE: To help treat common aches and pains of pregnancy plus help you relax.

INGREDIENTS: Various ingredients (all organic) in each tea type. See the following for a full run-down of all ingredients…

• Morning Wellness Tea
• Heartburn Tea
• Third Trimester Tea
• Peaceful Mama Tea

COST: $5.97 per box (16 tea bags)

ECO-PERKS: Earth Mama Angel Baby has plenty of eco-perks as a company, but their teas have some cool additional green attributes, such as; all of Earth Mama Angel Baby teas are USDA Certified 100% Organic & Certified Kosher and natural. Teas come in stringless and tagless bags to cut down on resources. AND the tea bags are biodegradable. Tea over wrap is compostable and the 100% recycled and recyclable tea cartons are produced using wind energy. Nice.

WHAT I THINK: Read more

How toxic-free are the baby and child bath products at your house? Many conventional store-bought bath products are full of things your tot sure doesn’t need (pesticides, chemicals, fake colors, and more). Right now we’ve got a great Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway going on, and Liz, blog coordinator for Earth Mama Angel Baby, sent me the following challenge to pass on to my readers.

This is a really cool challenge, and something I suggest you try. I personally use Skin Deep all the time to make sure products are safe and green. If you haven’t tried Skin Deep before, now is a good time to start.

The Earth Mama Angel Baby What’s Your Score? Challenge

1. Gather some of the most common personal care products you use regularly on yourself or on your baby. Personal care products include shampoo, lotions, soaps, diaper cream, stretch mark oil, etc.

2. Go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Skin Deep database and enter a product name in the search field. Add up the Skin Deep toxicity rating for all the personal care products that you use on a daily basis to find out what your score is.

3. When you have your score, consider the following questions…

• What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score?
• How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients?
• Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled “natural” or “organic” ?

I think you’ll be surprised at how high (higher = more toxic at Skin Deep) most bath and beauty products score, even those labeled “green, natural, or safe” On the flip side, Earth Mama Angel Baby products all score 1 or less (that’s an excellent rating on Skin Deep). All the more reason to try some of their products.

Read more about Earth Mama Angel Baby:

• About the company – eco-perks and more.
• Green Product Review: I Love My Mama Gift Set
• Green Product Review: Angel Baby Kit

ENTER the Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway!

[image via stock.xchng]

Last May here at Tree Hugging Family we hosted the Stop Using Paper Towels Green Challenge. We had a lot of success, but some folks had complaints about my saying cloth is perfect for everything (I haven’t bought paper towles in years). Some said, once in a while you DO need paper towels, the biggest factor being pets. Pets make kind of icky messes according to pet owners. Mainly there are three trains of use we saw.

• You always use paper towels.
• You never use paper towels.
• You use both cloth and paper towels.

Besides 100% recycled content paper towels, (not perfect but way better than traditional paper towels) there’s no middle ground, as in nothing that people feel is the same as paper, yet more sustainable.

One answer may be SKOY.

SKOY is an absorbent, biodegradable and natural multi-use cloth that’s a little more paper-like than cloth. SKOY is made of a natural cotton and wood-based cellulose pulp that’s chlorine free and 100% biodegradable in five weeks. Colored SKOY cloths are made with water-based inks.

The difference between paper towels and SKOY is that you can use them again if you choose. According to SKOY, one SKOY cloth is equivalent to using 15 rolls of paper towels in an average home.

The difference between SKOY and cloth is that the SKOY is more absorbent – SKOY has an absorption factor of 15x its own weight and feels more like a good quality paper towel plus dries fast so it’s less likely to breed bacteria than say, a sponge. Also, SKOY likely takes less energy and resources to make than cotton rags for cleaning.

If you’re not into exclusive cloth or paper towels, SKOY could be one of your best bets.

Visit SKOY to learn more.