Nanchen makes the most adorable little soft and cuddly dolls with natural materials, and in my opinion, the tiny Pumpkin Rattle Doll below is the perfect Halloween treat for babies who are still too young this year for candy treats.

Nanchen dolls are manufactured mainly with organic cotton and stuffed with Bioland pure new wool. All dolls are the perfect size and shape for your baby to hold and have sweet expressions painted on their tiny faces. The pumpkin above has a slight rattling sound. Nanchen only uses raw materials stemming from permanently controlled bio-cultivation and products conform to European safety …read more

Before the holiday season hits, make sure you do some winter cleaning. Take a look at all the toys in your child’s room and chuck out any containing toxic chemicals or lead.

The NRDC, among others notes that toxins found in toys related to plastics can interfere with normal sexual development, and may even lead to early onset of puberty.
Collect up any soft plastic toys, toys with older paint (could be lead based), and drop them off at the recycling center. Make sure that friends and family know that your goal is safe holiday toys. Tell them to limit the amount …read more

With the holidays coming up fast, you’re probably starting to consider child gift options. If toys are on your list you’ll want to aim for safe, eco-friendly options, but these toys aren’t always inexpensive. Here are some ideas for affordable green toys…

Eco-Friendly Tea Set from Green Toys – $24.99
Oval Xylophone from Plan Toys – $22.99
Crayon Rocks – $5-27
CitBlocs – starting at just $15
Contemporary Dollhouse from Plan Toys – $99.99 (seriously, one of the best deals for an eco-friendly dollhouse, most are well into the triple digits.
Sprig adventure toys – $9-28
Organic Veggies and Crate from Under The Nile – $25.99
Whole World …read more

As a green blogger, it’s frustrating because I work for more than one green client. Sometimes I’ll post something elsewhere that I KNOW Tree Hugging Readers would adore. That happened today, but since I think you’ll be interested, I’m going to send you away for the day.

The review is of Citiblocs – a totally green, super fun, and best of all, affordable green building toy. Cedar loved them, and if you’ve got little ones, this item is a must consider toy for the upcoming holiday season. Seriously, kits start at just $15 and are a cool family activity. Plus they …read more

Pretty soon here, I’m going to be reviewing Thames & Kosmos Green Power House – a Discovery Store toy. However, this kit is not so much a toy as a full on model home / eco-experiments activity project. There’s a lot to this activity kit though, so before I review I’m going to cover the basics.

Power House provides an introduction to sustainable energy sources and teaches basic concepts and principles in physical science. Using the kit will teach you about, and how to use heat and light energy from the sun, wind power, and electrochemical and plant energy.

The Power House …read more

Play kitchens rock. This is a toy your child will have fun with and play with for years. However, finding one that’s both eco-friendly and affordable can be tough. I LOVE play kitchens. To me they’re truly one of those must have childhood toys, so I decided to search around for some affordable DIY options.

Doing it yourself is the cheapest route when it comes to play kitchens. You get to choose which eco-friendly materials to use, and often stuff around the house works for this project so costs can be low to free. My absolute favorite DIY play kitchen of …read more

Over a year ago, my son, Cedar and me made a video review of Playmais for Tree Hugging Family, but after we made the video, Playmais, by that name, basically vanished off the face of the planet. I looked everywhere and found them very few places and they were going out of stock, so I didn’t write up a review here. Then this morning, I noticed HappyMais Building Blocks at Peek A Green. HappyMais are just Playmais by a different name. And your kid will love them.

What are HappyMais: Natural arts and crafts material made with GM-free certified cornstarch …read more

You don’t have to spend wads of cash on green summer toys. You can, in fact make a whole slew of eco-friendly toys all on your own, with low-cost materials. Following are ten eco-fun, summer toy projects you can make for the kiddos – in some cases they can help!

Make a recycled Cardboard Playhouse like the one shown above from Make Baby Stuff, then break out the non-toxic art supplies and let your little one decorate to her heart’s content.
Kool-Aid dyed play silks – kids love play silks. You can toss them up, use them as doll clothing, use them …read more

Some days I actually get a little tired of blogging green. There, I said it! I mean, I’m not going to toss my ethics to the wind or anything – tell you to buy a hummer or bottled water, you know. But to be honest, some days, I’d really like to chill with the green news, just for a bit.
THEN I see something so flipping cute, so cool, so fun, that it renews my green go-power. Would you look at this:

Have you ever seen something so adorable!? I’m in total drool bliss right now just looking at these cuties. These …read more

There are plenty of sustainable toys to be had. With summer coming soon, it’s time to think about which toys are a good idea for fun. In my opinion a recycled box, the great outdoors, and a basic tree for climbing make great summer toys for green kiddos BUT if you’re looking for some special toys that go beyond found treasures check out these summer toy picks…

Ping Pong Catapult – fun outside with some action! This toy is a cool idea for older kids (small parts make it bad for very young children). This natural, non-toxic wooden ping pong catapult …read more