By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
My friend Tammi told me about these eco-friendly Yubo lunchboxes that she bought for her two daughters. After checking out their website I could see what she was so excited about. Every year I would throw out my children’s old lunch boxes because they were so dirty and raggedy. It won’t be the case with these. The Yubo lunchboxes completely come apart to wash in the  dishwasher. They are also BPA free, antimicrobial and recyclable. They offer three different shapes of storage containers that can be mixed and matched, keep everything organized, so no more need for plastic bags. See all [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Although my children are too big now for high chairs now, I came across this one  and had to share it because it’s so perfect for summer travel. I wish I had one of these just a couple of years ago, instead of the bulky a plastic booster/high chair that took up an inordinate amount of precious cargo space in the car trunk…

Belkiz is an Australian company that designed the Feedaway, a safe, foldable, recyclable cardboard high chair. It’s is lightweight and folds easily for storage or travel.  It was designed [...]

Quiz: Where can you get Chocolate Cream, Bubble Gum Glitter, Watermelon Hard Candy, Banana Spike Putty and Creamsicle Mist all in one store? Nope, not at the corner sweet shop. Unless they cut hair too.
These flavors – uh, fragrances are only part of the fun offered by the great Glop & Glam Hair Product collections. Just.For.Kids. Yes, this is the first collection of true styling hair products designed specifically for the kiddos.
Indeed, created by professional hair stylist and mom Andrea Ridgell, the Glop and Glam products not only smell delicious, they are, more importantly, safe and organic, free of [...]

WE HAVE OUR WINNER! CONGRATULATIONS Jessica!
You have won the Castaway Kit of your choice.
The winner was selected at random using the Random Integer Generator. This giveaway CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED but do subscribe via RSS or email to get updates on new giveaways as they get posted. Thank you all for playing!
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Remember the great Castaway Kits that we featured a few weeks ago? The superb company that makes them, Trash for Teaching, has offered us a giveaway prize to share with our readers. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to mention this great company again and even more thrilled [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
Why do kids find big cardboard boxes so interesting? I remember loving to play with the large appliance boxes as a child. I made curtains for my cardboard home. These simple toys bring out the best in a child’s imagination.
Thankfully, no kids needs to wait for the refrigerator to break down anymore! CardboarDesign.com has brought box design to a whole new level of cools toys and furniture. They have something for every child’s imagination: from rocket ships to lemonade/advice stands to playhouses.  All are easy to assemble, use no glue [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
Although you may not want your children to eat their crayons and taste the paper glue, you know that some of it will inevitably end up in their mouths.
A company called Clementine Art has come up with a whole art line for children that is all natural, certified non-toxic and environmentally friendly. It is the only company that lists the ingredients for each of its products. For example, its crayons are made with Kosher soy wax, mineral pigments, beeswax, carnauba wax, vegetable stearic acid, calcium carbonate (chalk), natural Brazilian rosin, and titanium [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor

Have you ever noticed the younger the child the more questions they have?  My two young daughters are full of them. From the easy one like “why do I have to brush my teeth?” to more difficult ones “what is tapioca?”.  Uh…
I learned from my son, who is now a high school senior, that all questions are important, no matter what. It’s my answers that need some fine tuning. I discovered this great website called Whyzz.com.  It is simple to use and all answers are written so that they are perfectly understood by [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
I like to have creative alternatives to chocolate & candy for my kids’ Easter baskets. I have discovered a few different and fun things for this year’s baskets:
What child does not like to see something thrown on the ground and go splat? Splat Back! “the toy that goes splat but always comes back” has brought it to a whole new level with a variety of Splat toys to choose from. My favorites are the tomato and egg because who does not want to see a tomato or egg (fitting for the Easter theme) go [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
One of my favorite toys growing up was my dollhouse. I spent many hours playing make-believe with it. It was a very basic square construction made of wood, with no stain or paint finish. My doll furniture was a mix of mismatched plastic pieces with a few wooden handmade ones my father had lovingly crafted for me. My dolls were a variety of stuffed animals, Barbies and an assortment of different figurines.
On a search to recreate my own childhood memories for my daughters, I came across a sophisticated and oh-so-stylish version of my own basic [...]

This “toy” or, shall we say craft, line got our attention because we thought it was the perfect manifestation of the combined ideals of teaching creativity and environmental awareness. The Castaway Kits are the invention of the Trash for Teaching (T4T) group. They collect all sorts of manufacturing cast-off materials that were destined for the landfill. Things like cardboard cones and tubes and die-cut chips and fabric scraps… All with various colors, shapes and textures. What a great way to inspire imagination and to enforce spatial development while also teaching our kids that fun & play does not need to [...]