2008 November | Inhabitots

Petit Collage: Adorable, Sustainable Kids Art

by Jennifer Chait, 11/13/08

Petit Collage wall art is a refreshing departure from typical child’s room decor. Original concepts and limited edition availability elevate these adorable pieces high above wallflower status. Petit Collage’s pleasing array of eco-minded art pieces will enliven your tot’s surroundings with whimsical flairs of nature. We love their handmade wooden collages created from vintage and painted papers, and the cute Pink Monkey seen below is one of our favorites.

READ MORE >

WoodPecker Walker Puts Tiny Footsteps on the Green Map

by Neelam Misra, 11/12/08

The eco-friendly WoodPecker Walker from Plan Toys carved a niche in my heart with its precious features, and quickly became our baby’s favorite companion. Crafted entirely of sustainable wood, this walker is as beautiful as it is functional. Two playful little woodpeckers perched at the front cheerfully peck away, making a charming clacking sound as the walker is pushed. The sound they make is lively and frolicsome, encouraging babies to ‘walk on’ down the path to a green lifestyle.

READ MORE >

Young Mad Scientist’s First Alphabet Blocks

by Abigail Doan, 11/11/08

It’s one thing to have your little ones master new vocabulary with ABC’s and budding language skills, but what about encouraging the weirder (aka more fun) side of science mastery? Enter Young Mad Scientist’s First Alphabet Blocks by Xylocopa, featured at this year’s Maker Faire in Austin, TX. These laser-carved cubes of A-B-C alchemy, are just the sort of thing that will get your tot primed for creative storytelling, spelling bee championships, and mad science for engaged young minds.

READ MORE >

Kids, Pets and the Environment: Eco-Friendly Pet Care

by Desmond Williams, 11/10/08

After scaring my newly-pregnant wife with the dangers of toxoplasmosis (I swear I thought there was something to it), we permanently shipped her cats off to her parents’ house, and I settled in to what I thought would forever be our comfortable pet-free home. And then came my son. My son wanted a dog. Really that should read, ‘My wife wanted a dog to replace her cats, and suggested the idea to our son figuring that his incessant querying would break me.’ Well, it didn’t. My winning question to him was, ‘Who’s going to pick-up the poop?’ Disgusted, his only response was, ‘Not me!’

READ MORE >

Take Our Survey and You Could Win a Free Diaper Bag!

Inhabitots recently celebrated its 3 month birthday, and now that we’ve been publishing for a little while, we want to get a sense of who is reading this blog. If you have a minute (and if you’d like to win this pretty eco diaper bag by Fleurville – worth $165), please take our reader survey to tell us a bit more about you. It takes just a few minutes, all information entered is confidential, and we’ll just use this information to determine how to best tailor our content to give you guys what you want to see. TAKE THE SURVEY HERE >

If you’d like to be entered into a drawing to win this gorgeous eco-friendly diaper bag by Fleurville (worth $165), you need to register with Inhabitots email updates before taking the survey. REGISTER HERE >

Modern Tots Sustainable Toy Boxes

Wondering what to get for the earth-loving tot who has every ‘green’ toy under the sun? How about a sustainable toy box designed and built by Mod Mom Furniture to beautifully contain all of his eco-friendly wares? The charming Owyn Toy Box is a modern, made to order, organic-style storage box that is functional and perfectly designed for little hands. It is equipped with two leaf shaped lids that children can easily remove to access their toys, and after clean up time, the lids fit right back on top like puzzle pieces, concealing toys and providing a sleek focal point for any room.

Frazier & Wing Recycled Magazine Mobiles

You say moh-buhl, I say moh-beel – on some things we disagree. But when it comes to the aesthetic beauty a mobile can add to any nursery or kids’ room, we all agree that Frazier & Wing’s Recycled Magazine Mobiles are a great, green, gorgeous option.

GREEN & CLEAN: Eco Parenting While Toting Tiny Travelers

Traveling with babies and toddlers is typically a bumpy ride, filled with many surprises. Our precious cargo require so many necessities on the open road, and following the ‘green’ path can be difficult when away from home. The easy-to-tote Green and Clean line of products from Classy Kid, Inc. offers eco-friendly biodegradable products including toilet seat covers, coloring placemats, and changing table covers, which will help keep both your child and your conscience spotless, whether you’re traveling across the globe or just jaunting across town.

Raise an Enlightened Yoga Baby

The mind of a child is a busy place. Children are swarmed on a daily basis with a cacophony of songs, characters, shapes, sounds, colors, letters and endless input. As parents, we’re right to constantly engage our blossoming little geniuses, but ushering them into some Zen downtime on a regular basis is just as important as teaching them their ABC’s.

Mini Prefab Modern Play Shed

If you’re a fan of modern prefab architecture and you’re raising little ones, you’ll probably love the Mini Modern Play Shed. Part Case-Study home, part play-house, the Mini Modern Prefab proves that kid’s design doesn’t need to be garish or overly cutesy. Architect Ryan Grey Smith, known for his adult-sized Modern-Shed is bringing prefab to preschoolers with his Modern Play Shed, a smaller but no-less awesome version of his original design. Better than any treehouse or dollhouse we’ve seen, it comes fully loaded with a sloped shed roof, dutch doors, 12 windows, and more.

ANNOUNCING…The Green Halloween Winners

Drumroll please…. And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the announcement of the winners of our Inhabitots Green Halloween Contest! We had a ton of really great creative entries this year. From crafty home decor made from old aluminum cans, to awesome costumes, to clever Halloween treats – the ingenuity of our readers was on full display in this contest. Because the entries were so varied, we’re going to give out a number of different types of prizes instead of just a traditional 1st – 5th place. Without further ado, here are the winners of the Inhabitots Green Halloween Contest…

VOTE on Green Halloween Costume Winners!

We hope you had a fun Halloween, and we want to say thanks to all of our crafty readers who sent in images of their cute home-made kids costumes. We were overwhelmed with great entries and were really impressed with everyone who took the time to send us something. We’ve narrowed the costumes down to our ten favorites, but we are having a hard time deciding our top three. Will you guys help us pick our winners? Please vote for your favorite costume below – you can vote for up to 3 submissions. And if you want to see more of the clever costumes that were submitted to us, check out our Green Halloween Gallery here >

Vote below >

Wee Gallery Art Cards & Kikkerland Picture Mobile

Nothing makes your wee one’s world go round like a captivating and super sleek crib mobile. The Kikkerland Picture Mobile with Wee Gallery Art Cards allows you to curate the very first art exhibit that your baby gazes upon. Repeated animated shapes and bold black and white graphics are ideal for the first few months of baby’s visual stimulation. With these original designs floating overhead, you have an instant, easy-to-assemble way to animate baby’s new nest, as well as an appealing accent for your designer abode.