This fantastically fun xylophone is brand new from P’kolino. Made with sustainable rubberwood and metal with a bright, yet non-toxic water based finish, this playful and fun melody-maker helps your child develop an early interest in music and teaches shape & color. This unique xylophone breaks down into individual pieces that can be rearranged to create new sequences. Plus, when not playing tunes, your child can stack them high to build a tower. Clean up is easy as well, since these clever blocks nest into each other for a tidy playroom. Suitable for children ages 1 year and older.

+ Playful Rubberwood Xylophone $29.99

+ P’kolino

Back in the day, as recommended by a bazillion baby rearing books on the planet, most parents chose white rice cereal for their baby’s first solid food. Then the great white out debate began, not to mention arsenic scares in rice, and baby advocates started telling parents to start Baby off with healthier fare, like brown rice cereals, brown rice mash or vegetable purée. Now, it’s a whole new game, as brand new research says you should consider starting your baby off on solids with healthy finger foods. Researchers on the study compared a group of spoon-fed babies to a group of self-led weaning babies. What they found is that babies who are allowed to self-wean and who are then introduced to solids by feeding themselves versus having a parent spoon feed them, were able to better master skills related to self-food regulation. In turn self-food regulation is directly connected to health benefits for life such as a lower BMI and a preference for healthy foods like carbohydrates.

In news that will surprise no one, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center recently figured out that teaching moms and dads how to be better parents could possibly help combat the alarmingly issue of overweight and obese children in America. So, it’s not shocking to hear that better parenting skills may lead to healthier kids. What was a little more surprising in this study is that even when the parenting skills taught did not include education surrounding exercise and nutrition, kids still benefited. During the study, researchers followed a large group of 4-year-old kids from low-income, minority families in New York City over several years. Some of the kids parents were involved in intervention, or parenting classes. Kids of parents who were taught good parenting skills were more likely to be healthier, while kids of parents who did not take the parenting classes were more likely to become obese by second grade. It’s very interesting that these parenting classes didn’t focus on food, weight, or exercise, but instead the classes taught parents how to be more responsive and nurturing towards their kids.

The Hershey company doesn’t have a very good social track record. Issues such as child labor, trafficking and forced labor and refusing to cite chocolate sources, as well as treats that clearly don’t meet environmental standards have earned Hershey the one and only F grade on Green America’s chocolate scorecard. Now, due to increasing consumer and child advocacy group pressures, Hershey has taken some itty bitty baby steps to improve their company. This week, Hershey announced that the company will begin purchasing cocoa certified by the Rainforest Alliance for its “Bliss” line of chocolates by the end of 2012. Hershey has also stated that they’ll be investing $10 million by 2017 to reduce child labor and improve cocoa supply in West Africa. All of this is good news, but it seems like small potatoes (or candy bars as the case may be). In fact, for years and years, many consumers and Fair Trade groups have been urging Hershey to make positive changes but Hershey has ignored everyone. This is the very first time Hershey has even admitted they need to improve. As Green America points out, “Since the “Bliss” line is a relatively small part of Hershey’s chocolate empire, this is a very small step for the Hershey company to take.” We agree. Not only can Hershey do way, way better, but until they do, there’s no reason for your family to support them.

A while back, LittleFruits Feltery blew us away with their amazingly creative, adorable and fun play felt tree. We never thought we’d see something as cute again, and yet… Now LittleFruits Feltery has added some tropical delight to their shop – the bright and colorful Banana Felt Tree. This cuter than cute tree will have your child playing treasure island in no time flat. A creative Velcro design allows kids to pick bananas right off the tree and then put them back on. Branches are bendable and the tree is made by hand with 100% eco-fi felt. Sorry folks, that mischievous little monkey doesn’t come with the tree, but we do love the idea! We can’t wait to see what LittleFruits Feltery comes up with next.

+ Banana Felt Tree

+ LittleFruits Feltery

Motherload posed an interesting question recently, “Should we regulate sugar to protect public health?” The question itself stems from a recent issue of the journal Nature, where public health experts report that plain old sugar is as toxic and just as dangerous for society as substances like alcohol and tobacco. The researchers, working out of University of California at San Francisco, aren’t wrong. Past research has compared junk food addiction to heroin addiction and some research shows that only regulating some sugar won’t work – you need whole community regulation to make a difference. And whole community regulation is exactly what these researchers think should happen. The Wall Street Journal reports that the study authors suggest taxing sugar, limiting sugar in schools, reducing sugary advertising, zoning ordinances for sugar and even placing age limits on the types of sugar-laden products kids can buy. But, is regulation the answer? Can’t parents limit their own child’s sugar intake? It is a very good question. So good in fact, that I asked our readers via the Inhabitots Facebook page, the very same question to see what they’d say.