Eco Child’s Play

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When choosing Christmas gifts for your eco-child, check out the extensive collection of DIY kits for children. Kids can benefit from creative construction–they develop their fine motor skills, their creativity, and their ability to follow written directions. Plus, it’s just downright fun to make stuff and the sense of accomplishment that comes from making an actual functional item is addictive (just ask crafters!). I focused on kits that had some kind of eco or environmental spin, and all are available online.

1. Glee Gum has three DIY kits featuring edible projects: chewing gum, chocolate, and gummies. The kits come with all the ingredients necessary to create these treats, along with information on how those items are produced. For example, how do chicleros gather chicle in the rainforest? Actually, it’s quite sustainable. But you can find all that information on the origins of our favorite sweets in these kits. $13 each.

2. Have your child build this eco-friendly (100% recycled) birdhouse kit from Bird and Home. Not only can you use it as an example of how trash can be recycled into usable goods, but then as a way of identifying and observing birds that feed from it. The kit even comes with a little stuffed bird! $20.

3. You child can create any number of stepping stones for your yard or garden using the variety of kits available at OutdoorDecor. From mosaics to handprints to text, your child can create his or her own artwork that can be displayed outside. To be honest, after seeing a kit, you could probably create a kit of your own from common home-improvement items, but if you want the ease of a ready-made kit, you have a wide range of options on this site. From $10-$20.

4. If you haven’t made the switch from disposable to reusable lunch bags, assemble a create-your-own canvas lunch tote. You can purchase a plain canvas lunch bag and fabric markers from Dharma Trading Co. Rest assured, your child’s lunch will never get mixed up with another’s.

5. British company Sparrow Kids has an insanely large variety of cloth-based crafting kits. These kits produce mostly felt purses, accessories, and household knick-knacks that kids “sew” with embroidery thread and pre-punched fabric. The kits seem like great beginning “sewing” projects, but you may not want to ship from the UK, nor pay pound-based prices with the weakness of the U.S. dollar. Prices vary.