When I began Eco Child’s Play over a year and a half ago, I pledged to make Kiva loans on behalf of our blog. After making several Kiva loans, I’ve decided it is time to donate to and highlight different organizations helping families and/or the environment around the world. This month, I have made a donation to Women for Women International on behalf of Eco Child’s Play. Read the rest of this entry »
Until my first daughter Carly was born by an ER-style emergency c-section, I had never been to the hospital except for the couple of times with minor injuries as a small child. The experience was so extraordinarily shocking to my system that it catapulted me into a determination that my next delivery would be VERY different. The birth of Carly, was traumatizing on so many levels. That I was only 21 and relatively immature and inexperienced probably didn’t help. I had wanted her very much and did everything to prepare, but like most of the cliches you hear about becoming a mother for the first time - nothing could have prepared me, especially for the frightening, dangerous, surgical birth.
After going through a rough post-partum depression, my reaction was to get pregnant again pretty quickly and immerse myself in research so that I could be more empowered the next time. I had been shocked into a state of alertness about my body and had a strong intuitive knowledge my next baby and I didn’t need to go through this same situation again.
I had done my homework and knew that what happened with Carly and I was unusual and not likely to repeat itself. I also learned everything I could about VBACs (Vaginal Birth After Cesereans). If my doctor had done a good job of patching me back together, and I believe that she had, my uterus and I stood a good chance of having the strength to give birth naturally.
According to No Child Left Inside, “A study found that young people could identify 1000 corporate logos but fewer that 10 plants or animals native to their backyards.”
Now that Layla is six weeks old, I can see her becoming more aware of her surrounding. It’s fascinating to watch her becoming fixated on colorful things around the room. One of her favorite things to gaze at is our blue and red floral curtain. And when she’s in the stroller, she looks up at the hood but there’s not much there to keep her interest, so I decided to buy her a stroller toy to keep her engaged and nurture her development.
Looking around the Babys R Us, I became dismayed at the cacophony of colors that surrounded me. I come from a family of visual artists and once considered a career in fine arts, so color is not something that I shy away from. However, the amount of color and light in children’s toys nowadays are overpowering to the point I started getting a headache. I walked away from the toy section and researched to find a toy that would not overstimulate her. Read the rest of this entry »
I am the mother of two children, ages six and three, as well as a preschool teacher in a small, mountainous community in Northern California. Our family lives off-the-grid producing our own electricity from a micro hydro turbine in our creek. One of our family values is to live a green life, leaving behind the smallest carbon footprint as possible. Sharing our eco-values with our children is a big part of what we feel is our social responsibility as parents. For over a year now, I have been blogging about our experiences and the green products we use. Here are a few ideas I have learned over the years that have helped my kids critically view the mass marketing of goods directed at them, as well as inspire them to think critically of our daily actions in terms of how they affect the planet.
Lev Vygotsky was a Russian pyschologist who believed that knowledge is socially constructed and culturally transmitted. For toddlers and preschoolers, this means that modeling green choices, as well as using language to interact with children around eco ideals, is the most effective way to inspire them. For example, my children are delighted to have their own reusable shopping bags. Inspired by the book My Bag and Me!, I got my children their own bags, which they proudly carry into the store. My three-year-0ld son puts his favorite foods in his bag at the health food store. Children will imitate what they see the adults around them doing, and given the proper tools, they can assimilate this knowledge into their own lives. On more than one occasion I’ve been accused of “walking the talk”, and it definitely pays off when my children evaluate their own lives and choices using our green family values. Read the rest of this entry »
| Code Pink would like you to reclaim Mother’s day with ways to donate to suffering mothers and their children in Iraq. | ||
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Remember the Great Copy Machine Epidemic: “unidentified contagious disease striking school photocopiers, causing them to chew up trees and contributing to climate change”? On April 17, over 23,000 students in 30 schools turned off their school photocopiers and attempted to diagnose the disease. The results are in, and your votes are needed. Please visit the Great Copy Machine Epidemic website to vote for your top three choices before this Friday! It looks like these kids had fun while learning about paper and energy waste at their schools.
Previous posts on the Great Copy Machine Epidemic:
How do you get your kids to care more about and take action on improving the environment, when the world they’re focused on is on their iPod, their Wii, their phone, and online? If you’re SustainLane, you meet them where they are, and create a web based animation series and also show it on TV, on Earth Day Television.
Gorilla in the Greenhouse, an episodic show premiering today, doesn’t preach at kids, but instead engages them on their terms and empowers them to take action. 
Animated by the people behind such web classics as The Meatrix, it features four smart kids and a wise green gorilla, facing the big green challenges of our day, with inventiveness, action, and most importantly, a rockin’ song.
Not many people could pull off making a catchy tune about a garbage island in the Pacific Ocean, but in the first episode, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” they show otherwise. With people such as Ralph Guggenheim, one of Pixar’s founders producing, this moves beyond merely being entertainment to being a bridge to further conversation with your children about things happening in the real world, and what can be done about them.
The other day, my daughter asked me what time it was. I gazed up at the sun and told her it was 3:30 pm. She checked her watch, and then in astonishment asked me how I knew the time. She had no idea that you could tell time from the sun, even after we had just visited the Sundial Bridge and read the time from its cast shadows. I was reminded of a project I used to do as part of a unit on solar energy when I was teaching K-8: Human sundials.
To help children learn how the sun moves across the sky and how shadows are formed, the human sundial project takes a whole day. First thing in the morning when the sun is up, go outside with your child and trace their shadow with some chalk. Mark an X where your child is standing so they can return to the same spot. Switch roles and have your child trace your shadow in a different spot. Then, return every hour and repeat tracing your shadows and recording the time on each shadow. By the end of the day, your child will see how their shadow moves in accordance with the sun’s path, as well as changes shape. Read the rest of this entry »
When I first started looking for eco toys, I found that the Europeans were much more aware in their selection of materials and design than American companies. European toys are often made of wood and are designed with an understanding that children need to play creatively in order to learn. According to Russian pyschologist Lev Vygotsky, play is the leading activity for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Play promotes cognitive, emotional and social development, but not all kind of play is equal in leading to higher mental functions. Modern children’s toys actually can hinder this development with their lack of imagination and inspiration; however, European toys offer parents an alternative choice for promoting play.
Comptoir d’Enfance is a new online store started by a French mother who recently moved to North America. This store features French wooden toys, accessories, and babywear. One featured toy company is Kapla. Kapla creates safe, ecological, innovative alternative toys. The wooden planks inspire hours of imagination and learning, accompanied by the pleasure of accomplishment, discovery and creation. Read the rest of this entry »
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