With two little boys at home, I’ve been through my share of playdough. It probably still can be found on the floor somewhere, as it seems to end up more on the floor than anywhere else. But since we’ve been through so much of it, its been much easier and cheaper to make it ourselves!!

Follow this easy recipe for a long lasting fun clay, that can be made into any color!

1 cup flour
3/8 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Natural dyes (see below)

In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour and salt. Pour in the oil and dye and stir well. Knead the clay on a floured surface for a few minutes. May need to add a little more flour if it is too soft. The clay can be stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator.

Natural Dyes
Brown: 3/8 cup plus one tablespoon hot water and 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
Fuchsia: 3/8 cup hot beet juice (from canned beets)
Orange: 3/8 cup hot water and 1 tablespoon paprika
Yellow: 3/8 cup hot water and 1 tablespoon turmeric

If making your own clay just isn’t your thing, check out this amazing collection of aromatic, gluten free play clays from Mama K’s shop on Etsy! Beautiful colors and scents like geranium, lavender, lemongrass, and chamomile. These clays are scented with organic essential oils.

Have fun!
Recipe courtesy of Family Fun Magazine October 2009

Print out our Welcome Wreath and glue on colorful leaves you have collected on an afternoon stroll! Hang your creation in the window so everyone can see!! All you need is paper, colorful leaves, glue or tape, a hole punch and some string!! It is great to get out for a short walk, and then come inside in to your warm house to get started on green activity!

Happy Fall!!!!

One of my favorite places to visit is Muir Woods. Located about 12 miles north of San Francisco, Muir Woods was declared the 10th national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt on January 9, 1908. And quite the monument it is! Muir Woods is over 550 acres with over half of that covered in old growth Coast Redwood trees. The tallest tree is about 250 feet tall and the ages of the trees range from 500 to 800 years old!

You can hike around the main loop on a nice paved pathway, which is perfect for kids and strollers. Or you can be more adventurous and take the trails that lead to the Pacific Ocean. Whatever you choose to do, you will be in awe of the greenery that surrounds you. Because of the fog, the new growth (called burls) can be seen on almost every tree. These bright green sprouts of new trees are just waiting to shoot up! The green color of the new growth that covers the forest floor is amazing-something you’ve got to see for yourself!

We created our Nature Lover shirt with these very images in our minds. Its just so simple… we love nature! And kids do too! That is why no matter where you live, just get out and enjoy it!

Having kids in the city is fun and exciting, but also a challenge to be sure they get enough exposure to nature, not just cement! Thankfully, San Francisco is full of wonderful parks, trails, trees, and green spaces. But I see the difference between my childhood where we would camp out in the backyard in CT any summer night and my kids “camping” in our living room. So we make it a point to get out and enjoy nature all the time! Which is why I was thrilled to discover Wonderbug Adventures!

Wonderbug Adventures was started by 2 Bay Area Moms Hillary and Melissa who both have backgrounds in early childhood education and environmental science. Their mission is a great one- to encourage kids to explore nature through hands on activities and to get out there and see just how beautiful our city is!

Wonderbug Adventures offers weekly classes for little ones aged 18 months up to 4 years. Each class is an hour long and includes educational lessons on a variety of topics likes birds, ponds, ducks and bugs! There are stories, songs, pictures, and dances! The best part is a nature discovery walk, where the little ones get a nature bag with some tools to collect items that will be used for an art project at the end of class. My 3 year old has learned about ducks, bugs and birds and loves to tell me and daddy about all the new things he’s learned!

So please check out this wonderful program! I’ve learned a lot too and its a great way to connect with nature and your little one all at the same time!

For those not in San Francisco, I’m sorry! I hope there is something like this in a city near you, google it!

Earth Day is a fun day, but everyday should be Earth Day, right?! In the morning, we are going to do an Earth Day craft.. I’m thinking something we can reuse in the house, like making cute flowers out of the toilet paper rolls or telescopes from paper towel holders. We are also going to do a little walk up the street and clean up as we go, all the way to the bakery of course Then I’m taking the boys to a San Francisco Giants game in the afternoon where the Giants have teamed up with the California Academy of Sciences for a special Earth Day game! Well, I guess the game won’t have anything to do with Earth Day, but they’ll be giving away reusable bags and will be giving out green tips during the game! It will be great to see and show the boys that even baseball stadiums work hard to stay “Green” by having recycling and compost containers. We are taking the train to the game too and it should be a really fun day!! So what are you doing to celebrate the day?

To find out more about the history of Earth Day and to see what people around the world are doing, check out Earth Day Network! On this website, you can become a member of the Green Generation, by registering what you do to help the earth, learn about bringing healthy foods to schools or just find out about local Earth Day events!

On Thursday April 23, Little Green Star will be doing an Earth Fair event at 555 Mission Street in San Francisco. The event will be held in the lobby of this LEED Certified office building from 11-1 and will feature many other local “green” companies. It should be a fun event and we hope to see you there!!

So get out and do a GREEN activity! Visit our Green Activities page to find fun and green activities to do with your kids, like start working on our Bee Green Calendar, make nature bookmarks, or create an eco-collage! Or do things like take the train to work, bring your reusable mug, and be sure to turn out the lights before you leave the house. All these things make a difference and if you start tomorrow, try again the next day too!!

Enjoy the day and enjoy our beautiful Earth!

image from the national oceanic and atmospheric association

I try really hard to set a good example for my kids when it comes to turning off the lights, turning off the water, and recycling. But sometimes, they catch me and yell “MOM! Turn off the water!!!”

Introducing kids to a green lifestyle at an early age makes it part of their everyday life so it just seems normal and not any different than cleaning up their toys or eating their veggies! In fact, it benefits moms and dads too when it comes to chores!! My 5 year old loves to take the compost down to the garage. It was a great day for me when this first happened.. hooray!

If you make it fun and easy, they will enjoy it just like any other activity.

To make it really fun, check out our BE GREEN calendar on the Little Green Star Explore Page and draw a green star for each day that you do an activity that helps the earth! Once you have filled the calendar you can get a Be Green With Me Certificate to show all of your hard work!

Have fun!!

Greeno Bambino is a great destination for non-toxic products for babies and kids. Not only does it have one of the best store names ever… but they carry fabulous products like Little Green Star (hee hee), and tons of the coolest “green” gifts I’ve seen! I’m so impressed with how unique the products are, so keep checking back as it sounds like more products are added all the time. Everything from bottles, to trucks, to wooden blocks, to shampoo, Greeno Bambino is a one stop shop must for new parents or experienced parents trying to find the safest and best products for kids.

Tim is the founder of Greeno Bambino and a dad himself. From speaking with him and visiting his website, you can tell he is 100% committed to finding safe products. He is very passionate about the type of mattresses available for kids too, so Greeno Bambino will soon offer mattresses online, so check back soon.

Please visit Greeno Bambino for great information (its fun to read the site too, very funny!) and great products. Happy Shopping!

Going to the library is one of our favorite activities. We’ve been going to all different branches here in San Francisco trying to find the perfect one while our local library is undergoing renovation.We’ve been going to story time at the big library downtown and visiting a smaller branch in Noe Valley for their fine selection of Thomas the Tank Engine books! The boys love that they can find different books they’ve never seen before and actually get to take them home! The self-service checkout machine is also a big hit too. Kids can get their own library cards and when you check out their books using their cards there are no overdue book fees!

The library has become a special place for our family. Its a chance to sit and read together, a place to learn new things (I love to check out the latest cookbooks!), and a great way to teach the kids about borrowing from others, taking good care of the books while we have them and bringing them back for others to use. At first bringing back books was a little traumatic. There would be tears involved for sure! But now the boys understand that they are just ours for a little while and now the next family gets to enjoy them.

Going to the library is the ultimate lesson in recycling and reusing, not to mention just a fun way to spend the afternoon. We encourage you to visit your local library soon for a story time, book club, or just to browse the selections of new train books like we do!

I got the cutest book for Christmas last year 1,001 Ways to Save the Planet by Joanna Yarrow. Its the cutest book ever, small and chunky with wonderful illustrations and really great tips!

There are so many tips, I haven’t even made it through the book yet, but there is something great on every page. Just a few random ones…. Wrap gifts in reusable fabric. Encourage your little ones to be “green helpers” by having kids check to make sure the lights are out or to take out the compostable materials. Instead of using harsh chemicals to clean your oven, make a paste out of baking soda and water. Leave on for one hour then rub off. Deter fleas naturally by putting finely chopped garlic in their food twice a week. The fleas won’t like their blood. eeewwww. But you can see, I can go on and on and on!

I just love the idea of having really simple things I can do around the house or with my family that actually does some good!

This book makes a great gift or check it out from your local library. Its a fun book to read and really inspiring too!

For the last few years I thought I was doing pretty well “being green”. I mean, I did my part with recycling, I turned off the lights, changed my light bulbs to energy efficient ones, I composted…. BUT I was doing something pretty bad. Not using cloth napkins! Yep, I was giving in to finding cute paper towels or cute paper napkins that the kids might find fun. Thats wear Fabkins fits in!

Fabkins are kid-sized cloth napkins, perfect for eating at home and packing up in the lunch box. Fabkins come in lots of cute colors and designs and are made from 100% cotton. Not only are they cute, but they promote good table manners and help eliminate excess waste. So much waste is created every day by using paper napkins, that this is such an easy thing to add to your daily routine.

Fabkins was started by two moms and friends, Joyce and Paige, last year who were looking for a way to have “waste-free” lunches for their kids, but couldn’t find the product they wanted. So they decided to make their own! I love it! These Marin County moms have created a great way for kids to be involved directly in protecting the environment, by reducing waste. Nice work ladies!!

In addition, Fabkins works with schools to help promote waste-free lunches by having fundraisers. You can get your schools logo put right on the napkins for a fun way to get the whole school involved in this easy, yet very important green action.

So check out their kids napkin collection today and be inspired to have waste-free lunches (breakfast and dinner too)!