Cool Green Kids

It’s pretty cool being a kid growing up in a green toy world. It is almost enough to make one want to relive his childhood. Since that is not possible, maybe you can find a child with a green toy who will let you play too. With the green wave upon us, many of the new toys available are innovative, creative, and there are a few older versions that have been greened. Regardless, there are many to keep the attention of even the video-craved child who cannot seem to pull himself away from the screen.

Monopoly was a fun board game to play. You racked up property, collected rent, and even then there was always passing “GO.” Money was to be had by everyone. Today, I wonder for how much those properties would be sold. A newer version of this game has moved the players from the “big city” and placed them down on the farm. Not just any farm, but an organic farm. Garden-Opoly entertains its players while also educating them on the "ups and downs" of organic farming. How does your garden grow? Watch out for the aphids.

How many times have you purchased a toy for a child and after struggling to remove it from its cardboard box, the child sits and plays with the cardboard? Cardboard is cool and kids know it. April Capil of Fridge Box also knows what entertains children. A sign of the green times, April, a graduate from the Green MBA program at Dominican University, created Fridge Box to “keep preschoolers and young children entertained and inspired.” You can see how creative some of the recipients of these boxes have been. Captain Chase went to outer space and this preschool was overrun with bugs Bug Club. Some of the profits from Fridge Box will go to the Fridge Box Foundation and support such educational programs like the Ma’at Youth Academy in Richmond, CA. Purchase a Fridge Box, watch your child’s creative juices flow, and support sustainable education.

There is no better reason to drink milk from a plastic jug rather than a carton, than Green Toys. Founded and manufactured in the Bay Area, Green Toys created a line of really cool and fun toys made out of recycled material. This is evidence that recycling works and people are coming up with some really innovative and quality product from our recycling efforts. Currently, the line has a few toys, which surely will grow in the future. This may not be such a green statement, but whatever you do “keep buying your milk in plastic milk jugs!”

If you have an action adventure, explorer type child, then Sprig Toys may be the answer to replacing their battery operated fun. Action toys with no batteries. Instead, they use “natural kinetic energy of push-and pump-action play to generate lights and sounds.” This fun is due in the stores Fall 2008.

This list of toys could go on. Suffice it to say, there are many green and affordable toy alternatives to satisfy even the difficult to shop for child. Enjoy your toy shopping. Before you head out read some green shopping tips from Treehugger.