5 November 2012
By: Tanya Fyfe (BEng(Environmental))
Reuse everyday household items to jazz up your baby or toddlers bath time
My nearly 2-year-old son has a bath full of bath toys, but we have never bought him one. There is a smattering of commercial bath toys that we have been given, mainly as hand-me-downs. But most of his favourites are items diverted from the recycling bin.
Some we have discovered are:
- empty plastic drink bottles – various sizes, some with a skewer hole near the base for smoother pouring
- empty body wash and shampoo bottles – pump tops are extra amusing, and double as durable straws for blowing bubbles
- plastic food containers – eg margarine – some intact and one with lots of skewer holes in the bottom to make ‘rain’
- unused cups, and scoops from laundry detergent.
These items can be used to practice pouring, making things float or sink, blowing bubbles, making an assortment of noises and our current favourite, making a ‘tall tower’… followed by a ‘huge splash’!
About the Author: Tanya Fyfe is an eco mum and environmental engineer and lives in the WA Goldfields with her husband Andy and son Billy. The family's aim is to live sustainably and for Billy to grow up understanding where food comes from and how it is produced. They generate solar electricity and have an organic vegetable garden and modest orchard irrigated entirely with grey water.
CATEGORY: bath toys, eco, eco-friendly, baby |
POSTED BY: Laura McIlwaine |
4 July 2012
By: Lisa Reid (BEng(Environmental))
They may be brightly coloured and entertaining but how toxic and environmentally unfriendly is your child’s toy collection?
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Toys are everywhere in our home, which is not surprising given we have two children under the age of three. The toys are all shapes and sizes – cars, soft toys, blocks, musical instruments, balls, puzzles, boxes, dress-ups and art and crafts. While I know toys can help a child’s development in so many ways, I am concerned about the volume we have and the potential impacts on both the environment and our children.
During 2011, approximately $1.1 billion was generated in retail toy sales in Australia (source). This is an alarmingly high figure given our population at the time of 22.7 million (source), with 18.3% (or approximately 4.14 million) people under 14 years (source).
Over the years, children’s toys have evolved from being simple and hand-made from natural materials to being more complex and mass-produced from cheaper, oil-based plastics (source). This coupled with our ‘throw-away’ society has meant that many perfectly good toys now unnecessarily ended up in landfill, where they will remain for many years.
Most modern toys are made from plastic, of which oil, a non-renewable resource, is the main component. While plastic toys can be robust and long-lasting, some can also easily break and be difficult and expensive to repair, further contributing to the escalating amount of landfill waste.
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Approximately 75% of the world’s toys are produced in China (source). Most toys sold in Australia are therefore imported and have travelled a significant distance to reach your home. Working conditions reportedly vary in these toy producing factories, a factor which should be considered when making your purchase.
A more serious concern associated with plastic toys is the chemicals additives used in manufacture which may be exposed to your baby or child during play. Of specific concern are toys containing phthalates (an additive in polyvinyl chloride (PVC)), Bisphenol A (BPA) and lead. The table below shows each chemical, its use, exposure route and potential health impact. It should be noted that the concentrations at which each of the following chemicals are considered toxic vary and are dependent on a number of factors, such as age and length of exposure.
Consider the following points when choosing toys for your children to help minimize the environmental and health impact of your purchase:
- Material – if purchasing new toys look for those made from a renewable, recycled or organic material such as those available at Sustainababy.
- Origin – consider where and how the toy was made and opt for locally made toys or those made under Fairtrade conditions.
- Longevity – consider the life of the toy in terms of age appropriateness and physical durability.
- Second hand – can the toy be bought second-hand?
- Reusablity - can the toy be passed on to family, friends or charities rather than throwing out.
- Alternatives – would a toy library membership (approximately $50 per year) be more suitable?
About the Author: Lisa Reid is an eco mum and environmental engineer and resides in Melbourne with her husband Tim and young children Jacob and Edith. Lisa is working to reduce her family's eco footprint by growing her own vegetables, using less chemicals and making her home energy efficient.
CATEGORY: eco toys, green toys, toxic toys, children's toys |
POSTED BY: Laura McIlwaine |
2 June 2012
By: Tanya Fyfe (BEng(Environmental))
Introduce the world of sound and rhythm to your child through homemade percussion instruments
Babies and children love making noise...oops, I mean music! Percussion instruments in particular are fun from an early age and are a great way to develop motor coordination and promote an understanding of cause and effect.
If your baby or toddler hasn’t yet discovered their own drum kit, I suggest you introduce them to the universal drumstick, the humble wooden spoon. For a bit of variety you may like to experiment with a hairbrush or other household items. Or your bub may prefer to just use their hands!
The next step is a providing a variety of different surfaces to bang on so your baby can delight in the different sounds produced. Here are two approaches I have used:
1. Sit your little one on your lap or on the floor, with a selection of saucepans, plastic or metal mixing bowls or other large containers. Demonstrate tapping rhythms on each one – nursery rhymes are a good starting point, or tap along to your favourite music.
2. For a toddler, it can be even more fun to let them wander through the house and find their own drums, for example furniture or different floor surfaces. You may need to start them off with some suggestions, ideally using a drumstick of your own. Naming what you hit is also a good opportunity for language development. Bear in mind that this game can get very exciting and you will need to guide your toddler. To use a recent personal example, ‘No we don’t hit the cat... look, Mummy can make a good noise hitting the floor...’
If you would like to diversify beyond basic drumming here are a few suggestions:
- Bang saucepan lids together
- Make a shaker from any small container filled with rocks, dry rice or similar – my favourite is an empty Milo tin because it is nearly impossible for my toddler to open
- Blow (or make funny noises) through a cardboard tube
- Invest in sustainable musical instruments from Sustainababy such as the Plan Toys Wooden Drum, Tambourine or Xylophone
- Use your imagination to come up with others! We’d love to hear your suggestions.
About the Author: Tanya Fyfe is an eco mum and environmental engineer and lives in the WA Goldfields with her husband Andy and son Billy. The family's aim is to live sustainably and for Billy to grow up understanding where food comes from and how it is produced. They generate solar electricity and have an organic vegetable garden and modest orchard irrigated entirely with grey water.
CATEGORY: musical instruments, cheap, make, baby |
POSTED BY: Laura McIlwaine |
27 April 2012
Given the amount of time babies spend on their backs and tummies in the first few months, it is worth investing in a quality playmat. Add the fact that babies love to chew and snuggle into their mats, a natural or organic option provides peace of mind for parents.
Since my first pregnancy in 2009, I've been searching for an eco-friendly, organic baby playmat. I can now thank creative sisters of French brand Deuz for ending this long time search of mine.
Available in both fuchsia or blue, the Deuz organic cotton baby playmat measures 100cm x 100cm and is machine washable. It features natural wood rings, a removable cover and terry towelling back. Available now at Sustainababy for $122.90.
CATEGORY: buy, Deuz, organic, baby playmat |
POSTED BY: Laura McIlwaine |
23 April 2012
By: Laura Trotta (BEng (Environmental), MSc(Environmental Chemistry))
Photo Source: Narelle Debenham, NaturedKids
Nature play is lacking or sadly absent for many children of today. Increased urbanisation, smaller backyards, parents working longer hours with lengthy commutes, higher electronic screen times and tight schedules of organised activities have all contributed to making the outdoors a restricted place for our young ones.
Parents have the ability to give their children the outside playing opportunities and free play time they possibly enjoyed as a child.
Children are healthier and happier when they have the opportunity to play outside every day. A recent study conducted by the University of Western Australia reported the following positive benefits of nature play1:
- A decreased risk of children being overweight when more nature is present in their neighbourhood.
- Playing in natural environments assists with building children’s motor skills.
- Nature contact enhances children’s learning and development including, but not limited to, children’s personality development, cognitive functioning, attitude and school behaviour.
- Contact with nature, especially during middle childhood, has an important role to play in children’s mental health.
- Children’s manage stress better when they have more contact with nature.
- Time in nature assists the performance of children with ADHD.
- Children displaying delinquent behaviour benefit from nature-based programs such as wilderness camps.
Photo Source: Narelle Debenham, NaturedKids
Teacher, nature playgroup facilitator and mother of three, Narelle Debenham runs NaturedKids an outdoor program for babies to five year-olds and their families to explore and connect with nature in their local area. Narelle also provides training for adults to inspire nature play.
She passionately believes "when regularly immersed in their natural environment, children’s involvement in nature during their formative years guarantees eco-literacy, care for our natural world and environmental sustainability."
Narelle encourages parents to introduce their babies from just a few months old to nature-based activities in the back yard and offers the following nature play ideas for children to enjoy.
Babies
- Make worm stew (mud pies).
- Feel moss, leaves, feathers and other textures.
- Tickle their cheek or tummy with a flower or feather.
- Walk bare-footed.
- Float petals in a bowl of water for a beautiful swirling water play.
- Read stories or enjoy family meals outside.
Toddlers
- Make daisy chains or put buttercups under their chin.
- Play drums. Put a stick inside a large gumnut to make a drumstick and turn some pots upside down for drums.
- Lie on your back under a tree to look at its canopy.
- Lie on tummies to sniff the grass and look for creatures in the “grass jungle’’.
- Make a dinosaur garden: use plastic dinosaurs, grab a potting tray and make your dinosaurs a prehistoric garden with loose materials from the yard.
- Plant a vegetable garden and tend it together.
- Look at raindrops on nasturtium leaves, with tiny magnifying glasses, and roll the drop carefully around the leaf without letting it fall off.
- Make a bird’s breakfast. Grow sunflowers along the fence and then watch when the cockies and parrots come along to eat them.
- Grow sunflowers in a circle then tie their heads together to make a cubby.
- Collect leaves, feathers, seed pods and other natural items from the yard or while on a walk. Put them in a dish or bowl near the front door to create a nature plate to remind visitors of nature.
- Don’t toss your child’s first, or outgrown shoes, away. Instead, keep the memories alive by planting a succulent or other small plant in the shoe and using it as garden art.
- Using a stick, scratch your child’s name, a smiley face, noughts and crosses or other shapes in the soil.
- Let children collect and play with sticks to build an elf or fairy cubby or a home for their small toys.
- Create a collage on the ground (no glue), using leaves, twigs, flowers and other items from nature.
- Fly a kite.
- Find a place to lie under a tree or in a secret place to close your eyes and focus on sounds. Ask children to respond to sounds. For instance, how do they make you feel? This can lead to poetry or discussion on the effect of sounds in a city, why animals use sound and so on.
- Talk about smells as you walk together to raise awareness of the subtleties and effects on feelings.
- Grow herbs, make potpourri and explore why and how plants smell.
- Allow children to make their own mini-landscapes. Encourage them to consider terrain, vegetation, rivers, drainage and so on. The landscape could be modelled on an imaginary place, a place from a story or a real place and could include toys.
- Put on a coat, grab an umbrella and go outside in the rain. Explore how things change in the garden when they are wet and have fun with the puddles.
- Go outside at night and look at the stars and moon.
- Plant seeds or seedlings and, armed with childsized gardening tools, give children the responsibility to care for their garden.
- Read outdoor-themed stories outdoors.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your kids and head outside and you too will reap the benefits nature has to offer.
References
1. Martin, Karen, Dr (Feb 2011), The University of Western Australia, Putting Nature Back Into Nurture: The Benefits of Nature for Children.
About the Author: Laura Trotta (BEng (Environmental), MSc (Environmental Science)) is an eco mum, environmental engineer and founder of Sustainababy. She lives in regional South Australia with her husband Paul and son Matthew. Thank you to Narelle Debenham of NaturedKids for contributing to this article.
CATEGORY: nature play, benefits, child, toddler, baby |
POSTED BY: Laura McIlwaine |