Hippyshopper

Modern Nursery Nest highchair becomes a regular chair

There's nothing like a baby highchair to take the style out of your hipster pad (assuming the baby hasn't flung nappy-contents all over whatever style you had left after sixty hours' labour). Modern Nursery solves this with the Nest High Chair which starts out as a slick (but still eminently functional) baby chair, and repurposes, with removal of only a few screws, into a booster seat suitable for 2-4 year olds, and then a regular small chair to take your sprog up to age 6. Angelina Jolie has one, so you'll not be surprised they cost $570 USD. [GT]

Nest High Chair [via Curbly]

More kids stuff

Review: My Daddy is a Pretzel

Kids are super-bendy so yoga should be right up their street. It isn't the most accessible of activities, though... right?

My Daddy is a Pretzel is a light-hearted look at yoga from Barefoot Books, which may be just the way to introduce yoga to the smaller members of your family.

You can also buy a bendable 'Mr Pretzel' figure (who, let's face it, will be better at demonstrating the positions than most of us) and a box of Yoga Pretzels - 50 cards with quick activities, games and positions.

The book links familiar concepts to yoga postions, using fabulous illustrations to show exactly how to do each one. It is a colourful, charming book that introduces yoga to children (and bah humbug adults) beautifully.

The Yoga Pretzels box takes the idea further, with loads of ideas like Elephant Breath and 'Yogi Says'. I particularly like 'Special Place', which my six year old can use when she is feeling anxious.

My Daddy is a Pretzel (hardback) is £10.99, Mr Pretzel is currently £3.99 on special offer, while the box of Yoga Pretzels will set you back £9.99.

Related stories: YogaBugs | Reviewed: Green Parenting book

Petit Papillon baby sale

Baby goods, not babies... The Petit Papillon winter sale includes the blue pixie hat shown here, which is hand-knitted and only £9. But if your budget is a little bigger (or even if it isn't and you're going to pretend) see the Cosmopolitan Style Pure Merino Wool Blanket & Cap Set, done in broad creamy stripes of soft lamb wool. Normally £130, on sale for £90. [GT]

Petit Papillon winter sale

More Kids stuff

What's Rubbish? Game for small recyclers

I reckon the best way to teach your kids about ethical living is to set a good example. However, there is nothing wrong with hammering home the message through the medium of play.

Orchard Toys's What's Rubbish? is a board game that teaches children which items can be recycled - and a dash of maths, too.

Related stories: The Green Board Games Company | Better than Monopoly | CO2FX: global warming game

TITAN hanging cradle

Toss those complicated baby cribs with the slats and mats. The TITAN hanging cradle is a simple pine tripod with a cotton-slung basket hanging in the center. It's not the most stable furniture so it won't do once your baby can sit up on its own, but nor will it take up that much storage space then either. Overall size: width 142 x height 250 to 270 x depth 122cm. £309. [GT]

TITAN hanging cradle

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Beat the January blues with Little Errol

What I need during these dark, rainy days, is a constant, friendly and, above all, cuddly companion. Yes, I know I've got two kids, two cats and a husband, but I feel I need to make an addition to the family... I want a Little Errol.

Although I'm not entirely certain why. Perhaps it is because he is hand-crafted from reclaimed blankets, or perhaps it is his vacant, but somehow ultimately reassuring expression. I think, however, it might be because the current owners (ecocentric) urge me to: "Personalise him, accessorise him and repair him when he wears thin to create a loyal, lifelong companion."

Related: miYim organic cuddly toys | Organic veggies you can cuddle

Zubbles brings colour into bubbles

It was supposedly scientifically impossible to make bubble solution that could have colour aside from the typical rainbow spectrum that we're all used to, but the fellas at Zubbles have them coming out this spring in vivid purple, yellow, green, orange and red.  Non-staining, the colour disappears as the bubble hangs around, so you don't have to worry about your kids turning rainbow (or your carpet).  Outdoor biodegradable fun for when it warms up outside (should it ever cool off!).  [GT]

Zubbles [via Spluch]

Related stories: The Great Ethical Toy Guide | Tree House toy from Natural Collection | 2006 roundup #33: Kid toys of the heirloom (Automoblox) or recyclable (Ectopia cardboard fort) variety

gDiapers are flushable nappies

I swore I'd never write about nappies again but the gDiapers are just too good. Disposable, flushable, 100% biodegradable, no perfumes, no plastic, no ink, dye or garbage. You insert a padded liner into the exterior pants, and when it's, ah, done, you just unsnap it, tear it open, and pop it down the loo. There's a little swizzle stick so you can break it up in the bowl if need be, but considering the alternatives (disposal of a dirty nappy or carting around soiled cloth ones) you'll want to learn more about these. And they're pretty. [GT]

gDiapers

Related stories: Site of the week: Cloth Nappy Review, I love you | Plush Pants: a Cloth Nappy Library | Green Baby alternative for eco-nappy fans

2006 roundup #24: Cloth nappies (and Plush Pants) get easier to deal with

Disposable nappies result in millions of tonnes a year in landfills, of organic material wrapped tightly up in plastic, which means it is definitely not going to biodegrade properly.  That said, no mother is going to give up the convenience of disposables without thinking twice - not to mention the energy consumed in cleaning the cloth kind and the difficulty of finding the right one for you.  The Plush Pants cloth nappy library and Cloth Nappy Review both provide some terrific assistance on that front.  You put down a deposit with Plush Pants and they lend you up to 3 nappies at once.  When you buy, then your deposit is applied to your purchase.  This way you get to be totally sure they do what you need.  However, you can streamline the process even more with a visit to Cloth Nappy Review, a great site that took the whole cloth nappy search out of my tired hands (having chatted on everything from the No Excuse! Cloth Nappy Campaign to Wam-Bamboo nappies to Green baby alternative nappy options to Lollipop silk nappies).  Four years ago when I started looking for material like this, it was really difficult, but now there are some great niche sites with deep analyses of specific green lifestyle issues.  [GT]

Original stories: Cloth Nappy Review, I love you | Plush Pants: a Cloth Nappy Library | No Excuse! Cloth Nappy Campaign | Wam-Bamboo nappies | Green Baby alternative for eco-nappy fans | Lollipop reusable nappies in cotton and silk

Tree House toy from Natural Collection

Natural Collection has a lovely new range of wooden toys, made by a multiple award winning manufacturer, who has also been awarded the SA8000; a social accountability standard.

You can enjoy these toys with a clear conscience, as the  international certification covers worker's pay and conditions, as well as prohibiting the use of child and forced labour.

They also use lovely non-polluting water-based paints, latex glues and absolutely no PVC in their packaging - which is made from recycled materials.

The rubber wood used comes from trees that have ceased yielding latex, and thus need felling in order to replenish the plantations.

The toys are imaginative, too, with this gorgeous tree house alongside the more traditional Noah's Ark and rocking horse.

Related: Ethical toy guide | Holz wooden toys | Organic veggies you can cuddle

2006 roundup #33: Kid toys of the heirloom (Automoblox) or recyclable (Ectopia cardboard fort) variety

Teaching your kids to think green starts shortly after they're born, but it'll be fun with options like Automoblox and recycled cardboard toys like the Fort from Ecotopia.  They span both sides.  Automoblox are heirloom quality and meant to really last, as well as provide a variety of options (you build the car out of the blocks, then drive it; when you get tired of the car you take it apart, and can then build a new one).  Cardboard toys are meant to be disposable, so they're inexpensive, give your children a ready surface on which to express themselves, and can be recycled yet again when this life is over.  [GT]

Original stories: Recycled cardboard fort from Ecotopia | Automoblox: build your own wooden car

Nice Toyshop sells nice toys

Boy, these Fair Trade Rag Dolls from Nice Toyshop (which pretty much establishes what kind of toys they sell; emphasis on fair trade, handmade, high quality, heirloom) look like 21st century Raggedy Annes, by which I mean they're still soft, cuddly and happy looking, just a little shinier. They're all hand-done in Sri Lanka and available in about a dozen options of blonde and redhead. £12. [GT]

Nice Toyshop Fair Trade Rag Dolls

Related stories: Organic veggies you can cuddle | The Great Ethical Toy Guide | Timeless wooden Holz Toys

Organic veggies you can cuddle

This crate of organic veggies ain't for eating. 'Well then, what is their purpose?' I hear you ask.

For shame, they are for cuddling and for squishing and for giving to your children to breed a positive attitude to (cuddling) vegetables from a young age, of course.

Made from organic, fairly-traded cotton, they are ethically-sound as well as undeniably cute. From Under The Nile. 

[Via TreeHugger]

Related stories: Fair Trade toys | Holz Toys | Myriad Natural Toys

The Great Ethical Toy Guide

The Independent reports that the Ethical Consumer Research Association publishes their guide to ethical toys this month, in time for Christmas. The guide"marks toy manufacturers on factors as diverse as animal testing, workers' rights, supply chain policy, responsible marketing, product sustainability and contribution to pollution and toxins."

According to the article, a report coming out later this week reckons 25 per cent of shoppers will take into account ethical issues in buying gifts. Of course, there's a leap from considering ethical matters and actually acting upon those considerations but it's a start.

The top five ethical toys as rated by the guide are:

Lanka Kade Toys: Brown girl doll (£9)
Green Board Games: Alpha Animals Family Board Game (£20)
Holz Wooden Toys: Wooden Pirates (£39.50)
Jumping Frog: Zoetrope Moving Image set (£5.11)
George Luck Puzzles: Farm and Field Puzzle (£10.85)

Although it's not on the list, I'd also recommend the miYim organic toy I posted about last week (Annabelle Lamb pictured above).

You can see more details on the guide in the Independent article or you could always subscribe to Ethical Consumer magazine and read that instead.  Ethiscore.org also has more comprehensive details online.

Related stories: miYim Organic Toys | Litegreen - Green Shopping Directory | Oxfam Ireland Online Fair Trade Shop | Tree Shop, for the person who has everything | 2006 Ecorazzi Green Celebrity Gift List | Pandaboo - A Bamboo Game

Yogabugs - yoga for tots

Toddlers too young for yoga? Not any more...

Yogabugs classes are designed for children between the ages of two and seven. Traditional yoga postures, breathing and relaxation techniques are taught through stories and games, that aim to capture the child's imagination, as well as maintain their natural flexibility.

According to Yogabugs, there are around 40,000 children taking part in their classes around the UK and Ireland, enjoying the benefits of yoga such as improved coordination, concentration and energy levels.

So there you  have it; you are never too young to start saluting the sun.

Related story: eco yoga mat

Spaceframe Sculpture Kit for your kids, yeah, that's it

Declared one of the top 25 best products of the year by Fortune, the Spaceframe Sculpture Kit is so freaking cool looking that you'll be trying to figure out how to build your own fort. Made from 100% recyclable polyester, it's basically a giant polyester (so washable and unlikely to injure) building set that can be turned into a fort, playhouse, or just a giant green indoor sculpture. Each kit contains 4 big panels, 4 small panels, 4 large trapezoids and 8 small trapezoids. Obviously you can buy more than one kit and allow your child to, as they say, "develop urban planning skills at an early age" - or maybe build a fort big enough for yourself. $170 USD. [GT]

Spaceframe Sculpture Kit

Related stories: Modular 5-Instrument Child's Percussion Table | Automoblox: build your own wooden car | Lessons in Play: simple high-craft toys

Modular 5-Instrument Child's Percussion Table

Five for the price of one - a set of xylobells, wooden xylophone, three-tone chime, drum practice pads, and a cymbal - and all human powered, the Modular 5-Instrument Child's Percussion Table is an elaborate way to make sure your child's got rhythm. Or, if you're buying for your godchild, and are a little miffed with the parents, there's nothing like a Russian birch percussion set complete with chimes and cymbals to get your sentiments across. $350 USD. [GT]

Modular 5-Instrument Child's Percussion Table

Related stories: Myriad Natural Toys Chromatic Glockenspiel | Timeless wooden Holz Toys l Lessons in Play: simple high-craft toys

Nixie Clothing Autumn/Winter '06 collection

Yes, there is something slightly familiar about the aesthetic of the Nixie Clothing Collection Autumn Winter for 2006 - the basic sensibility harkens back to designs perhaps from 1976, or even further back into the recesses of the pre-GT era. The Butterfly Dress design has flag-like sleeves that can either be wrapped snugly about the arm (during a snowstorm, perhaps) or let to "flow loose like wings". [GT]

Nixie Clothing Collection Autumn Winter for 2006

Related stories: Tatty Bumpkin bamboo clothes for kids | Site of the week: Cloth Nappy Review, I love you | Sweet Lilac Long Sleeve Organic Tee from Globalkids

Pandabo - A Bamboo Game

If you don't know by now that bamboo is destined to be the oak of the 21st century... I'll have to get to you through your children. With Pandabo - A Bamboo Game, kids pile brightly painted bamboo sticks on the outstretched paws of a chubby, contented looking panda with the object being to never be the one to put on the stick that makes the panda fall over. Ages 4 and up. At £12 it's eminently affordable and looks like a simple but addictive game (as well as a way to introduce your young'uns to the green sphere at an impressionable age). [GT]

Pandabo - A Bamboo Game

Related stories: Automoblox: build your own wooden car | Alternativekidz: no ads, no merch, just 'positive possibilities' | Timeless wooden Holz Toys

Tatty Bumpkin bamboo clothes for kids

Tatty Bumpkin has now branched out - in a limited edition way - into providing "cloud soft pj's" made of Hippyshopper's favourite fabric: bamboo. Each Bamboo pyjama kit comes with their own little drawstring travel bag and is available in sizes from one to eight, in coral, ecru and sky blue. £20 per set. There's also matching bamboo bedlinen, consisting of a single sheet, pillowcase and duvet cover with coconut buttons, in an embroidered Relax bag. £65. [GT]

Bamboo pyjama kit

Related stories: Albatross renewable linens and towels | Site of the week: Cloth Nappy Review, I love you | Buy a Bamboo pullover, save a Panda

Automoblox: build your own wooden car

Automoblox are an heirloom quality, award-winning spin on the building block or the Erector set.  Built from solid wood with real rubber tyres, the idea is to let your child build his or her own toy car (and the girls are specially targeted with the pink is the new black nonsense) - and then play with it, of course.  Available in seven varieties and "engineered to last".   $35 USD.  [GT]

Automoblox [via Spluch]

Related stories: Myriad Natural Toys | Timeless wooden Holz Toys | Lessons in Play: simple high-craft toys

Myriad Natural Toys

Myriad Natural Toys is a family run mail order business specializing in hand crafted organically shaped natural wooden toys, plant dye art materials, craft supplies, books and musical instruments. One such instrument is this Chromatic Glockenspiel with 20 tones, handcrafted from maple wood.  Not only is it a great alternative to the typical school instruments (aren't we all sick of the recorder?) you know it's made under fair trade conditions, unlike a lot at the entry level.  Plus, they're just pretty.  [John]

Myriad Natural Toys

Related stories: Timeless wooden Holz Toys l Lessons in Play: simple high-craft toys l Fair trade toys are magic

Truuuly Scrumptious Organic Baby Food

I would like to make a joke about Truuuly Scrumptious as having a name as bad as the food is good - if the awards are any indication, given they picked up gongs at the 2002 Organic Food Awards and again in 2004.  However, you can find out for yourself at The Baby Show London, 20-22 October at the ever-popular Earl's Court.  There you can taste the Truuuly Scrumptious and make up your own mind.  (Please note that although a joke was threatened, none was deployed.  Stand down.)  [GT]

Truuuly Scrumptious

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Site of the week: Cloth Nappy Review, I love you

I write about cloth nappies all the blasted time.  I don't even have children!  I do it because nappies comprise a hideous amount of landfill waste and the search for alternatives is imperative.  Sweetly, however, the job has been lifted from my bent shoulders, by Maisiemog of Cloth Nappy Review.  She's gathered up dozens of cloth nappy options, from Hempresto hemp nappies to Supa Dupa with microfiber.  Like a nappy, the site may not be glamorous, but it's packed with, er, the goods.  Well done, Maisiemog.  [GT]

Site of the week: Cloth Nappy Review

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Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth

Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth by Lee Welles, Ann Hameister (illustrator)
Daisy World Press, £8.94 from Amazon

The idea of Gaia Girls is, four girls are each somehow endowed with the power of one of the elements, with the implication that they eventually start working together to fight eco-crime. My aunt Kathy, who refused to let us watch Get Smart because it was "too violent", would've bought the whole set (projected to be seven). The book itself is tree-free from Daisy World Press, and distributed by Chelsea Green Publishing, distributor of all manner of leafy green texts. Chelsea Green has piles of excellent eco-texts and is well worth a visit. If you're in the Boston area 20-22 October, you can check out the Chelsea Green authors in person. [GT]

Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth | Chelsea Green Publishing

Related stories: Breathing Earth: carbon and population simulation | Meaningful Consumption: the interview | Change the World for a Fiver

The Fun Chair your child is supposed to draw on

Like Ella before, I'm pretty keen on cardboard furniture, and think the Fun Chair is a great idea for a kid's toy. It's a small, folding chair of plain brown recycled cardboard, costing £19.50 at Green Apple, which is designed for your child to decorate to his heart's content. Which, at risk of invoking Valkyries of Protest, sounds pretty steep for a disposable kid's toy; Susie would probably be just as happy with a cardboard wine shipping box (very sturdy and usually white) that you told her was an ottoman for her to decorate. (Though it might not be recycled then, so much as repurposed.) [GT]

Cardboard Fun Chair

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Sweet Lilac Long Sleeve Organic Tee from Globalkids

Great Magnet, this moppet is darn near intolerably adorable down there where she is. She's wearing the Lilac Long Sleeve Organic T shirt from GlobalKids, which is on a crazy-good sale, reduced from £20 to £13, and even comes with a four-sheeter on how to do basic yoga. Fair trade, natch. [GT]

Lilac Long Sleeve Organic T shirt

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Organic fleece Grembo baby sleeper

The nice thing about the Striped Color Grown Grembo Bag - aside from that it's pretty and lined with organic fleece to keep baby cozy as well as safe from any of those brutal cotton pesticides - is that the zipper is at the bottom, so when your sprog does anything, ah, overly organic, that you don't necessarily want to carry around with you, you can just pull up the zip, change, and away you go, without ever pulling little Carlotta or Beelzebubba out of their snoozing sack. If only they came in adult size, and I could wear them to happy hour. $58 USD. [GT]

Striped Color Grown GREMBO BAG

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Daniel Galvin Organic Hairjuice for babies

Daniel Galvin Jr may charge £310 for a coiffure, but if you think your baby will just outgrow it in two days anyhow, you might be better off with his Hairjuice baby shampoo.  No SLS; natural lavender, ginger lime or chamomile scent (and others) which is intended to leave your baby 'calm' as well as clean.   Though, this review at Ciao indicates the ingredients aren't as pure as one might like.  Has anybody used it?  £3.49-£4.99.  [GT]

Daniel Galvin Jr Hairjuice baby shampoo [via CelebrityBabyClothes]

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Clean Slate school uniforms

If you want more than the usual school uniform, Clean Slate offers fair trade, organic cotton clothing that otherwise conforms to the school requirements.  Side pleated skirts for girls start at £12.50 and polo shirts for boys at £13.  [GT]

Clean Slate organic, fair trade school uniforms

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Wam-Bamboo nappies

The evidence that bamboo is the perfect plant continues to grow as fast as bamboo itself.  Latest point of reference: Wam-Bamboo nappies.  Bamboo is naturally antibacterial, making your baby less likely to develop diaper rash, and as smooth as whipped silk without being quite as expensive as silk nappies.  £8.25 per nappy.  [GT]

Wam-Bamboo nappies [via Treehugger]

Related stories: Plush Pants: a Cloth Nappy Library | Green Baby alternative for eco-nappy fans | No Excuse! Cloth Nappy Campaign

Uniform2 lets you buy, swop or give away old school togs

Kids grow fast.  School uniforms don't.  Ergo, there's a burgeoning supply of barely used school uniforms out there.  Uniform2 has made a nice nexus for these, enabling you to locate second-hand blazers, books, bats and bassoons!  Use of the site is free; sponsored by uniform makers Aitken & Niven.    [GT]

Uniform2

Related stories: A Remarkable poll | Recycled back to school kit

Plush Pants: a Cloth Nappy Library

Finding the right cloth nappy is difficult enough that it's nice to have an option to experiment. Plush Pants has a cloth nappy trial scheme where you can check out up to two of each kind of nappy at once, try them for a while, and then exchange them for others. This allows you to be sure of what your particular needs are before you sink a lot of quid into a given type. [GT]

Plush Pants cloth nappy trial scheme

Related stories: No Excuse! Cloth Nappy Campaign | Green Baby alternative for eco-nappy fans

Kari-Me baby sling: five poses, no straps

Having seen the Snugli and it looking useful but a little tricky, the Kari Me looks like a comfortable and versatile alternative.  90% cotton, with no buckles, the Kari Me can go in five different positions (front with baby facing your tummy, front with baby facing out, baby on your back, baby on your side, nursing pose).  It can also carry up to 15kg of baby (or toddler; it's rated for a child of up to four years old.  Whereupon it expires.).  Available in six colours, for £38. [GT]

Kari Me

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Baby the new baby with a New Baby Basket

What do you get the newborn that has everything? How about a basket from New Baby Baskets? NBB specialises in beautiful yet practical items that have been specially chosen for their unique quality. Wherever possible, they stock organic, chemical-free, fair trade and environmentally friendly products. Shown here is the Girl Gift Basket, containing Soothing Magic Cream for rashes and windburn, No Tears Body and Hair Wash with waterlily flowers, and a fashion plate ranging from a pink embroidered hat to pink embroidered booties. There's also a bunny and a bear, so she can make her own choices as she grows up. [GT]

New Baby Baskets

Related stories: Eco Crib l Mini-organic baby goods l Lollipop reusable nappies in cotton and silk

Alternativekidz: no ads, no merch, just 'positive possibilities'

A bimonthly zine for hippyshoppers-to-be, Alternative Kidz is 24 pages without ads or merchandising.  It focuses on the positive possibilities of a junior child's day-to-day life with no inappropriate reference