Petit Eco KIDS Guide to green toys, eco fashion, handmade organic baby

2012 · A fresh start and new year intentions

Happy new year friends! After a very relaxing holiday we are back, fully recharged and ready to make 2012 a great year! Nothing like spending time in nature to center and set priorities right.

This year we chose to spend our Christmas break in a beautiful part of Australia, the Snowy Mountains. Immersing ourselves in nature not only helped us to slow down and connect with the landscape and local wildlife but we also got to experience first hand life in a sustainable house. Given that one of our dreams is to one day have an eco house of our own, this was pretty thrilling!

I will write about our holiday on another post soon but I would like to start the year sharing some of my New Year intentions. :-) I like the idea of calling them intentions, like Jessika from Oh My Handmade proposes, rather than resolutions. The fact is that as much as I want things to evolve towards my eco ideals I also want to be realistic and remember that I (as so many of us mums) have a lot on my plate and a gentle approach towards pretty much everything is best.

With that in mind I have decided to give this year a theme to encompass some of my mini goals. The theme will be to reduce waste (that is us below having a go at composting our kitchen waste).

Over the past few years we have done quite a bit in our household to change our habits, buying less, choosing ethical and sustainable alternatives and making sure we recycle as much as we can. But I feel we still have a long way to go on the waste-reducing front. So, I have come up with a plan to tackle waste in different areas of our home and I’ll be sharing updates in this space every month. I have to say I am rather excited as the idea of reducing waste triggers images of a simpler life… And I like that!

 

Eco Fun | Tree Measuring Tape for Kids

Here is a clever little tool to pack inside your kids field bag ready for your next outdoor excursion. This tree measuring tape is the work of designer Nitipak Samsen and translates the amount of carbon stored in a tree (there are different trees to choose from) into the amount of carbon different activities, like plane trips or breathing, emit. A great way to help little ones grasp the idea of carbon emission and capture. And lucky for us it is free to download from Samsen’s website here.

(via Treehugger)

International Painting Contest for Kids · The Sabah Rhino Project

Before my mind switches off into weekend mode I would like to tell you about this really cool initiative. The Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW Berlin) and the Leipzig Zoo have launched the Sabah Rhino Project; an alliance of scientists, creative minds and service agencies aiming to support the conservation efforts to save the last 30-50 Sabah rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni) on Borneo, Malaysia from extinction.

To get the little people involved in this really worthy cause Sabah Rhino Project has launched a fun painting contest.

Kids (up to 16 years old) from all over the world are called upon to paint a picture of their new friend TamTam. TamTam is not only the world’s smallest rhino, as a Sabah rhino Tam Tam can also swim and even sing. He lives in a protected wildlife reserve in Sabah on the Malaysian Island of Borneo. His home, the lowland rainforest, and the animals and plants living there are under threat. Scientists and many local helpers are seeing to it that TamTam and his friends will have a future. They need your help to make this possible: show everyone that you would like tiny TamTam to have a large family and a protected home in the rainforest!

Kids worldwide are welcomed to send their artworks and every month Sabah Rhino Project will select three paintings from all the submissions. The winning designs will be sent as postcards all over the world to drum up more supporters for the project. Each winner will receive his or her own winning design as a postcard set.

You can read more about the Sabah Rhino Project here.

Or like them on Facebook to keep up to date on the latest news.

And take a look at the creative talent of little ones here.

Eco Fun · Sustainable communities

It was a beautiful weekend here in Sydney, probably the first one this spring where it really felt like summer is almonst here. Sunny, breezy and ideal for spending time outdoors.

We headed here on Saturday to celebrate National Recycling Week and had a lovely time making some eco-crafts, taking part in a tai chi class, marvelling at little “compost creating” creatures (aka worms) and learning about a project for a community garden.

A ZOO from recycled cardboard

A bit of fun art to start the week (a VERY late start, I know!). These are the work of Claude Jeantet, a French architect who creates playful objects and sculptures from recycled cardboard.

Via Handmade Charlotte