A “Green House” for my Green Girl December 18, 2009

My daughter turned 2 years old this week and leading up to her birthday, I looked all over for a doll house. Most are geared for 3 year olds. I didn’t want to get her something too simple that she’d grow out of soon and then feel the need to replace it with a more sophisticated one  later.

So here’s what I did instead!

I bought this Plan Toys Modern Furniture Set, which is made from all natural organic recycled rubber wood, but left out a few pieces in the doll house due to its size.  My thinking is that these pieces are ones that a child of any age would enjoy playing with. There’s two additional sets pictured – the Plan Toys Doll House Nursery and the Plan Toys City Casual Family of Four.

The house itself? Well it’s pretty “green” too since it’s from a recycled box. If there comes a point later on where she wants an actual doll house, I didn’t add a simpler one to a land fill and saved some money along the way. I’m really hoping Green Girl lives up to her name and continues to like this one though!

I know all of you have great imaginations! What have you recycled into toys for your little ones?

Zhu Zhu Pets unsafe? December 6, 2009

CNN is reporting that the consumer group, Good Guide, has found unsafe levels of antimony in the popular toy Mister Squiggles made by Zhu Zhu Pets.

Mister Squiggles by Zhu Zhu Pets

Dara O’Rourke, co-founder of GoodGuide, said, “We found levels of about 93 to 106 parts per million. The new federal standard is about 60 parts per million.” According to Good Guide, antimony can cause cancer, lung and heart problems.

Bruce Katz, a senior vice president of Cepia, told CNN: “They do not contain high levels of antimony in any way.”

UPDATE: Jennifer, The Safe Mama, has expressed her feelings on faults in the testing that the Good Guide used. You can read about it here.

UPDATE December 7, 2009: The Good Guide has issued a press release stating they used the wrong testing method, as was stated by The Safe Mama.