DIY Aquarium

A cardboard fish tank...how awesome! Another great DIY project that kids LOVE!! You only need a box, glue, thread and little pieces of colored cardboard paper to make the creatures. Easy, enjoyable and very green!

Source: DikaKids Brazil

Customized Favor Wrappers...Awesome!!

We came across this personalized chocolate wrappers for baby showers, and just couldn't resist. You can download the template, personalize, print and voila!
Print it on eco-friendly paper, and it would be a great green statement. Awesome!

"Buy jumbo chocolate bars (about 5 ounces), then customize wrappers with your name and date.

Before you begin, make sure you have Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed. Then, be sure to save the PDF onto your computer before you begin editing. To personalize, place your cursor on the temporary text and customize it with your own. If you don't want to personalize the wrappers, the temporary text will not appear when you print."

	OH, BABY! (Blue) Download, personalize + print »
	OH, BABY! (Pink) Download, personalize + print »
	OH, BABY! (Blue) Download, personalize + print »
	OH, BABY! (Pink) Download, personalize + print »
	CONGRATULATIONS! Download, personalize + print »
	YOU'RE SWEET! Download, personalize + print »

Source: Yahoo, Rachel Ray Magazine

Salt Dough Sculptures

Salt dough is a fun and green way to make oven-baked clay made of natural materials.Kids can make sculptures, signs, little (or big) animals, pretty much any shape.
Check out this awesome recipe with instructions from Crafting a Green World. Have fun!

Salt Dough

- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
- 3+ cups white flour.

1.Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine one cup salt and one cup of water until the salt has dissolved.

2.Gradually stir in at least 3 cups of flour. To make a stiffer dough that has more structural integrity for three-dimensional sculptures, you can gradually mix in even more flour, as much as the dough will hold without becoming crumbly.

If you accidentally make your dough crumbly, add in a little more salt water at a 1:1 ratio. If your dough is just too sticky, add in a little more white flour.

3. Sculpt your salt dough into whatever shapes you like, putting each finished sculpture on a baking sheet.

4. Bake your salt dough sculptures in a 200-degree oven for at least two hours, and until the sculpture is completely dry. Thicker sculptures will take significantly more time to dry than flat ones.

Source: Crafting a Green World

Good Ol' Milk Paint

Milk paint is organic and safe not only for people, but also for the environment. The ingredients in the base paint are used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, and are all completely biodegradable. Products are free of lead, mercury, petroleum, plastics and synthetic preservatives.

Packaged as a powder, you just have to add water.



Manufactured and sold by milkpaint.com 

Homemade Play Dough Monster!

Parents know that Play Dough ranks very high in kids world. Unfortunately the dyes used by some manufacturers for coloring can be very toxic, not to mention messy! We learned a very easy recipe for a non-toxic homemade play dough, and kids love it.

Play Dough Recipe

- 1 cup organic flour*

- 1 cup warm water

- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

- 1 teaspoon oil

- 1/4 cup salt

- food coloring** (If you’re not into making your own dye, check out these natural, gluten-free, plant-based food colorings from Seelect

Mix everything up except for the food coloring. Add the coloring drop by drop, and get creative!

In a large soup pot, stir the mixture over medium heat until it thickens, trying to squash out any lumps. Remove it from pan and carefully knead it until blended smooth. For the kneading, you’ll want to make sure it’s cool to the touch all the way through before you let the kids play. The surface can feel perfectly fine but have a burny center, so be careful!

Store the play dough in an airtight container when it’s fully cooled. It will last ages if you don’t let it dry out!

*Flour options: If you or your child is gluten-sensitive, try substituting a gluten free flour, like Tom Sawyer All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. You may have to tinker with the recipe a bit, since gluten has some binding properties. Adding corn starch might help.

**Dyes: You may also want to use a natural fixative, like the one described in this post over at Pioneer Thinking to make sure your play dough doesn’t turn your kiddos’ hands (and clothes, and your table) bright colors!

Source: Crafting a Green World