Last weekend we attended the Stringybark Sustainability festival in Rowville, Victoria and I really wanted to share some photos with you all as it was one of the best child friendly eco festivals I have ever been too!

It was absolutely huge (over 20,000 visitors last year) with so many different areas of interest to visitors, all focusing on the same theme - sustainability!

There was a fantastic fair trade market area and I got to meet so many wonderful and inspiring business owners, all doing their bit to help make our world a better place.  There were handmade crafts, entertainment, music and dancing, a low impact children’s fairground, roving performers, native animal displays, fresh produce market and cooking demonstrations and heaps of eco and recycled activities for kids.

We made it a family event (as we always do!) and enjoyed the festival atmosphere while watching my daughter learn so much about her amazing world!

Learning about native animals and their habitats . . .

Patting a lizard . . .

Meeting a Stick insect . . .

Even an eagle!!

We learnt about the Orangutans and how their environment needs to be protected . . .

There was some great flora and fauna displays for kids . .  . .

And we even managed to stop and do some craft activities from recycled materials!

We ran out of time so took some natural materials back to our stall to play with . . .

Safari was so excited to tell Daddy about all the fun things we did!

Daddy time!

And after all that we still manage to have a quiet moment of play . . .

Sustainable House Day

Around 170 homes will open their doors to the public for this year’s Sustainable House Day as millions of Australians continue to embrace renewable energy, recycling and other practices designed to lessen our impact on the environment.

“Almost 10% of Austarlia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from households. But every Australian can make a big difference to the environment and their wallets through simple, cost-effective, everyday actions. Visit an open home on Sustainable House Day and go to www.livinggreener.gov.au to find out the practical and often easy steps you can take to reduce your impact on the environment as well as your energy and water bills”.

Eco Kids Festival

This Sunday 13th September at Sydney’s Luna Park will be the first ever Eco Kids Festival! This is  your day to be inspired with music,  magic, dancing, singing, face painting,
show bags, video games, solar gadgets, worms and spiders, possums and pythons,
yummy organic food, arts and crafts, clowns, workshops, tree planting, puppetry,
eco-jesters   and  some  of  Australias  best  childrens  entertainment  including
everybody’s favourite - Dorothy the Dinosaur.

Good morning & welcome to the first day of Spring! There’s nothing more satisfying than growing your own veggie garden with your kids. Why not head into the garden today and let them get back to nature?

I remember the sheer delight on Safari’s face the first time she ever saw a worm . . .

Or when she sat in the garden and picked the cherry tomatoes straight from the plant and ate them until she was full.

I remember the feeling of freedom as I watched her playing in the sunshine without a nappy

Or when she got her first gardening set and happily spent all day digging in the dirt.

There are so many benefits to growing your own veggie garden, kids spend so much time in front of the TV or playing computer games that they loose sense of their real world so let them get dirty and enjoy the first day of spring today!

Check out this great link for some organic gardening tips.

Have you ever noticed when you come home from shopping how much packaging you have? Cut down on packaging by buying fresh fruit & veggies (or better still grow your own!). Eating fresh & raw food is much healthier for you. No need to put them in plastic bags either, you can just put them straight into your green shopping bag.

The national climate emergency rally will take place nation-wide on the 13 June 2009.

In December 2009, Governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen to forge a critical new global climate change agreement.

The National Climate Emergency Rally is your chance to secure strong global action to cut emissions in time to avoid catastrophic climate change.

You can make a difference so come and join thousands of Australians to stand up for real and urgent action

Every year World Environment Day is celebrated on the 5th June and this years theme is ‘Your Planet needs You! Unite to combat climate change’.

Here are just a few of some great events that are on tomorrow but for a full list of events in Australia visit the United Nations Environment Program.

Probably the event I would love to be at the most is Greenfest at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens from 5 - 7  June. Its a child friendly free event packed with music, film, food, exhibitions, fashion & workshops. Other events on are the Sunshine Coast World Environment Day Festival, World Environment Day Expo in NT and Green Day out on Sunday 7th June on the Gold Coast. It seems that QLD is the place to be!

For things happening in Melbourne I found this comedy event at the St Kilda town hall on Friday at 5pm for kids which would be great to get to and a swap-a-rama event in Footscray where you take your pre-loved items and swap them for new ones.

I think such events are a great activity for the whole family to enjoy and an opportunity to discuss environmental issues. However environmental awareness starts in your home as you go by your daily activities and demonstrate to your children how to respect and look after our beautiful planet.

These beautifully illustrated Australian cards arrived a few days ago and I am so excited to add them to my store to our new Eco Games category page.

This card game is the idea and work of an inspiring mum in North Qld who wanted to design games that would encourage co-operation and encourage the players to find win-win solutions, when at the same time using environmental themes.

Living Landscapes is a co-operative permaculture game, an educational tool for sustainable living and garden design. We learn how every part of a landscape is connected with its surroundings. Sometimes this is not obvious at first sight: for example, leaves provide mulch matter instead of being considered as an annoying waste,  some insects can be useful as predators on pests, they could provide pollination, or may be food for domestic animals such as pigs and poultry.

These cards are a great game for the whole family to enjoy as it is suitable for both children and adults. They are printed on recycled paper with soy based inks and environmentally safe varnish. Check it out on our store and look out for more eco games for kids coming soon!

There are so many more benefits of  choosing wooden toys over plastic ones that I could write so much on this topic. As parents are we becoming more aware of the safety issues and impact of plastic toys on our our environment? It would be nice to think so but a recent visit to our local toy shop confirmed that the plastic toy industry is huge. Unfortunately there was only a few small shelves (in a large toy store)  of wooden toys.  So what’s so great about wooden toys? Why should you be choosing eco friendly, handcrafted wooden toys over plastic ones?

Wooden toys are a much safer and all-natural alternative to plastic toys as they do not contain toxic chemicals such as PVC (phthalates). This is particularly important for babies who put everything into their mouths when they are teething. Our nature rattles and cherry rattle are a perfect teething toy to give your baby as the wood is naturally antibacterial and is so much more appealing with its lovely textures, smell and of course taste! Our nature and cherry wooden rattles are handmade from fruit trees and other reminant woods and are finished with beeswax which is completely natural and safe.

Wooden toys encourage children to use their imagination and be creative as they build and create endless structures. From simple wooden blocks to arches and more complex play blocks children love creating things.

Wooden toys are durable and biodegradable so they are much better for our environment. Unfortunately plastic toys end up in landfills and do not break down. Wooden toys can be mended if they break and passed down from generation to generation. They are made by craftspeople not toxic, chemical factories that exploit people in third world countries.

Most plastic toys are loud and over stimulating and require children to press a button to hear a sound. This is merely entertaining a child and teaching the child cause and effect. When a child plays with wooden toys they engage in meaningful play, developing cognitive and problem-solving skills. Their environment is calm and they are busy creating, talking and inventing play. I have watched my daughter many times with such delight as she immerses herself in such play.

Educational wooden toys such as puzzles, games or toys that involve stacking, sorting, counting all have huge educational benefits for children as they are learning through play. A toy like the stack & sort Montessori board is not only a lot of fun, it also teaches children about colours, shapes, counting and sorting as well as developing their fine motor and problem solving skills.

And lastly wooden toys are recyclable and environmentally friendly so by giving a child a wooden toy you helping protecting the child’s future.

I want to share with you a favourite little place of mine tucked away in the heart of Brunswick. Its CERES (Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies) which is an environmental park  that has a fantastic organic market on Wednesday and Saturday  mornings.

Safari and I have been going to Ceres for the past year and half on a Wednesday and we always have such a wonderful time catching up with friends.

The organic market area is always buzzing with a warm and inviting community atmosphere. Its colourful, its happy, the musicians play in the corner next to the coffee machine and Safari helps me put organic vegetables in the basket. There are chickens roaming around and a sheep which Safari loves to say hello to.  She makes friends and happily plays with the other kids, amongst the chickens and organic food.  I honestly couldn’t think of a more enriching place for my daughter to spend her day!

After we do our shopping we head down to the Ceres cafe to meet up with friends. Safari loves playing in the sand pit and takes her shoes off so she can feel the sand between her toes.

We sip on chai tea and share  our stories with one another. Today little Charlie was there looking gorgeous as ever and happily chewing on her nature rattle that I couldn’t resist taking a photo.

I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful  network of  women  that meet every week at Ceres. Spending time with them nurtures my spirit and I leave feeling so fulfilled,  like one of them recently said “I come away feeling like I’ve just done yoga!”.

So if you haven’t been to Ceres then you must check it out and if your a parent wanting to meet other like-minded parents then come along on a Wednesday and you’re sure to meet some lovely people and might even see us on the corner table near the sandpit, come and say hello!

Firstly congratulations to Rachel Rose from QLD who is the winner of our April eco hamper give away.

This month we are giving away a free gift for all those lovely mamas out there. All you need to do is spend a minimum of $50 (excluding postage) at Eco Toys and you get a free copy of Barefoot Magazine. This offer is valid for the whole month of May 2009.

Barefoot is an awesome new parenting magazine that focuses on conscious parenting, environmental issues, alternative health & schooling, nurturing our children and respectful communication. It is published in Melbourne and is the work of three dedication mums who want to share their passion and love for children, people and the earth.

I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with Anna, one of the writers and part owner of Barefoot and I just love what they are doing. Plus Barefoot is such a fantastic read, full of interesting articles and information on all the things that are important to me as a parent.

Now for some more exciting news! I have a box full of new goodies that was delivered earlier on today so I’m off to have a play with them. Will keep you updated but remember to look out for our new range of toys coming very soon!