Shades of green: Greening your toy box (Part 2)

Green meter: medium green  

Unplugged. 

Yes, unplugged.  "Unplugging" your child's toy box is a huge step in greening your play life.  Did you know that Americans purchase over five billion batteries each year that create in excess of 146,000 TONS of battery waste?

It is difficult to achieve a completely "unplugged" household, but certainly not impossible.  It is quite easy to unplug an infant or young toddler.  By choosing cloth and wooden toys, especially intricate wooden toys such as the wooden rainbow stacking toy shown, a parent can significantly reduce the plugged-in nature of childhood in today's society.

For infants and toddlers, check out some of the Melissa and Doug First Play line and Under the Nile cloth toys.  Both of these companies, along with many others, provide a line of healthy cloth and wooden toys that do not require batteries.

As children get older, there is a myriad of entertaining and educational toys on the market that inspire imagination and learning.  Imaginarium has a line of solar powered toys that teach about gardening and renewable energy.  Playmobil has an extensive line of PVC-plastic, unplugged toys that are sure to excite the imagination. Select Solar, a UK based company, also offers a wide variety of alternative-energy toys.

As children get older, achieving the "unplugged lifestyle" becomes harder.  However, by purchasing a set of reusable batteries and recycling your battery waste, you can make important steps to greening your children's toybox.