At times in the Canadian prairies it’s tough to find those great natural & open ended toys that many of us believe in (toys that allow children to play…and learn…without getting overstimulated or ingesting nasty chemicals) without paying insane shipping charges and customs fees. We recently discovered a northern Albertan company, Play and Learn Toys, that solves that problem for parents all over Canada. Owner Narissa Singh, a UNB Business graduate, has lived in northern Alberta for nearly ten years and struggled to find Canadian sources for quality toys for her own children. She has chosen to offer a super array of products from some great manufacturers known for their quality & safety, and runs her business out of her home since her tiny town doesn’t have retail space for a store.

Play & Learn Toys carries many products that I’ve seen on European sites and been curious about, so I was thrilled to see that they’re available in Canada now – and being from a mom-run business makes it even better!

My children are absolutely loving their new Stepped Pyramid ($54.99) from Grimms. It consists of a square wooden base filled with blocks in a variety of colours, sizes and versatile shapes. With an open ended toy like this, the possibilities for learning are endless. We now use them daily for imaginative building play and they’ve been castles, rocketships, dragons, post offices, houses and so much more. That’s the thing with great toys – they don’t do the imagining or noisemaking for you, so they can be anything at any time. Grimms’ products are made in Germany of wood and non-toxic colourings.

Another super product the Play & Learn Toys carries is Contina by Bamboo ($29.99). This is not just another sets of blocks. Contina includes a rainbow of colors, black and natural finishes on 100 bamboo sticks which are small and lightweight for children 3 years and up. Combine colors, create a rainbow, stack lengthwise like dominos or pile them high for tons of creative fun. The possibilities are endless with Contina. It’s no wonder that Contina won the Best Toy award from Child’s Magazine.

Join Play & Learn Toys on Facebook.

Save 10% on your order with the code TOP10.

Win it! You can win a set of Contina by Bamboo from Play and Learn Toys. To enter, visit the Play & Learn Toys shop and comment here with another yet un-mentioned toy or item from the shop that you kinda dig. Contest closes at noon mst on February 9, 2010.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

My daughter, until two weeks ago, had never had her nails painted. There just wasn’t a safe enough option for those porous little nails. Sure, there’s toluene & formaldehyde free polishes everywhere now, but the other ingredients are enough to send you screaming & running in the other direction.

We recently discovered Piggy Paint and are now thrilled to be able to paint her nails any time she’s feeling the need for a little extra pink.

It’s got no harsh, nasty chemicals in it – it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone. Check out the difference between Piggy Paint and other children’s nail polish on a styrofoam plate. It’s rather astounding. Piggy Paint is non-toxic, low odour, water based, hypoallergenic, and the fun colours all dry to a hard & durable finish. My daughter absolutely loves having pink nails to match her pink clothing, pink boots, pink coat, pink toys…you get my drift.

We also have some Piggy Paint remover but actually haven’t used it yet because the Piggy Paint wore off fairly quickly. It looked great for about 3-4 days and then came off over the next day or three. Perfect for a little girl who would hate for me to use remover on her. We didn’t cure it with a blow dryer as they recommend, and just put on two coats. I honestly wouldn’t want polish on my child that lasted for much longer, so she and I absolutely loved it. It’s going to make it much easier to change colours regularly as well. When we do need to use the remover, I’ll use it without reservation because it also is made from natural ingredients, is low odour, acetone-free, hypoallergenic & biodegradable.

Piggy Paint was founded by mom of two Melanie Hurley and is made in the USA. Natural & safe products for kids that are still sparkly & fun? Piggy Paint is just the kind of product and company that Opinionated Parents love to recommend and support with our own hard-earned cash.

Save 15% on your Piggy Paint (including sale items) with the code OPINIONATED15L until January 31, 2010.

Win it! Comment below before noon mst on December 24/09 with your favourite Piggy Paint shade to win a $15 gift certificate!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

TOP fave EcoBaby Canada isn’t just for eco-babies. Canadian mama of four, Andrea, carries a large selection of products for the green-leaning mom as well. Andrea is running for the Savvy Mom Entrepreneur of the Year and I happen to think she totally deserves it!

I’ve been checking out the LunaPads intro kit (Canadian made too!) It’s an introductory kit that allows you to try both pads (for light and average flow) and pantyliners (for daily needs or very light flow). It contains 1 Maxi Pad, 1 Maxi Liner, 1 Maxi Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pad, 1 Mini Liner, 1 Mini Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pantyliner and 1 Teeny Pantyliner in assorted colours. It sells for $57.99 and can save both you and the earth in the long run. Just think of the money you spend on feminine hygiene products between the teen years and menopause, and how much of it ends up in our landfills and sewers. If we get our young women started with eco-friendly products like those available from EcoBaby Canada, so much of that could be prevented.

I’ll admit I was a little leery of using these (and I’m still terrified of the Diva Cup!) but actually they’re pretty darn awesome! They can just go in with the regular laundry (not your cloth diapers – Andera says the flannel can make them pill) and come out just as good as new. If the thought grosses you out, be flexible – a little goes a long way when it comes to being green. Use a LunaPads liner with a regular tampon or Diva Cup, or even just use them on light flow days. Every little bit helps!

We’re giving a Luna Pads intro kit away to one reader (worldwide) courtesy of Eco Baby Canada. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on August 31, 2009.

CANADIAN residents, get TWO extra entries! Please go VOTE for Andrea in the Savvy Mom Entrepreneur of the Year contest – leave your email address (the one you voted with) in the form with your second comment and you’re entered two more times.

Additional entries are always available in T.O.P. contests. See contest entry information and rules.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

We love classic wooden toys and, though our house is still overrun by plastic, we try our best to find and buy as many non-toxic items as we can.

Our latest fave is the Maple Landmark Spinny Speller from Canadian company Go Green Baby. It consists of three four-sided blocks that spin to make 3 dozen simple consonant-vowel-consonant words. It’s great for developing and challenging early reading skills, is constructed of hardwood construction and is 5″ long. It’s recommended for children aged 3 and up. My three year old son digs his, and though he can easily read all of the word sit makes he still has fun creating rhyming words and is trying to teach his sister how easy it is to sound out words and create word families – that alone is worth the price! It’s only $9 so makes an easy & inexpensive addition to your preschooler’s toybox, and a great addition to a birthday or Christmas gift.

The Spinny Speller and so many more cool things are available from Ontario based Go Green Baby.

Win it! We’re giving away a Spinny Speller to a randomly selected reader. To enter, visit Go Green Baby and let us know one or two of your favourite items or things you’d like to see reviewed before noon mst on August 19, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

With Earth Day having just passed, there’s no better time than now to introduce you to the Etsy shop of Ruth Smith, a Winnipeg-based Canadian working mom of two, PeriwinkleDzyns. Ruth got tired of seeing all the obsolete electronic components go into the garbage at a local factory and was industrious enough to rescue them, combine them with her jewellery making skills and create her line of upcycled e-waste jewelery.

Her custom original geekery lanyard is the coolest geekiest. It’s 44″ total length (adjustable to your specification) and has a sterling plated chain around the back of the neck for comfort. It’s very sturdily made of new resistors (never in contact with solder or circuit boards) that have been rescued from going to the landfill. It comes equipped with a 0.75″ key ring for your keys, pass card or whatever you need to have within reach. She makes some cool jewelery that’s less function and more fashion as well. I love this one and this one.

Another cool find in Ruth’s shop are the vintage pinback 1.25″ buttons made by her daughter Kendra. She uses words from vintage dictionaries and thesauri to create these cute accessories which she sells for just $2 each, keeping the books out of the recycle bin, increasing her vocabulary and learning basic business skills all at the same time. What a great venture for an obviously smart little girl!

We love a find that allows you to have it all – shop online, support a mom, support a kid and protect the earth.

Win it! We’ve got BOTH of the pictured items up for grabs – a yellow geekery lanyard and a full set of Charlie Brown dictionary buttons. To enter, visit the PeriwinkleDzyns shop and come back to comment with your fave(s) that were not mentioned in this review. Contest closes at noon mst on May 1, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Even here in the great white north, we get a lot of sun. Enough that our little ones’ noggins need protection, and wouldn’t it be a shame if that protection wasn’t fashionable?

How cute is this? A bandana for your baby! Not that my baby has any hair to keep out of her eyes, or works up much of a sweat in her Exersaucer, but she looks super hip with her baby bandana from Tsitah Threads on!

Tsitah Threads was founded by a new mom with a “desire to outfit her babe in comfort, happiness, and cheetah print”. This cute little bandana is 100% cotton and has a Velcro closure to allow for adjustable sizing. My daughter who is 7 months old not only looked adorable in her bandana, but had no trouble keeping it on. Just beware of the other children around that may try to snatch it from your baby’s head! Tsitah Threads currently makes these fashion statements for infants 0-12 months as well as a newly released toddler size. Organic cotton is available as well. They come in a variety of patterns and colors, so check at www.tsitah.com for your faves.

Be aware that the baby ones do fit a tad on the small side so if you have a baby with a large cranium or who is over 6 months old, you may want to grab a toddler size.

Tsitah Threads. Quality designs inspired by Earth & made in Canada. - By Susan

Win it! We’re giving away a baby girl bandana from Tsitah Threads on size 0-12 months. To enter, check out the Tsitah Threads site and come back to comment with your favourite fabric style. Contest closes at noon mst on January 30, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Thanks to the Home Depot, we’ve been warming up our home this season while cooling down our heating bills, and you can too. With their help, we upgraded the energy efficiency of our home by installing CFL light bulbs throughout the house, replaced a ton of caulk and weather stripping, replaced our furnace filter, installed dimmer switches throughout the house and installed a new programmable thermostat. We could have done more if we were made of time and money but we feel great having done what we did.

The installs were, for the most part, self explanatory, but when they weren’t (or when we were just afraid of electrocuting ourselves or burning our house down) Home Depot was there for us. They offered us access to master tradespeople, but with the quality of help available online we didn’t end up needing them. Scroll down on this page to see some of the great videos we used to help with our installs, and check out the Home Depot podcasts too.

Home Depot carries over 1500 Energy Star products and over 900 EcoStar products to help you save energy & save money in your house. Click here to see the ten great ways to save energy in your home.

Win it! We’re giving away a $100 Home Depot gift card good at US stores only so you can save energy too. (You don’t have to be in the US to win, you only have to be able to get there to shop!) Home Depot gift cards are a great idea for the do-it-herself-ers and handymen on the gift lists, so you decide whether you keep it or share the love. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post before noon mst on December 19, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Natural Creation is a Canadian company that hand-makes all natural products for women. It was founded by two doulas, Chelsea LaFrance and Emily Baxter. They specialize in products for pregnancy, labour & postpartum, as well as babies. In addition to making organic cotton and hemp ring slings, Natural Creation offers natural solutions for nausea, headaches,exhaustion, varicose veins, stretch marks, perineal healing, stress, teething pain, cleaning and more. All of their products are made in small batches to ensure quality and freshness and are vegan and free of synthetic perfumes, colours, and preservatives.

As someone who cleans almost exclusively with vinegar and baking soda but often yearns for something that smells a little more pleasant, I was thrilled to discover Tea Tree Clean – a mixture of tea tree and lemon essential oils in purified water. The mixture is naturally antibacterial, antiviral, and deodorizing. While it’s technically labeled “for diaper bags,” Tea Tree Clean mist is awesome as a hand sanitizer or for cleaning change pads or toys. It’s perfect for wiping down shopping carts & restaurant tables, doorknobs and almost anything that could use a little bit of a clean up. It smells great and wonderfully clean, and the lemon lightens the strong tea tree scent just perfectly. The 120 ml glass bottle sells for $15.95 – a great deal since I’ve been using it many times a day for a few weeks and have barely made a dent in it.

Win it! We’ve got a bottle of Tea Tree Clean up for grabs. To enter, leave a comment on this post letting us know some of your other fave products from this page. Contest closes at noon mst on November 25, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

As a green-ish primarily organic mama, it’s often hard for me to find exactly what I need locally. My next turn is always the internet but I refuse to pay shipping from another country unless I absolutely can’t find it here. (Also, there’s almost always a free shipping code somewhere. Check here.)

Now that I’ve discovered the Canadian online shop Nayla Natural Care I can find almost anything I need in one place and support a Canadian family at the same time.

The TruKid products available at Nayla Natural Care are some of my new favourites and they’re all available at Nayla Natural Care for very reasonable prices. (And when you spend $150 they ship for free. You could fill your whole family’s stockings in one fell swoop!)

The Hero Stick is the newest permanent addition to my arsenal. It’s a soothing stick for bumps & boo boos packed with herbal remedies that have been used for centuries to nourish the skin & fix owies. I can officially sell my stock in Spiderman bandaids. Hero Stick to the rescue!

Happy Face & Body Lotion is a very lightly fruit scented lotion that’s perfect for toddlers. The scent is attractive enough to get them to sit still for an application but not strong enough to repel the parent that’s putting it on. It’s thick enough to be moisturizing but light enough to be used any time of the day or night.

The Spiffy Spearmint Lip Balm is a great before bed lip soother for these windy fall days. It’s enhanced with spearmint essential oil which is slightly cooling and also contains Stevia so it’s sweet enough to make the mint attractive to the little guys. As opposed to bubblegum – ew.

Win it! We’re giving away one of each of these great products to one randomly selected winner. To enter, visit the Nayla Natural Care site leave a comment on this post mentioning at least one other item you like before noon mst on November 5, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

My kids love applesauce. Don’t they all, really? From first foods through the childhood years, applesauce is a great food. We buy huge glass jars of organic sauce to avoid plastic and other nasties (and to avoid having to make it myself too often – ugh) and then we deal with the consequences of messy shirts and flinging spoons. At least, we used to. Smashies are Smashies are the first organic squeezy apple sauce pouches for kids with no added sugar or HFCS. They’re certified USDA organic, kosher, gluten free and contain no animal bi-products. I actually wasn’t able to taste the samples that we received because my son wouldn’t let me. I’d say that’s a good sign. He loves the taste. I love the convenience, the lack of plastic, sugar, HFCS & pesticides. We all love Smashies!

Sadly, they’re not in stores yet but if you pay shipping & handling they’ll send you some for free! I sure hope they end up in Canadian grocery stores sooner than later because my two year old asks for them regularly.

Win it! A ten pack could be landing on your doorstep. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling us your favourite easy, healthy kid snack or meal. Contest closes at noon mst on November 3/08.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

As Halloween approaches, I am thinking more and more about the crap that we feed our children in the name of obesity cancer heart disease diabetes bad habits fun. In great moderation, of course, candy is perfectly fine but there’s also interesting debate about the ethics of the major candy producers. So much so that I don’t feel I can purchase mainstream candy and feel good about where I’m putting my money. However, I also don’t want to be the family who hands out raisins (thought in my heart that’s who I am) because eggs just don’t look good on my house. This year, in addition to some chips for the big kids and playdough for the little ones, I’m going to hand out snack packs of Snikiddy Snacks. Remember them?

They’re delicious, organic, totally-almost-guilt-free cookies and snackies that are available in individual packages perfect for trick-or-treating ghouls & goblins. And Spidermen. And princesses. My personal fave are definitely the Chocolate Chippers but my son & daughter love the Banana Nibblers too.

The only problem? Keep them under lock and key or there won’t be any left on October 31.

Win it! Snikiddy is going to send an assortment of sample snacks to one lucky commenter – just leave a comment on this post before noon mst on October 27/08.

Additional entries available – up to four per person. See contest entry information and rules.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED.

When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to spend my days making mud pies, running & crawling through prairie fields & avoiding worms while jumping in puddles. In a sad turn of events, many of today’s children not only suffer from nature deprivation but they now, more than ever, need to start their environmental education early in order to save our strained Mother Earth.

Luckily, new company The Little Environmentalists has just released the first in their series of children’s books addressing just that. Nature Discovery In My Back Yard is geared for preschoolers & early readers. It follows a little girl as she explores her back yard and discovers what is out there to see when she just takes a little time.

The book sells for just $6.95 and is available from The Little Environmentalist. You can also print this sheet to go along with it.

Win it! We’ve got a copy of Nature Discovery In My Back Yard to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 5 pm mst on October 27, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Some of our long time readers may remember my review of the Wrap N Mat from February 2007. With the shift toward green living becoming larger (yay!) every day, it’s time to revisit this great invention which is now available from the new-ish Vancouver-based Canadian boutique Lavish and Lime.

Lavish and Lime carries only the Wrap-N-Mats with the phthalate-free LDPE lining (the same material as plastic sandwich bags but a thicker grade to ensure re-usability) and carries a selection of the nicest available fabrics. I’m especially digging the dots fabric (pictured at right) for it’s decidedly not bright and ugly style. These fabulously green reusable sandwich wraps are not only great for sandwiches but also for muffins, crackers and other snacks. When opened they provide a clean place to eat that can be brought home, washed in warm water and re-used for an entire school year. At a price of $7.50, you’ll not only be doing your part to save the earth but you may even be saving money if you’re not buying as many costly ziploc bags.

Save 10% at Lavish and Lime with the code TOP