What: Ol’ Macs Story Building Barnyard

Features: Imagination rules with this 95-piece barnyard building set from Sprig Toys! Kids will have a blast building their own farm, and creating a fun storyline to go with it

Green Factor: Made out of recycled Sprigwood, a bio-composite material comprised of reclaimed wood bits and recycled plastic. Sprigwood is free of paint, soluble heavy metals, phthalates and endocrine disruptors

Bonus: This toy is 100% battery-free!

Find It Here: Sprig Toys

What: Bamboo E-Plane

Features: Up, up and away! This wooden toy airplane from Hape is stylish, modern and built to last.

Green Factor: The environmentally-friendly E-Plane is made out of sustainable bamboo and is decorated with non-toxic, water-based dyes

Bonus: All of Hape’s products meet international safety and quality standards

Find It Here: Amazon.com

What: Goodie Boxes

Features: The crowning touch at children’s birthday parties? The goody bags, of course. But more often than not, those bags are filled with cheap, plastic junk from the dollar store that no doubt winds up in a landfill somewhere. Check out this greener alternative: Goodie Boxes!

Green Factor: Each re-usable box is made from recycled cardboard and is printed with soy ink

Bonus: There are several different patterns to choose from and Green Party Goods also carries a great selection of non-toxic, fair trade and earth friendlier goodies to put in your Goodie Boxes

Find It Here: Green Party Goods

What: Pupa Pupa dolls

Features: Available at Etsy.com, these adorable, handmade companions (there are boy and girl dolls, mermaids, fairies and a collection of various animals) are stuffed with 100% sheep wool and sport outfits that, in most cases, are made of vintage or salvaged fabric

Green Factor: The material used for the dolls’ bodies is 70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton, made in a facility that uses neither harmful toxins nor pollutants

Bonus: Because each doll is handmade, they’re all completely unique. Also, Gwyneth Paltrow is a big fan and recently featured Pupa Pupa dolls in her Goop web site’s newsletter

Find It Here: Pupa Pupa

What: Wheely Bug

Features: The Wheely Bug is unisex, durable, lightweight and small – perfect for indoor play. Available in two sizes for children up to fifty pounds.

Green Factor: Made with non-toxic materials and is PVC-free. Each bug’s plywood base is made from renewable plantation timber

Bonus: Winner of numerous toy awards, encourages gross motor skills. Also, choose from a ladybug, a cow, a bumblebee or a gray mouse (complete with big pink ears and a tail!)

Find It Here: Prince Lionheart

What: Wooden tea set

Features: Everything about this tea set from Plan Toys is adorable! It’s thirteen pieces include two cups and saucers, tea bags and stir sticks; there are even two lumps of sugar to play with!

Green Factor: Items from Plan Toys are made out of unfertilized rubberwood that’s kiln-dried rather than chemically treated. This tea set was made using water-based dyes, soy-based inks and non-toxic E-Zero glue

Bonus: Exceeds all international toy safety standards

Find It Here: Plan Toys

From Green Toys comes this sweet 15-piece toolset, a must-have for any budding carpenter. Kids can get right to work with the functional box and variety of tools, and will learn along the way because the hand-held tools bear their names on the handles. Not only is it made in the USA of recycled milk jugs— it’s also BPA, phthalate and lead free and is packaged in recycled cardboard without those super-annoying, impossible-to-undo twist ties. In other words, this is a toy that won’t take twenty minutes and a pair of pliers to open. Just open the box and PLAY! Fab green fact:  For every pound of recycled milk jugs used to make the products from Green Toys, enough electricity is saved to run a television for three weeks, and a laptop for four. Wow—plastic you can actually feel NOT bad about buying!

Find It Here: Lavish & Lime

Cardboard—it ain’t just for boxes anymore.

Well, okay, so it is but these fun, functional boxes from Green Lullaby are a far cry from their boring brown counterparts. Designed for younger kids, MultiBoxes are made out of 100% corrugated, mostly recycled cardboard and are great for storing, stacking and sitting. They withstand up to 110 lbs. and are outfitted with two built-in handles and a sturdy lid. The tops and sides are brightly illustrated with kid-friendly shapes, letters and numbers, and each box is treated with a non-toxic, flame-retardant coating for longevity and durability. Kid appeal, eco-friendliness and hello? Extra storage—all in ONE box.

Find It Here: Green Lullaby

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a web site chock full of organic baby wares at wholesale prices? A site where each product has been researched and reviewed, with a wide selection of organic cotton and bamboo items at discount prices? (Basically, a web site that does all of the legwork, and finds the good stuff for you?)

As it happens, there is a site just like that and it’s called Babblebabies and you need to check it out if you’re looking for organic baby products like bedding, clothing and toys at really great prices.

Babblebabies offers unique products from organic brand names like Sckoon, Speesees, Bumkins, Generation Baby and more. The site is informative and easy to navigate, and the products are cute. Very cute. I’m quite taken with the jumpers (like the Speesees one above), and the Sckoon Organic Cotton toys are absolutely adorable—they’d make fantastic gifts and great lovies for little ones.

The folks behind Babblebabies are always looking out for new, organic products, and they want to hear about your favourite green companies. They’ve even got a Facebook page—post a picture of your wee one wearing gear from Babblebabies and receive a $5 discount. So what are you waiting for? Shoo!

Find It Here: Babblebabies

Because we know just how nasty and toxic a lot of toys can be, we love to feature natural, organic toys, especially those that are handmade with love by someone who truly cares about what they’re putting out there. Our most recent awesome toy find are Swaddle Babies. Each 9″ Swaddle Baby is crafted by mom Priscilla Rose, with organic cotton knit, natural eco-friendly bamboo fiber filling, and a variety of natural and organic handspun yarns. These sweet dolls are custom designed to your specs and personalized with the child’s name embroidered on the tag. A Swaddle Baby is the kind of toy that a child will love and keep long after all the made-in-China junk is gone. And it’s organic. Did I mention that???

Find It Here: Swaddle Babies

Win It: We’re giving away one custom made Swaddle Baby doll.  Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter SW7 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What are the 8 hair colors available for a Swaddle Baby? Enter by 7/15/09. $40 value. Open to residents in US and Canada. Winner will be notified by email. Contest closed. Congrats to Sherri!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve grappled over a gift for a new mom or mom-to-be because I wanted to give them something useful but also non-toxic/green/organic etc. Basically, I wanted to give them the same kinds of things I’d want for my own babies. The problem, however, is that we are a one income family and we have to live within certain budgetary constraints. Translation? I can’t always afford to buy the awesome new baby gifts I want to give. That’s why when I came across the baby gift sets at Lolababiez Organics, I had to share it with you. Not only do they come in a range of prices to suit every budget (starting at $25 and under) but the items in the sets are 1)cute/hip  2)useful (no stupid rhinestone-encrusted pacifiers!) 3)non-toxic/green/organic etc. and come in 100% recycled material boxes. Another item I HAVE to mention even though it’s not specifically green are the doorbell covers printed with messages to let guests know that your baby is sleeping so they don’t ring the bell or knock on the door. I wish I’d had one when my kids were babies. At this point, though, I just want to know why I didn’t think of these first because THEY ARE GENIUS. And lucky you! We’ve partnered with Lolababiez to give you a chance to win not only one of those genius doorbell covers but ALSO a Personalized Gift Set from Lolababiez containing one personalized embroidered organic tee and an organic doll of your choice. See details below!

Find It Here: Lolababiez Organics

Win It: We’re giving away a Personalized Gift Set and a doorbell cover from Lolababiez Organics. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter LB6 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What kind of coupon do you get for signing up for the Lolababiez newsletter? Enter by 6/12/09. $34 value. Open to residents of US and Canada. Winner will be notified by email. Contest Closed. Congrats to Tina!

Note: This week the Great Green Post Awards are launching and we’re giving away FREE ad space in our sidebars to THREE random participants! Learn more here

I know…I’m, like, the LAST person on the internet to gush over the coolness of the Color Me Houses and Color Me Rockets but I don’t care because I think these playhouses made from recyclable cardboard are super awesometastic. Why? Well, mainly because you can play INSIDE them and we all know how much kids like stuff they can get inside. And? They can color, paint and marker them them any dang way they want to, as well. The word on the street is that kids TOTALLY DIG these award-winning, imagination-stimulating and creative play-inducing toys. As a parent, I dig that they take no batteries, use no electricity and contain zero plastic. The only thing that would up the DIG factor for me is if they were made of recycled cardboard and who knows, maybe someday they will. Nonetheless, I’m pretty sure a very special soon-to-be 4 year old will be getting the Color Me Rocket for his birthday next month. Don’t tell!

 Find It Here: Color Me House