Store-bought Play-doh, which consists of a mystery list of ingredients and comes in individual little plastic containers, is more expensive than homemade. It’s easy to make a non-toxic version with a few common pantry items. I like to leave it white instead of coloring it, but below you’ll find how to use natural ingredients to color your play dough. If you roll it out, cut it into shapes, and bake them like cookies, you can even paint your creations. Try a batch today and see what your youngster thinks.

Edible Play-dough

Two Play-dough recipes

I found these recipes here.

Rubbery Play-dough

2 cups baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cornstarch

Mix with a fork until smooth. Boil over medium heat until thick. Spoon onto a plate or wax paper.

Nature’s Play-dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon cream of tartar
beet, spinach, and carrot juice

Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the dough with your hands until of proper consistency. You can use the un-dyed version or divide it into balls and add a few drops of the vegetable juices to make green, pink, and orange.

Or maybe you’d like to try a scrumptious edible play-dough recipe. I’ve included a picture for inspiration. (Remember that eating it yourself is not required.)

For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

One thing I wondered when I was pregnant was what everyone was carrying around in those huge diaper bags.  I observed moms and dads dragging around overstuffed bags bigger than the carry-on luggage I’d use for a weekend trip.  What the heck did they have in there–fully cooked meals, extra outfits, an entire package of diapers?  I didn’t get it.  And I must admit, I still don’t.  I’ve been a mother for over two years now and have never carried around a diaper bag. 

During my daughter’s first six months or so, I didn’t bring anything with me on outings I knew would last just an hour or two.  I mean, I seriously didn’t bring anything for the baby: not a diaper, a book, a toy.  If I was planning on being gone for longer, I would tuck a Zip-loc bag into my purse. The Zip-loc would contain one extra diaper, another Zip-loc for the wet diaper, and a little baggie with two or three wipes.

Now that my daughter is older, I have to be a little more prepared on outings.  I still use the same Zip-loc/diaper system, but I’ll also bring a small book, a little snack, and a cup.  This all fits in the bag I’d normally carry around–a regular bag, not a diaper bag.

I know diaper bags don’t have to be gigantic pink bags appliquéd with teddy bears and ducks.  Hey, there are even some stylish, eco-friendly bags out there, like this messenger bag (pictured) I found on Zoe B Organics.  I wanted to avoid an extra purchase, and I never minded being diaper-bag free.

But I still want to know: what do YOU keep in that jumbo diaper bag?!

Like some cloth diaper users, I assumed that disposables were the best option for nights, but felt conflicted about chucking them into the trash just to buy us a bit of rest.  I posted about the battle between my exhaustion and my eco-guilt here.

A few weeks ago Roscoe solved the problem himself by wetting through his disposables two nights in a row.  Erin, Wendy, and Alissa all submitted comments to my “Nighttime Diaper Dilemma” post that recommended using a pocket diaper with extra inserts.  In sleepy desperation we gave it a try.  The result was blissful slumber and a clear conscience!

Although I was originally a staunch supporter of prefolds with covers, I have come to love our pocket diapers for their convenience and aesthetic appeal. A pocket diaper consists of a diaper cover lined in a moisture wicking layer.  There is a pocket between the outer cover and the liner where you insert a long terry cloth pad to soak up moisture.  Since you insert the pads while you’re folding the laundry, it makes for a more convenient diaper change than prefolds. 

The only downside is that you have to wash the entire diaper every time.  With prefolds you can often just rinse the cover so that it can be used again.  Since we’re trying to lighten the laundry loads we do around here, we use prefolds during the day and save our pocket diapers for nighttime use.

We use three main brands of pocket diapers, all of which I love for varying reasons.

Fuzzibunz: These are legendary among cloth diaper users and have gained increasing popularity in recent years.  My favorite features of Fuzzibunz diapers are their snaps.  Roscoe can’t pull them open himself and they adjust for a variety of waist sizes.  These are a hot item at resale shops and can earn up to half their retail price when sold used.

Happy Heiny’s:  This innovative diaper design adjusts with snaps in the front so that it fits baby for a variety of ages.  You can use the same diaper for babies from eight to thirty pounds and the Velcro is tough enough to prevent my son from being able to take off his own diaper. Happy Heiny’s pocket diaper in cow print is beyond cute!

Bum Genius:  These diapers also adjust for babies from 8-30 pounds and use Velcro for the waistband.  They are great quality and would have a high resale value. They come with two inserts: one for daytime and thicker one for nighttime use.

There are many, many more pocket diapers out there but these three are the only ones I’ve tried so far.  I’ve been impressed with their effectiveness, but mainly I’m just happy to be getting a bit more sleep and feeling a bit less guilt.  We’d love to hear about your nighttime cloth diaper victories!

The “Dirty Duds Bag” by Bumkins was an impulse purchase for me.  I was tired of packing plastic sacks into Roscoe’s daycare bag and relieved to see that someone else had thought of an easy solution.  After I bought it I almost headed back to the store.  $12.95 for a bag that I could easily sew myself?  (If I had a sewing machine and any extra time.) Plastic is free!  Still, it seemed unsanitary to recycle plastic bags after they had been filled with Roscoe’s poopy diapers and I didn’t want to take the time to wash them out and wait for them to dry. 

I’ve actually found our wet bag to be incredibly helpful.  We rinse it out in Roscoe’s leftover bathwater each night, hang it up in the bathroom and find that its extremely lightweight, waterproof fabric is dry by morning.  It never smells and its fun print is easy to find in the depths of his diaper bag.  The bag can hold about ten cloth large cloth diapers, which is just right for our needs. 

The only complaint we have about our “Dirty Duds Bag” is that the drawstring doesn’t close as tightly as I’d like.  I’m not sure if this is unique to the bag we have or if it’s a design flaw.  We end up cinching it as tightly as it will go and then wrapping the string around the top to ensure that it stays completely shut.

Rebecca came up with a thriftier solution by using a dry bag that she found at REI for less than ten dollars.  Her bag is waterproof, holds over a weekend’s worth of diapers, and closes shut by rolling the top over and clasping it with a buckle. She takes this bag to her daycare and even on weekend trips, easily storing her daughter’s diapers without stinking up the car.  The dry bags at my small, local REI were all around $30, but you can find the cheaper versions at larger stores or online.  If you can, check out fabulous used outdoor gear shops like Next Adventure in Portland, Oregon, to find pre-owned dry bags.

Whatever solution you choose, don’t do what I’ve done on more than one occasion.  It’s no fun discovering that you’ve forgotten to empty the bag the night before, leaving the diapers to “ripen” overnight.  Pew!  Please let us know what eco-friendly solutions you’ve found for storing soiled cloth diapers on the go. 

Because I have a small house and harbor illusions of leading a “minimalist lifestyle,” I wanted to limit the amount of baby gear I bought. When I was pregnant, I kept wondering if I really needed all this stuff: a wipes warmer, a bouncy seat, a swing, a white noise machine, a mobile, an arsenal of how-to-raise-your-baby books, a travel crib, a baby monitor? (The list goes on, but you get the point.) How was I supposed to know? Every time I’d consider not getting something, the consumerist girl scout in me would decide that I just wouldn’t be prepared without it.

After fretting over each purchase or non-purchase for a good three or four months, I had a breakthrough: Yes, I can live without (fill in baby doodad of choice here). And if I can’t, I can always get it later. That’s right! Contrary to popular belief and the aforementioned girl scout motto, you do not need to “be prepared” for every possible baby emergency. Not sure you need a bouncy seat? Don’t get one until you do. You may find, as I did, that you can indeed live without it.

Every parent’s list will be different, but here’s a list of gizmos I never had. My daughter is over two now and hasn’t suffered from deprivation. (She can always sort it out later in therapy, if need be!)

Bouncy seat. My baby slept in a Moses basket for the first six months of her life, so if I needed to set her down, I put her in there.

Baby monitors. Because our house is so small, there is no way I wouldn’t hear her if she cried.

Wipe warmers. We use cloth wipes dampened with a squirt of water from a squeeze bottle. Our baby never seemed to care that the wipes weren’t warm.

Swing. We actually broke down and bought a swing after a week or two of sleepless nights (and days). Unfortunately, the swing didn’t help at all, so it went right back to the store. Joy and her husband made the same sleep-deprived decision, with the same result!

Exersaucer. I knew I didn’t want this huge plastic contraption in my house . . . so I didn’t get one.

Glider. First of all, I find this piece of furniture hideously ugly. Second, I have at least two chairs with a rocking motion. I never missed having a gliding rocking chair.

You may be tempted to register for as much as possible so generous friends and family can pay for it. Remember you can always ask for gift cards if you find the need to stock up later. I didn’t feel like I was scrimping by not buying every item on the Babies-R-Us registry list–I felt resourceful, and my house remained blissfully clutter-free.

When my belly was bulging with baby, I imagined my newborn gulping breast milk from the clearest, most rigid plastic bottles that I chose, thinking that the ones that appeared closest to glass would certainly be the safest.  Months later as I read through the latest research, I was surprised to find out that my instincts were wrong. 

In fact, the rigid plastics used to make some baby bottles and almost all Nalgene bottles have the highest risks of leaching toxins.  (Nalgene will be pulling their BPA-laden bottles soon.)  On Friday, Canada’s health and environmental ministries announced that it will ban the use of bisphenol-a (BPA) in plastic products because of health concerns.  Read here for further details on Canada’s landmark decision. 

Since BPA actually mimics hormones, its use has been linked to possible neural and other health disorders.  The risk goes up if the plastic is repeatedly being exposed to very hot water.  Luckily we don’t have a dishwasher (never thought I would say that!) but we were repeatedly putting hot milk into the bottle and washing it in scalding water.   

After trying more flexible plastic bottles that are supposedly safer, I became concerned when they began to cloud.  Since clouding can be another indication of leaching, I finally switched to a Born Free glass bottle. 

It took awhile for my son to adapt to the new nipple shape, but he now loves it.  The cost is a bit more than other options (around $16.00 each) and the manufacturer recommends replacing the nipple every three months. Since a two pack of nipples cost around $7.00 each, I have to admit that I haven’t been able to bring my frugal self to make the investment in regular replacements.  Roscoe just has a small bottle once a day before bed, so I think he’ll be fine.   (One side-note: Many people wean babies from bottles altogether at one year.  We’re still breastfeeding here and doing a bit of bottle feeding.)

There are, thankfully, far more plastic and glass options out there now than I ever realized that are all BPA, PVC, and Phthalate free. This link has a wonderful array of mainstream and niche brand bottles that are safe for baby with links to the companies’ websites.  Our favorite source for the latest on other non-toxic baby products such as sippy cups and pacifiers is The Soft Landing Blog. 

Ironically, now that I’ve finally figured out a solution to our bottle-feeding woes, I’m about to start weaning.  Knowing what I know now, I would have bought the glass bottles in the first place and avoided several unnecessary purchases. What BPA-free bottles do you use, where did you find them, and how do you like them?  Thanks for filling us in on the best bottles for green babies.  For more tips from Rocks in My Dryer’s Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival, click here. 

We’ve really tried to limit the toys littering our home.  Why then does it seem that clean-up time takes longer and longer each day?  There are blocks spilling onto the carpet, books stacked precariously around Roscoe’s room and wheeled vehicles strewn about our house at the end of every single day. 

That’s why we LOVE bubbles.  They disappear just as quickly as they appear.  And, they’re so very cheap!  You can mix up your own batch with water, dishwashing soap, and a few drops of glycerin. (Available for a few bucks at your local pharmacy). You probably know that just water and soap will work, but the glycerin will help create better bubbles that last a bit longer.  Look here for several bubble recipes and here for suggestions on what to do with the bubbles, including using a hula hoop and a kiddie-pool to make huge ones and a fly swatter to create a blizzard of tiny bubbles.  You can also use pipe cleaners to make simple bubble wands for little environmental and economic cost.  Have fun!

Roscoe Prefers Mouth Frothing Over Bubble Wands

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, go to Rocks in My Dryer.

Green Babies, Sage Moms will appeal to eco-curious types living on the Upper East Side in their Jimmy Choos rather than the canning-mung beans-in-their-Birks set.  Author Lynda Fassa takes readers through pregnancy, the baby’s arrival, and the subsequent years with baby, identifying harmful toxins and replacing them with organic products.  So while there isn’t much on reducing your baby’s carbon footprint, there are many great product recommendations for getting started on your household detox mission.

Fassa looks at pregnancy and early motherhood as times when we have a heightened awareness about our bodies and the world around us.  We all know we should watch what we eat when pregnant.  But what about the toxins lurking everywhere, ready to taint the very world we live in?  Page after page we learn about the toxins in everything around us.  Toxins in cigarettes, soft cheeses, sushi.  Nail polish, nail polish remover, hair products, pesticides, milk, fruit, vegetables, grains, wine, blush, mascara, foundation, lipstick, hair dye, perfume, drain cleaners, air fresheners, antibacterial soap, oven cleaners, furniture polish, rubber duckies, plastic toys, teethers, baby wipes, lotions, creams, crib mattresses, disposable diapers, conventional cotton, fertilizers, ground water, fish, deodorant, vaccines, drawer pulls, paint, floors, school buses, park benches, and playground equipment.

Despite this rather daunting and exhaustive list of no-nos, Fassa maintains a cheerful tone, somehow avoiding fear-mongering or paranoia.  Perhaps it’s the liberal use of exclamation marks or the disclaimers she adds before some of the more terrifying discussions: “Warning! Scary Information to Follow.”

At times I longed for less reminiscing on Fassa’s career as a model or her husband’s childhood Alpine ski trips and more advice relevant to my life as a mother trying to make greener choices.  Case in point: She includes just six pages discussing diapers but devotes thirty-six pages to organic beauty treatments we can enjoy during pregnancy without harming ourselves or our “beautiful baby bump.”

Still, Green Babies, Sage Moms is an excellent resource for eco-friendly products.  As the founder of Green Babies, an organic cotton clothing company, Fassa has years of experience with organic baby gear.  The end of each chapter contains “Evergreen,” “Pea Green,” and “Spring Green” options for greening your life in baby steps.  There is a small list of “Green Goods” at the end of the book, but no index, which makes using this book as a resource guide difficult.

Do you have hundreds of miniature socks, pants, and pajamas oozing from your closets?  Before my baby was even born, I found myself with more baby clothes than I knew what to do with.  My daughter never even wore half of the adorable little outfits I’d folded and stored in her dresser.  Many of the clothes never fit (short-and-wide onesies didn’t work on her tall-and-skinny frame, for example) or weren’t appropriate for the season.

The clothes my daughter wears fit into two drawers on her dresser.  (The third drawer is reserved for cloth diapers and diapering paraphernalia.)  Everything else gets relegated to the dreaded basement.  Although I’ve written about the ersatz landfill that my basement has become, I’ve managed to keep the baby clothing archives relatively organized.

Limiting my daughter’s garments to just two drawers helps me weed out the old and make room for the new.  I can usually find what I need because I don’t keep all of her clothes–outgrown, unsightly, off-season, or impractical–in a closet.  If the clothes aren’t in the two drawers in my daughter’s nursery, they’re in one of the following labeled boxes:

Outgrown (keep).  Once she’s outgrown something I want to hang on to, it goes here.  If I were super-organized, I could subdivide this category by size, so if I had another child, I could easily find what I needed.  Too bad I’m not super-organized!

Too Big.  At my baby shower I received clothing in sizes ranging from newborn to twenty-four months.  Anything that doesn’t fit her right now goes in the “too big” box.  Now that my daughter is over two years old, she has fewer items in this stash.  When she was smaller, I kept her too-big clothes organized by size.  It gets a little confusing because you’ll find that your kid will fit in all sorts of sizes at one time.  My daughter can fit in everything from three to twenty-four months!  (Don’t the pants in this photo fit like a dream?  No?  Okay, into the “Too Big” box they go.)

Giveaway.  Clothes that my daughter outgrew or never wore for some reason might go in this box or the next box.

Sell.  I live next to a bustling consignment shop, so I try to store the nice clothing I don’t want to keep in a “clothes to sell” box.  Once I have forty items (the limit at my shop), I take it over and get credit to spend on secondhand clothes and toys.  If I were super-organized, I’d subdivide this category by season–no consignment shop wants a heavy winter coat in June or a Halloween costume in December.

As a part of my spring cleaning efforts, I’m going to rifle through my daughter’s wardrobe, arrange everything in the correct boxes, and make a trip to the consignment shop.  With my store credit I’ll fill in any holes that may exist in Audrey’s wardrobe.  I think she needs a summer-weight power suit for casual play dates and some understated accessories to herald the spring.

For more green spring cleaning tips, check out Nature Mom’s Green Spring Cleaning extravaganza.  If you have any clever ways to organize your baby’s clothes, post a comment and tell us about it!

Whether he officially has a cold or not, Roscoe seems to always have a slight glaze on the narrow space between his nose and mouth.  Since traditional tissues use only virgin forests to create their products and recommend against recycling after use, we wanted to find a greener option.  The recycled tissue products on the market cost just a few cents more than mainstream brands, but I was seeking out the eco-friendliest (and thriftiest) option. 

The answer came from my friend Valerie, who used lacy cloth handkerchiefs with her one-year-old daughter’s frequent colds.  To keep track of the tissue while her toddler busily explored her world, Valerie tucked the hanky into the back of her daughter’s waistband so that it fluttered off behind her like a quarterback on the field. 

Now Roscoe has his own set of handkerchiefs and I love them!  They’re softer than tissues, washable, and very helpful for quick face-wipes as well. Most of the time they can totally handle the slime that he generates, although I have occasionally resorted to recycled tissues when he has bad colds that turn his nose-goo into interesting colors.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, our hankies can handle the gunk.

I know that in my grandparents’ generation everyone used handkerchiefs and even prided themselves on their elegant designs.  Other thrifty green parents turn those flannel receiving blankets into handkerchiefs for their children.  Roscoe’s come from a discount store, have never been ironed, and aren’t particularly attractive, but they do the trick!