Essentials for Summer: Buddha Boards

According to one of Canada's leading online sources for Canadian moms, Savvymom.ca, our Travel Buddha Board is a must-have favourite summer essential.

The Savvymom.ca writers say the handy laptop style water painting buddha board is good for entertaining the kids on airplanes, car trips and on rainy days.

Why did it make their list of essentials for summer? "The Buddha Board is covered with a special material that allows you to paint on it with plain, old water. No mess, no waste, you paint with the special fillable water pen, enjoy your creation and then when it dries, start again. It’s very zen and the laptop-style with folding cover and pen holder is perfect for travel. ($25, available in blue or red at lavishandlime.com)"

The Travel Buddha Board is ideal as a travel activity in the car for those longer road trips.

At Lavish & Lime, we particularly like the 'no mess, no waste' bit plus the fact that there's no chemicals or toxins involved.

The buddha board also comes as the larger Laptop Buddha Board in five great colours with a bamboo brush and in a handy pop-in-your-purse smaller gift size, the Mini Buddha Board.

The Travel Buddha Board Water Wizard is available at Vancouver-based eco boutique Lavish & Lime. For more ideas about summer 2010 essentials, including natural sunscreen and natural DEET-free insect repellent, visit Lavish & Lime. If you have any thoughts or ideas about buddha boards or water painting in general, please leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!

Get Together: It's Family Literacy Week

We love reading with the kids - whether they read to us or we read to them - and this week there's even more reason to snuggle up with a good story. Family Literacy Day was yesterday, January 27th, which officially makes this Family Literacy Week.

The purpose of Family Literacy Day is to encourage families to read and learn together, but literacy is about more than just books. There are lots of ways to strengthen literacy skills. Reading, writing, playing a game, following a recipe or even singing a song all help prepare children for challenges ahead and sharpen skills for adults.

Encourage writing with animal print pencils made from recycled newspapers or yummy-scented smencil newspaper pencils. Strawberry notebooks made of sugarcane or a pretty pink book made of recycled paper and vegetable-based inks make great Valentine gifts.

Our My First Brain Box memory recall game is a great option children aged 4+ - and with each game taking just 10 minutes, it's great for time-crunched parents too. The eco version of the classic Monopoly, Earthopoly, is an excellent way to encourage both eco awareness and literacy among kids 6+.

With the chilly weather outside - a nice warm throw, a cup of hot chocolate - with marshmallows - and a favourite story are always a great way to spend time together and learn to love to read.

For more eco-friendly ideas to encourage literacy, visit Vancouver-based eco boutique Lavish & Lime. If you have any thoughts or ideas about Family Literacy Day or literacy in general, please leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!

Easter Gift Ideas + Beet Bunny Cupcakes

It's a just a week until Easter and most of us are thinking about a little chocolate and perhaps a gift that lasts beyond Easter morning.

For kids, how about a green rabbit insulated lunch bag, little yellow chick purse or an adorable keepsake bunny sculpture that's individually signed by its Canadian artist?

We also spotted this fantastic recipe on Vitamin Daily to keep the little ones busy - and happy - and had to share it. A friend has a book filled with loads of recipes where you can squeeze in different veggies to make sure the kids are getting all the nutrients they should. This is a cupcake recipe like that - and it sounds yummy! It's definitely made it onto our next-rainy-day-must-try list.

Beet Bunny Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup margarine or butter (softened)
1 ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs 3 oz dark chocolate
2 cups pureed beets (5 medium beets)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Method
Boil beets until soft and then place in blender and pulse until smooth puree forms. In a mixing bowl, cream ¾ cup butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, mix well. Melt chocolate with remaining butter, stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Blend chocolate mixture, beets and vanilla into the creamed mixture (it will appear separated). Combine flour, baking soda and salt, add to the creamed mixture. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers and fill ¾ full. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.

Finishing Touches
Use a simple butter cream icing but cream cheese icing would also be delicious. To make a bunny face simply sprinkle coconut over the icing, cut large marshmallows in half and decorate with pink sprinkles for ears, and use little candies to create the eyes, nose and cheeks.

For more great Easter gift ideas, visit our online boutique Lavish & Lime.

Kids' Activity: St. Patrick's Day Craft

It's spring break. Unless you're one of the lucky ones who've managed to sneak away to sun or snow, you're probably like us. Trying to keep the kids busy to avoid hearing those two terribly guilt-inducing words 'I'm bored'.

If you've already given games a go (Bug Balance is a favourite), survived the inclement weather with your Nature Bag (gets them outside and away from the TV, as shown) and have already put together all the activity kits in the house (have you tried the Green Science Robobug from a pop can?) - then perhaps you'd like to try this.

It's a simple craft with minimal tidy up. And it's timely - a way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day since the kids won't be doing it at school this year. Our girls really enjoyed it. Hope your kids do too!

Shamrock Rubbings

Materials

• Sandpaper
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Paper

Directions

1. Cut shamrock shapes out of sandpaper. Use different grains of sandpaper and cut the shamrocks in several different sizes.
2. Tape the shamrocks to a table.
3. Show your child how to place his paper over the shamrock and rub with the side of a crayon to get a Saint Patrick's Day design.

Visit Lavish & Lime for toys, activity kits and other ideas for kids to enjoy.