Oh how the Littles loved it when the new dishwasher arrived in that delightfully big box that provided hours of enjoyment. It was a house or fort or plane, and was so much fun to color on its walls (with no yelling from Mom!).

Soon kids will be back at school eating lunch out every day of the week until next summer. That’s between 172 and 180 total lunches to pack in a regular school year. Just think of how much waste can be reduced by switching to waste-free solutions! Here’s how to get a green start on the school year, with five fun lunch options. Read More

Awesome views, secret passageways, hanging gardens and lush parks–stairways and former trails offer fantastic offbeat city adventures. This is your chance to explore the Bay Area’s hills with a scenic perspective while getting a healthy dose of exercise. Bring along the baby backpack or hike it with older kids who will love the elements of surprise of these two routes. Grab walking shoes, a camera and water bottles too. Read More

We have a good recipe for compost in Compost Stew, a “cookbook” by Mary McKenna Siddals that inspires young “environmental chefs” to feed the earth.  Local San Francisco artist Ashley Wolff illustrated the colorful collage-based images for the book. Wolff’s images coupled with Siddal's clever rhymes detail surprising ingredients to add to compost (teabags, seashells, laundry lint) and other items that should not be included (packing foam, cleaning products, plastic).

Enthusiastic, cycling parents may be discouraged when teaching their little one how to bike ride as it doesn’t always come easy. Don’t give up. Read more for some great tips from Bike Works, a Seattle non-profit that educates  young people about bicycling.

The Studio City-based company (founded by two moms, of course) uses only 100% certified organic cotton. All the artwork is done with water based inks, silkscreened by hand and everything is made locally to keep the carbon footprint light.

Frustrated over how quickly your child grows up and out of their carefully-chosen duds? Looking for a way to rotate in some key pieces without spending an arm and a leg? Read more to learn about this ingenious new idea.