Yesterday I posted the top ten most popular green family posts of 2011. However, in order to have room at the top, some posts do have to hit rock bottom (sad). It always surprises me to see what my readers don’t find interesting.

Still, if you want to be a rebel, and go against popular consensus, you may want to check these posts out. Sure they weren’t the most popular, but in part, that’s because some were new (as in December new). Plus, unpopular or not, maybe you’ll still learn something.

Least popular green family posts of 2011 – from most to least popular

1. What does being a green parent mean to you?
2. Choose Your Green Shade of Grocery Shopping
3. Alternatives to conventional schooling – even for single parents
4. Tips for a less consumer-minded holiday season
5. Signs your child may be overweight
6. Food industry wants to keep BPA in food – big surprise
7. Make the most of shopping at the local farmers’ market
8. Homemade Memory Game Craft Project
9. Why U.S. parents are in denial about childhood weight issues
10. Where to find an organic Halloween pumpkin

Interesting mix. No one wants an organic pumpkin?

I’m running a bit short on time today. Cedar and I got immersed in some Zelda paper crafts, then I had to write a huge debate post for a client. Time got away from me. In any case, instead of something new today, how about something popular to fall back on? One thing is clear, you people REALLY love ice pops, play kitchens and sunscreen.

The most popular green family posts of 2011 (most popular at the top)

1. 50 Amazing Homemade Organic Popsicle Recipes & Ideas
2. Non-Toxic Popsicle Molds for Homemade Popsicles
3. DIY Green Toy – Nine Affordable Play Kitchen Sets
4. Ten cool BPA-free reusable water bottles for kids
5. Stainless Steel Non-toxic Popsicle Molds
6. Only 8% of sunscreen safe – find your best eco-friendly summer sun protection
7. Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide
8. DIY Green Project: Make a reusable waste-free lunch kit!
9. Best non-toxic sunscreen for 2011 – safe sunscreen choices for kids and adults
10. How To Build a Solar Cooker

Enjoy!

DIY play kitchen sets are a great alternative to more expensive, already built play kitchens. Usually, homemade play kitchen sets are more affordable, especially if you re-purpose materials. Plus, you can make a homemade play kitchen as eco-friendly as you like, so long as you choose green materials.

• Safe and eco-friendly play kitchen features.

Aim for materials such as real wood, not plywood or MDF, organic fabric for curtains and of course add eco-friendly play food and play dishes. If you’re at a loss for how to get started on your own DIY play kitchen, see these options below. Each takes some time, but if you get started now, you’ll have your cute kitchen ready in time for a Christmas unveiling.

• DIY Play Kitchen from IKEA Hackers

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from Southern Exposure

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from The Crafting Chicks

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from What Happens at Naptime

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from Happy Hawkins

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from Apron Strings

   

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• Virginia's easy to make Ikea-based toy kitchen

   

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• Jack's Suzy Homemaker Play Kitchen

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from Ana White

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from A Project Hopper

   

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• DIY Play Kitchen from DIY Network

   

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• DIY Play Grocery Store from Domestic Candy

   

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DIY Play Kitchen from IKEA Hackers: This bright and cheerful vintage style play kitchen offers tons of play space plus an awesome window view. I wouldn’t modify with MDF, but otherwise this kitchen is amazing.

DIY Play Kitchen from Southern Exposure: Recycled nightstands and coats of fresh paint, along with some really cool knobs and accessories allow for a fully functional and super cheerful play kitchen.

DIY Play Kitchen from The Crafting Chicks: One of the more beautiful play kitchens I’ve seen, this blue beauty was, incredibly, the builders first project – wow right!?

DIY Play Kitchen from What Happens at Naptime…: This play kitchen safely features curtain instead of cabinets (zero slammed fingers), plus low shelving for younger, shorter kids.

DIY Play Kitchen from Happy Hawkins: See how to transform a $10 end table into a wonderful play kitchen.

DIY Play Kitchen from Apron Strings: This kitchen is tabletop and space saving, plus offers a very unique working burner light. Classic white dishes and knit play food add lots of charm.

DIY Play Kitchens from Ohdeedoh: Ohdeedoh features play kitchens often, but two cream of the crop creations include Virginia’s easy to make Ikea-based toy kitchen and Jack’s “Suzy Homemaker” Play Kitchen, that includes an awesome table component.

DIY Play Kitchen from Ana White: Just beautiful (the stars are an amazing touch). A pregnant mama made this one no less!

DIY Play Kitchen from A Project Hopper: A sweet, gender neutral kitchen handmade by one very cool dad. No in-depth instructions offered, but a good base design in the works.

DIY Play Kitchen from DIY Network: Very in-depth plans regarding building an entire play kitchen. I especially like the little touches on this kitchen, such as the text on the different appliances.

BONUS! DIY Play Grocery Store from Domestic Candy: Domestic Candy is one of the coolest blogs I’ve run into lately. The entire blog is amazing and crafty, but this play grocery store takes the cake – or sells it, as the case may be. This play set is a bit more costly, but it’s so gorgeous I had to share. You can lower costs if you can build a playstand yourself, which is possible,  No in-depth instructions offered, but with a little creativity, and maybe a playstand base, this is entirely doable.

• Also see - DIY Green Toy – Nine Affordable Play Kitchen Sets

Camden Rose is a collective of designers, artists, teachers, musicians, craftspeople and parents who design and sell awesome products for children. From non-toxic rattles to wooden musical instruments to old-fashioned games and blocks, Camden Rose has almost everything you need to outfit a super playroom, including some 100% amazing play kitchen sets.

Camden Rose kitchen play sets cost more than other play kitchens, but it’s because these are high-quality, creatively designed, non-toxic toys that will last for generations. Plus, this company has many green and ethical practices in place.

Currently, Camden Rose sells three different play kitchen products:

Camden’s Play Kitchen – Flat Pack Kitchen: This wonderful eco-friendly play kitchen is crafted from solid ash wood, collected from the thousands of trees infected with the Emerald Ash Borer. Instead of burning or chipping this wood into mulch, Camden Rose saved it and created toys that will last generations.

This kitchen is made in the USA without any plywood, press board, or soft pine. It includes creative accessories such as functional knobs and doors, a swivel faucet and removable high-gage stainless steel sink. Parents will adore the flat-packed shipping to save on space and packaging, along with easy 5-minute snap together assembly.

• $249.99 Camden’s Play Kitchen – Flat Pack Kitchen

A Simple Hearth Play Kitchen with Hutch: This non-toxic play kitchen is recommended for children ages 3 and up and is made entirely of real cherry and walnut wood in the USA.  Designed for multi-generational play, A Simple Hearth is made with zero plywood, particleboard/press board or soft pine. The stove, burner and faucet knobs work flawlessly and smoothly without the use of any metal hardware. The brushed metal sink bowl is made from real heavy gage stainless steel and can be removed for easy cleaning.

Everything about this play kitchen is made for realistic imaginative play. There’s a sliding cutting board that really pulls out 12 inches to allow access for more children. Oven and sink doors operate on self-closing hinges and a partition divides the oven from the sink compartment. The back of the kitchen hutch is open, meaning, this play kitchen may be positioned against a wall or in the middle of a room.

The kitchen is shipped partially assembled so it’s easy for parents. Builders simply slide on the hutch and screw on the walnut handles and assemble the hutch (8 screws and 8 hole plugs) then it’s all ready for your child to cook.

This kitchen is also available as A Beautiful Hearth - same kitchen, minus the top hutch.

• $349.99 A Simple Hearth Play Kitchen with Hutch
• $289.99 A Beautiful Hearth play kitchen without hutch

A Simple Fridge – Play Refrigerator: This fridge is hand-made in the USA with real Cherry, Ash and Walnut wood. Ventilation openings are built in the back of the Simple Fridge and slow self-closing metal hinges are featured on the doors. The fridge arrive at your home fully assembled right out of the box. All parents need do is attach the door handles with the four provided screws (instructions included). This is a perfect add-on to either of the kitchens above.

• $299.00 A Simple Fridge – Play Refrigerator

Camden Rose eco-friendly and ethical standards:

• All Camden Rose products are meticulously hand-constructed by craftspeople, not mass-produced.
• High quality materials, all certified non-toxic, such as stainless steel, wood, pure wool, silk and more are used.
• Almost all Camden Rose products are made in the United States. They also employ Fair Trade workers from a women-owned cooporative near Lima, Peru.
• Products are finished in natural, non-toxic beeswax.
• Each item produced is self-tested for lead content and other harmful chemicals. All products contain levels of lead content far lower or non-existent than the minimum allowed. Also, each and every product is free from materials known to produce phthalates, namely PVC (found in soft plastic or vinyl).
• Camden Rose uses red recyclable plastic netting for many of their retail products.
• All products meet CPSIA requirements.

Look at this gorgeous Wooden Vegetable Set! It’s the perfect accessory for your child’s eco-friendly play kitchen.

Made by Just Hatched, these beautiful wooden vegetables are handmade with poplar, sanded smooth and colored with certified AP Nontoxic watercolor paints. All the gorgeous details are wood-burned and then each piece is finished with a natural homemade beeswax wood polish. This particular set is made just for the buyer and comes with 5 wooden vegetables: Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, Potato and Carrot plus a cotton muslin drawstring bag.

There’s more where this came from too!

Just Hatched carries other amazing play food options as well, such as a lovely Wooden Fruit Set (shown below). You can also purchase wooden food items one-by-one. Check out Just Hatched for the full selection.

Learn more about eco-friendly play kitchens:

• DIY Green Toy – Nine Affordable Play Kitchen Sets
• Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Food
• DIY Play Kitchen Food & Dishes
• Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Dishes & Accessories

+ Just Hatched

Play cooking is super fun for kids, but it doesn’t usually beat the real deal. Most kids love to cook with their parents and cooking is an excellent way to teach green living skills. If you’re looking for long-lasting and useful gifts for the holiday season, cooking and baking gifts can’t be beat.

I love the Children’s Play Baking Set shown above. It’s a perfect kid cooking starter set, complete with a stainless steel bowl, measuring cups, cherry platter, rolling pin, loaf pan, a cherry kitchen Spoon and a cherry Kitchen Paddle. All natural and non-toxic materials.

To see more cool eco-friendly, non-toxic and fun cooking gifts for kids jump to the next page.

• Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food
• Fiesta Head Chefs Silicone Pastry Brush, Blue
• Ateco Stainless Steel Cookie Cutter Sets
• Animal House Monkey Peeler (stainless steel blade)
• Mimi the Sardine Coated Organic Cotton Child’s Apron – Hybrid Cars or Jungle OR bugs or flora / airplane.
• Pops!: Icy Treats for Everyone
• 100% recycled, BPA-free, Preserve Measuring Cups Dry
• What’s New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion
• Fiesta Head Chefs Silicone Whisk, Green
• Tovolo Farmyard Ice Cream Sandwich Molds
• Fred Hot Heads Silicone Insulating Mitt, Dog or you could go with a frog or Pac Man style mitt.
• Wilton Silly- Feet Silicone Baking Cups

You don’t have to spend a lot of green on cool eco-friendly summer toys. You, along with your kids can make a whole slew of eco-friendly toys all on your own, with low-cost eco-friendly or recycled materials. Following are 20 eco-fun, summer toy projects.

• Really neat rock dominoes (shown above) – one of those I can’t believe I didn’t think of that ideas.
• Make a recycled Cardboard Playhouse like the one shown above from Make Baby Stuff, then break out the non-toxic art supplies and let your little one decorate to her heart’s content.
• If you’ve got some tools and are good with wood you can make a working wooden boom crane that little kids will love.
• Kool-Aid dyed play silks – kids love play silks. You can toss them up, use them as doll clothing, use them for dress up fun, or fly around the yard with them swooshing behind you. You can find inexpensive silks at thrift stores OR silk material which takes a little more work because you’ll have to cut the material and mend them, but no big. If you don’t want to use Kool-aid try dying the silks with some homemade juice dye (made from plants).
• Organic finger paint – not freakishly bright, but non-toxic subtle paints you can make with the kids.
• Flying fun with a super slick recycled cardboard origami hang glider.
• Build a Bubble-Powered Rocket – with recycled paper, TUMS and film canisters. This rocket actually lifts off.
• Nine amazing DIY play kitchens and one totally hip homemade oven!

• Seriously amazing homemade baby blocks (shown above)! Use scrap wood or sustainable wood and non-toxic paint
• Start saving toilet paper tubes now and by mid summer you’ll have enough to build a toilet paper tube playhouse. Use non-toxic glue and duct tape to create your playhouse.
• Excellent collection of old-fashioned, handmade toys from Mother Earth News.
• The Perfect Dollhouse: A homemade miniature villa from Family Fun. It’s a tiny, completely custom, recycled dollhouse box. Tidy enough to slide right under the bed. So creative that it’ll be a hit all summer. The sky is really the limit with this project. You probably have tons of recycled bits around the house that will work for this cool project.
• Toy boats made with recycled blocks.
• Make a butterfly house.
• Future directors will adore making a homemade movie wheel – be sure to use recycled paper.
• 100% awesome recycled cereal box houses.
• For baby fun and learning make a beautiful soft book of colors with fabric scraps.
• Got summer pixies? Make some creative homemade fairy wings that your little one can decorate and fly with all summer long.
• Homemade puppet theater – then add some sock puppets.
• After hours and hours of Zelda, I’m pretty sure my son Cedar would faint dead away if I made him this sweet grappling hook – not for irresponsible kids though.

[images via Martha Stewart]

We were just looking at eco-friendly grilling here the other day, and then today (strangely) I came across this totally cute play BBQ set for the kiddos.

This looks like a really fun summer toy for the younger set. This realistic-looking My Backyard BBQ Set comes with a hood that really opens so chefs can check and recheck if their food is grilled to perfection. Also included are two flat burners, a grill surface and an upper rack for indirect roasting. Four knobs allow the grill master to control the temperature over the grill surfaces. A collapsible side table and wheels are added bonus features, while under grill storage allows for you to store all your supplies while not in use.

This wooden BBQ set is shipped flat for low emission travel, and is completely non-toxic with child-friendly paints and finishes. Some adult assembly required and this toy is intended for children 3 years and up.

Right now this BBQ set is pretty affordable at $119.99, but before you buy I’d check the Oompa home page because they often run sales, like 10% off all orders and such.

+ My Backyard BBQ Set

If your little one is a pretend food fan, you might also want to check out…

• Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide
• Eco-friendly Play Kitchen Food
• Nine DIY play kitchen options
• Eco-friendly play kitchen dishes & accessories

It’s time to take a quick get-ready-for-summer break here at Growing A Green Family. In case you missed them, here are some useful past posts that will help you to get summer ready in no time.

Cool off year round, but especially in summer with 50 Amazing Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas.

Build your own solar cooker for camping, backyard barbecues and more.

Benefits of homemade ice pops vs. store-bought ice pops and how to find the best non-toxic popsicle molds.

Find an eco-friendly summer camp stat!

Plant your own organic lemon tree and drink fresh lemonade all summer long.

Kill summer weeds with the first ever USDA Organic weed killer.

Plan some awesome nature adventures with the kids.

Make an eco-friendly DIY affordable play kitchen that will amuse the kids all summer long.

Wash your car water-free and chemical-free – fun for kids if you let them help.

What are you doing to get ready for an eco-friendly summer?

For the last post in our eco-friendly play kitchen guide we’re going to look at eco-friendly dishes, pots & pans, and a few other cool extras for a play kitchen. However, before you spend money on items for your child’s play kitchen, you should know that you can make many of these items yourself in an eco-friendly manner for practically free. Read DIY Play Kitchen Food & Dishes for ideas.

If you missed the other play kitchen posts you can catch up now…

• Green Holiday Gift – Ultimate Eco-Friendly Play Kitchen Guide
• Eco-friendly Play Kitchen Food
• Nine DIY play kitchen options

If you are going to buy play dishes and other accessories; following are some cute green choices.

DISHES:

1. Pottery Doll Dish Set
2. Green Toys Cookware and Dining Set
3. Plan Toy Tableware Set
4. Utensil Set

POTS & PANS:

1. White Wooden Pots & Pans Set
2. Non-stick Child’s Bakeware – 3 Piece
3. Green Toys Chef Set
4. Plan Toy Cooking Utensils
5. Cooking Pot

FUN COOKING EXTRAS:

1. Plan Toy Toaster
2. Cloth Napkins
3. Kids’ Kitchen & Grocery: Kids Wooden Toy Stir Fry Set
4. Kid’s Kitchen Toys: Kids Wooden Tea Kettle and Bags Toy Play Set

1. Wooden Kitchen Appliances
2. Kid’s Kitchen Toys: Kids Wooden Baking Mixer Toy Play Set
3. Felt Cupcake & Muffin Bake Set
4. Baking Utensils from Plan Toys