Julie Seguss

Julie is a freelance writer living in the stroller-packed Brooklyn, NY neighborhood Park Slope with her husband and French Bulldog Leo. She is a proud auntie to three nephews and loves sending them green goodies. Julie is a former Parents magazine editor and the interim Pregnancy and Birth Editor at Parents.com. You can find her articles in Parents, Kiwi, Weight Watchers, and Serendipity Greenwich and online at iVillage.com, MNN.com and numerous other magazines, websites and blogs. Beyond writing, Julie loves all things related to health and fitness. She holds a personal trainer certification from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and is the NYC Director and co-founder of Girlnetic, a social fitness club for women. Follow her on Twitter @julieseguss for green and healthy living tips.

Sh*t Natural Mamas Say Video Sure to Make Green Parents Laugh

by Julie Seguss, 02/22/12

YouTube Video

Click to watch on YouTube

From Sh*t Yogis Say to Sh*t New Yorkers Say, you’ve probably seen plenty of these hilarious videos fly across your Facebook feed. And now just when you’re getting sick of the wildly popular meme, we found a must-see video geared toward green moms that you’ll all be able to relate to. Watch the above Sh*t Natural Mamas Say video created by blogger Mama Natural and tell us about your favorite part in the comments below. Then, head on over to Mama Natural to see Part 2.

+ Sh*t Natural Mamas Say

+ Mama Natural

14 Favorite Green Toys from the 2012 American International Toy Fair

by Julie Seguss, 02/16/12
 
 
Earlier this week, Inhabitots attended the 2012 American International Toy Fair in New York City to find the latest and greatest green toys for kids. More than 1,200 exhibitors show over 100,000 products at the show and we were able to narrow down the field to just 14 favorite finds. Several of our favorite green toy companies are working with new eco-friendly materials including Plan Toys who is creating composite wood from sawdust to make everything from the train set you see above to old favorites like their classic alligator pull-along toy. Keep on reading to learn about all of the great eco-friendly games, building blocks, crafts and baby toys that we found. Then, check out more fun photos from Toy Fair 2012 on Flickr.
 

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Adorable Little Red Riding Hood Nesting Dolls Designed to Hold Snacks

by Julie Seguss, 02/15/12

The classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood and the fun of Russian nesting dolls come together in Mike He’s clever Matryoshka doll design. While many nesting dolls are for play or nothing more than show, Chinese designer He says this is actually a food container set. ”With various sizes of bowls and dishes, users can use them for cookies or fruits, and avoid bugs when caps on. It can also be stacked as an interesting decoration and save space” he says. While Little Red Hood is only a concept for now, we love the idea and hope it comes to market soon, made from sustainable materials of course!

+ Little Red Hood

+ Mike He

(via Mocoloco)


4Moms Power-Folding Origami Stroller Charges as You Walk

by Julie Seguss, 02/15/12
 
 
We gave the 4Moms Origami Stroller the honor of being included in our Top 8 Strollers for Green Babies roundup last year, but now the groundbreaking stroller is finally available for sale and we had to take one more opportunity to rave about its one-of-a-kind features. The gadget-meets-gear robotic stroller has a power-folding system like no other on the market - and it charges itself while you walk.
 

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7 Fun, Kid-Friendly Salad Recipes That Go Beyond Iceberg Lettuce

7 Fun, Kid-Friendly Salad Recipes That Go Beyond Iceberg Lettuce

Looking for a fun way to encourage your kid to eat more veggies? Try a few new, exciting salads – your kids will enjoy helping to prepare them and the whole family will savor them. Salads are a great food to get your child started cooking on his own, too. As long as you do the chopping first (though some salads don’t require any!), no dangerous jobs are needed to prepare a delicious salad. Plus, we bet your kid will love picking and choosing different veggies to toss in – playing with colors, flavors and a variety of dressings. Salad making may even encourage your kids to try vegetables they’ve never eaten before! So read on to discover seven easy-to-make veggie-packed salads that are healthy for the whole family.

This post is sponsored by Hidden Valley® Ranch. Discover how you can make vegetables delectable!



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LAST CHANCE TO ENTER: Win a Business of Being Born DVD Prize Pack Worth $109!

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER: Win a Business of Being Born DVD Prize Pack Worth $109!

If there’s one movie you should watch before you give birth, it’s The Business of Being Born. The landmark documentary from executive producer Ricki Lake and filmmaker Abby Epstein explores childbirth and the modern maternity care system, offering a different perspective on all of the interventions that often happen during labor and delivery. Now, they’ve released a brand new 4-part series, More Business of Being Born, which takes a closer look at doulas, midwives, birthing options and VBACs. Plus, you’ll hear celebrity birth stories from Gisele Bundchen, Alanis Morisette, Cindy Crawford, Melissa Joan Hart and more. Read our review of the new series here. In celebration of the DVD’s release, we’re giving away the Mother Lode prize package, which includes the The Business of Being Born, More Business of Being Born, an organic cotton onesie, Your Best Birth signed by Lake and Epstein, and the National Guide to a Healthy Birth. Keep reading to find out how easy it is to enter for your chance to win!

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Turn Boxes Into Play Spaces with MAKEDO Find and Make Shop and Space Pod

Turn Boxes Into Play Spaces with MAKEDO Find and Make Shop and Space Pod

 
 
We're always amazed by what you can do with a little imagination and a cardboard box. MAKEDO makes the process easier, and opens up possibilities to craft even more fantastical creations by providing clips, hinges and pins. Their latest Find & Make kits go big, providing kids tools and inspiration to build awesome kid-sized play spaces - a Space Pod and a Shop.
 

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6 Amazing Treehouse Beds That Bring Magic to Bedtime

6 Amazing Treehouse Beds That Bring Magic to Bedtime

 
 
We love treehouses here at Inhabitots, but who says they have to stay outdoors? Bring inside a bit of magic to bedtime by updating your kid's room with a unique treehouse bed. Imagine a bedtime routine that includes your child eagerly climbing up a ladder to his bed situated high (but not too high) off the ground. A lofted bed also means no mess underneath it - instead you can use the newly created space for another tot to sleep or storage. Read on to find six eco-friendly, dreamy treehouse bed designs to DIY or buy.
 

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6 Adorable DIY Valentine’s Day Cards to Make for Your Love

6 Adorable DIY Valentine’s Day Cards to Make for Your Love

 
 
Nothing says, "I love you," better than a Valentine you took the time to craft with your own two hands. So this Valentine's Day forgo buying cards and go DIY instead. Whether you want to make a sweet and fun Valentine to present to your kiddo, create a sentimental card for your sweetheart, or help your little one design a card to give to a friend or family member, we've found some extra special ideas to spark your imagination. Read on to learn how to make six adorable DIY Valentine's Day cards from paint chip bookmarks to thumbprint hearts.
 

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Keep Your Tot Crusin With Manny & Simon’s Train Push Toy

Keep Your Tot Crusin With Manny & Simon’s Train Push Toy

 

If your tot is in the crawling and cruising stage, push toys are perfect for playtime. Manny & Simon recently added this four-car train to their already amazing array of sustainably made wooden rolling toys. Their collection of push toys is made from 100% post-industrial recycled wood residuals and painted with non-toxic, zero-VOC paint. This colorful toy is sure to keep your tot moving and groovin. Choo choo!

+ Train Push Toy $48

+ Manny & Simon

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Areaware Dovetail Animals by Karl Zahn Can Be Mixed and Matched to Create New Creatures

Areaware Dovetail Animals by Karl Zahn Can Be Mixed and Matched to Create New Creatures

 
 
Areaware has brought us several awesome wood animals in the past like Hanno the Gorilla, Ursa the Bear and Hugo the Wild Boar all designed by David Weeks. Now Areaware and Karl Zahn have teamed up to bring you a beautiful collection of Dovetail Animals. Each wooden animal comes in three parts that fit together thanks to dovetail joints.
 

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Inhabitots is on Pinterest – Come Follow Our Boards!

Inhabitots is on Pinterest – Come Follow Our Boards!

Are you on Pinterest? We are! We’ve been very busy pinning all of our favorite eco-friendly toys, recycled crafts, green baby must-haves, adorable organic kids clothing and so much more. Pinning is one of our newest addictions and it’s also a great way for us to share all of our amazing green finds with you – even a few goodies we …

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How to Be a Dad Shares Hilarious Co-sleeping Baby Sleep Positions Diagrams

How to Be a Dad Shares Hilarious Co-sleeping Baby Sleep Positions Diagrams

 
 
We're all for safe co-sleeping here at Inhabitots, but we do know that bringing Baby into your bed doesn't always come easy. Some babies are simply bed hogs - moving around in their sleep and able to take up much more space than you've ever imagined. And it's that active lil' snoozer that inspired these comical "Baby Sleep Position" graphics from the brains behind How to Be a Dad, a humor blog for parents. Keep reading to laugh off your co-sleeping stresses.
 

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Studio Ditte Paper Robots Are Fun to Build and Play With

Studio Ditte Paper Robots Are Fun to Build and Play With

With Studio Ditte’s Paper Robots you can build six colorful robots. All you need is scissors, a ruler and glue – no tech skills required! Sure, these robots aren’t made from recycled paper (What a shame!), but they are super-lightweight to ship and easy-peasy to recycle once your child moves on to other toys. These aren’t the first paper robots to hit the scene though – a few years back we shared the cut-fold-connect PIPEROID paper robots from Takashi Tsunoda …

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Surprise Your Tot With a Personalized Recycled Paper Coloring Book from Frecklebox

Surprise Your Tot With a Personalized Recycled Paper Coloring Book from Frecklebox

 
 
If your kid loves spending an afternoon with a box of crayons and a stack kof coloring books, your next stop for shopping should be Frecklebox. You'll find 24 different personalized coloring books to choose from, covering all kinds of fun to fill-in drawings ranging from ABCs to monsters. The best part? They are all printed on recycled paper.
 

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Link Roundup: ABC Pillows, Block Crayons & More

Link Roundup: ABC Pillows, Block Crayons & More

Thanks to Cool Mom Picks we fell in love with MarbleDear’s handmade personalized pillows that are embellished with eco felt.

Bring coloring and building together with these non-toxic beeswax block crayons discovered by Better Living Through Design.

How great are Sucre & Spice’s wooden utensils found on Babyccino Kids?

If only these Geometric Neon Art Blocks, posted about by Handmade Charlotte, …

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e-glue’s Quackie Toy Box is Fun and Functional

e-glue’s Quackie Toy Box is Fun and Functional

We love playful storage solutions for kids so when we stumbled upon this duck-shaped toy box, called Quackie, we were over the moon! With several spots to stow and stack toys, and a clever duck design, kids will be happy to help fill it with their books and toys. Dreamed up by the folks at e-glue, Quackie is not yet in production though. We’re crossing our fingers that an eco-friendly company will manufacture it from sustainable materials. No matter how much we …

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Our Favorite Eco-Friendly Animal Hats, Scarves and Mittens for Babies and Kids

Our Favorite Eco-Friendly Animal Hats, Scarves and Mittens for Babies and Kids

 
 
Keep your little one warm this winter in one of our favorite animal-inspired hats, scarves, mittens or booties. All of the adorably wild winter gear for kids is eco-friendly from puppy hats with ears to snake scarves, right down to sweet polar bear booties. See all of the sustainable goodies and let your child help pick out a favorite - we bet she'll stop fighting when you tell her she must wear her hat and mittens!
 

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thredUP Concierge Program Makes Recycling Outgrown Children’s Clothing Easy

thredUP Concierge Program Makes Recycling Outgrown Children’s Clothing Easy

ThredUP launched their unique children’s clothing recycling program back in 2010. Up until now, the only way to swap outgrown clothes through thredUP was to build a box of about 10 items of the same size and season and post them on the site so other moms can choose to buy your box. Now, the company is making the clothing recycling process even easier with thredUP Concierge. Just request a free Concierge bag online, fill it with your kid’s outgrown clothing, return the bag with a prepaid label and you’ll earn up to $5 per piece.

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Rooware Eco-Friendly Kids Tableware is Made from Plants

Rooware Eco-Friendly Kids Tableware is Made from Plants

 
 
Plastic and melamine kids dishes are a dime a dozen, but when it comes to finding more eco-friendly and safe choices, options are limited. That's why we were excited to discover Rooware. The collection of plates, bowls, and utensils comes in four fun colors and is made from an innovative bio-based plastic created from corn. The made-in-the-USA tableware is BPA-, phthalate-, PVC-, formaldehyde- and melamine-free. Plus, it's compostable.
 

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LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!