Go Green with your Day Care Center
May 16, 2008 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Business
This post is a part of the Greener Assets “Go Green with your Small Business” series. You can see ways to go green with other types of small business here.
Do you run a Day Care Center? Whether you have a commercial facility serving as the next best thing to pre-school or you just baby-sit kids out of your home, there are many ways to go green. I actually wanted to feature this small business first because making more environmentally-friendly decisions is better for the health of any children in your care.
Day Care Center Go-Green Tips:
- Think about organic snacks you can serve the children. Instead of going with chips and pretzels, switch to organic fruit and other natural options. You can even order healthy, organic snacks online at the following sites
- Yum Yum Snacks: http://www.yumyumsnacks.com
- Late July: http://www.latejuly.com/
- Healthy Snack Store: http://www.healthysnackstore.com/
- Find green toy options. Sure, Barbie Dolls and Tonka Trucks will always be popular, but as you begin to replace broken and worn-out toys, why not try looking for green options. For example, the toys made by Green Toys, which include a tea set, sand toys, kitchen sets, and more, are made with recycled milk jugs and are made in the United States, which saves on transportation energy. They’re also packaged using recycled material. Here are some additional ways to go green with toys:
- Choose wood toys instead of toys made with plastic or metal.
- Avoid toys with batteries.
- Think about how recyclables, like large cardboard boxes, can be fun for children.
- Choose long-lasting toys, not toys that have tons of pieces that will be lost or broken.
- Encourage playing outside. You don’t need toys to explore the great outdoors!
- Use organic blankets for nap time. There are tons of organic options available at the following websites:
- A Happy Planet: http://www.ahappyplanet.com
- Kushtush Organics: http://www.kushtush.com/cottonblankets.htm
- Rawganique: http://www.rawganique.com
Are you a Day Care Center owner or babysitter? If so, what are you doing to go green with your small business? Leave a comment!
Picture via sxc.hu.
Another thing that can be done is having the kids do crafts that involve reuse rather than buying new materials from the craft store. Many things like milk jugs and glass bottles can be made into great crafts with an environmental lesson.
By the way, we’re having a contest sponsored by a company you mentioned — Green Toys –right now at Tree Hugging Family.
I’m work at a daycare and want to know how I can make my centre more eco friendly, I’m trying to go green but need information to pass on to staff and parents to get them invovled as well. Any ideas?
I have just started working at a day care (that I hope to take over in a few years) and a lot of the parents bring in fruits and veggies, organic crackers, juice, and the like. I will have to look around the other sites and see what other things we can do at the school. (We are also a very organic/natural city)