If your little Yogi (and I don't mean Boo Boo's pal!) wants to get started on the divine path this Little Yogis kit by Wai Lana is ideal. It includes a Little yogis DVD, kid's Yogi mat - featuring some little cartoon yogis in action, kid's asana poster - with 21 cartoon postures for them to practice and a colourful tote bag. It's well established that yoga helps children develop better awareness of their bodies and increases self control, flexibility and coordination. It helps them unwind, which is very important considering the stresses and strains they are placed under at school and with ever increasing out-of-school activities. It can help calm hyper active children, allowing them to channel their impulses in a positive way. All in all a great thing for all kids to do!
The Wai Lana little Yogis kit costs £24.95 and is available from Yoga Studio.
Footwear brand Hi-Tec are releasing a specially designed junior footwear collection in aid of children’s charity The NSPCC and sister charity in Scotland CHILDREN 1ST. Hi-Tec has committed to raise at least £25,000 through donations from every single sale of junior footwear to help continue their vital work with children and young people. 
Prices start at just £15 for a pair of trainers and are available in sizes junior 10 – 6.
Related stories: Green shoes with vegan and kids options | Great Green Shoes new ethical shoe blog
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The London Week of Peace is an annual event celebrating community, diversity and cohesiveness in the capital, this year running between 9th and 16th September. This year’s theme is reconciliation, celebration, collaboration and there are loads of local events in and around the capital to get involved with.
If you’re sporty, there’s the 5km peace run, if you’re literary there’s the Poetry Competition. There’s also a Peace Concert and Talent Quest, as well as Peace Awards and various local events in each borough. Backed by the Peace Alliance, the idea is to bring people together and talk honestly, reminding people of what they have in common and of the need to work together to improve community ties and facilities. Its aims fit in very well with local green initiatives and permaculture groups, so maybe those of you involved in these kinds of groups should reach out and involve yourself here too, using the opportunity to reach the wider community.
Following the success of the label's Topshop Capsule collection, which featured distinctive coffee-bean print wrap dresses and other items in unusal fabrics, hand made in Ghana, the fairtrade team behind Global Mamas has come back with a children's range.
This cute little dress has a serious side to it. It's been made by an international not-for-profit organisation called Women in Progress, which is run by Global Mamas. They help Ghanaian women become economically independent by giving them the opportunity to produce goods and clothing using techniques traditional to Ghana. This dress is reversible, with a fun safari print on one side and some cute little fish on the other. It's made from cotton, is available in sizes 12 to 24 months and costs £13 from Exclusive Roots.
This may look like a normal disposable pen, but Bloomin' Pen is different. It's made from corn, so it's totally biodegradable, and can be recycled. The other cool thing about it is the cap contains seeds so you can grow your own flowers, vegetables, herbs or even trees. I don't know why someone came up with this concept in the first place, but I guess if you do want to buy a disposable pen it's better to have one that will not only degrade once it's run out, but it will also leave it's own legacy for you to eat, sniff or climb! Bloomin' Pens cost US$4.25 and are available here.
Look at this cute little fellow! His name may lead you to believe he's made of tofu, and to a certain extent he is. TofuBear is made from soysilk - a fibre made from the residues left from soybeans during tofu production. 100% chemical free and totally biodegradable, soysilk is as soft and luxurious as cashmere and it can be machine washed, so perfect for a child's soft toy. Now for the science part: The process "extracts proteins from the residual oils of soybean cake – a liquid “batter” is created and cooked, then the fiber is produced by wet-spinning and stabilized by acetylating, and is then cut into short staples after curling and thermoforming". TofuBear would make a great friend for your little eco-warrior and he's available here for US$39.
I think the recent Mattel recalls have been a stark reminder that if you buy cheap toys you run the risk of potentially poisoning your children! If you want to avoid this (as I'm sure you do) then Plan Toys provide a great alternative. Not only are their toys designed to enhance IQ development, they are made from 'preservative-free' rubber woods which are derived from trees which were formerly used to yield latex. When they're no longer of any use to the farmers they're normally felled, burned and turned into charcoal. Plan Toys give these trees a more economical and ecological future. This cool pirate ship will gives kids (from 3 up) hours of fun by stimulating their imagination, increasing their social skills and even improving their language (pirate words are always useful in everyday life, eh me hearties?). The ship and crew are available from The Wooden Toy Store for £27.
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