Nontoxic children’s balls

Jack with the crocodile creek ball

Jack (16 months old) is obsessed with balls, so much so that “ball” is by far his most used word. I of course wanted to find a natural and nontxic ball for him to play with, so I looked into a bunch of different options.

We have a dog that tries to steal and eventually chew up the balls, so I thought of getting Jack some wool dryer balls that are all natural, but I didn’t because of the dog. These for example are even organic, and I bet they would be great for babies since they are soft. You can even make your own at home apparently.

organic wool balls

These natural rubber balls also looked great, but I was worried that they would be too small so the dog could fit them in his mouth

natural rubber balls

There are also some plush organic balls like these, and I’m sure they would be great for babies.

organic ball

What we ended up deciding on was these rubber balls from Crocodile Creek which are made of natural and synthetic rubber because they are the most natural large non-plush ball I could find. I emailed the manufacturer and they sent me information showing that their balls tested free of any heavy metals. It would be better if they were all natural rubber of course, but this seems to be the best option if you are looking for a large ball that bounces. We’ve taken it outside and Jack had a great time bouncing it around. I especially like the world design because it seems educational! We got the 7 inch one which works well for Jack at 16 months.

crocodile creek ball

The other option we use often is letting Jack play with ball-shaped citrus fruits!

Green cleaning products

I love that most of the cleaning products I use are made of edible ingredients, are cheap, and are free of scary chemicals!

Here are some products we use that I really like:

Mixture of 1/2 white vinegar and 1/2 water in a spray bottle

• Smells like vinegar but the smell leaves very quickly after you spray something
• Great for cleaning basically anything except granite
• Use for bathrooms, mirrors, glass, kitchen appliances
• Kills viruses, bacteria, and even the flu
• Vinegar is good for using in laundry to remove stains

Mixture of 1/2 rubbing alcohol and 1/2 water in spay bottle

• Safe for granite (counter tops in kitchens, bathrooms, tables) because it’s not acidic
• My husband uses this spray to de-wrinkle his work shirts. He just sprays them and hangs them up and they are ready to wear in the morning
• The smell seems to linger a little longer than the vinegar
• Kills viruses and bacteria (especially if you don’t dilute it more than 50%)

I like to make a paste of baking soda and vinegar to clean water glasses which makes the really sparkling clean. Baking soda can be used anytime you need something grainy to get particles off, like if there is residue in your tub.

I also use a mixture of 1/2 rubbing alcohol, 1/2 water, and a few drops of orange extract in a spray bottle as deodorant. The alcohol kills bacteria that make bad smells. I just use the orange because I like the smell of it.

I love that after I clean, it’s safe for the dog to roll around on the floor, and once Jack is crawling I don’t have to worry about him either!