As much as I adore LeapFrog’s products, they are admittedly, not very green (aside from the cute green color, but you know what I mean). Encased in plastic, with no known method for recycling (so far as my research has taken me), it didn’t take me long to find a green twist to this enormously popular toy.

Not every toy my kids have is eco-friendly, although we try much harder now to make very conscious decisions about what we (and what we can influence) other people to buy for them. As they get older, the gadgety stuff is tougher to get away from, but for things like art products, blocks, dolls and more, there couldn’t be a better time to be a kid these days!

For battery operated toys, rechargeable batteries are green in more ways than one. First, you’ll save a ton of green by providing reusable batteries instead of disposable. You can use them in anything requiring batteries, from handheld video games to flashlights to the new talking doll that totally creeps you out. Rechargeable batteries come in alkaline form, lithium ion (LI-ion) or Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH). There are differences with these, including price, charging speed and what kind of products the batteries work well in. Green batteries is a great place to start researching batteries and chargers. You can also check out this article from MetaEfficient, about the best rechargeable batteries for 2008.

Now you have no excuse to “forget” to replace the batteries in the obnoxiously loud toy your kids cried about for a year! Happy shopping!