Eco-friendly and Outdoor Gifts for the Summer

Buying gifts and receiving presents happen all year round but for that special occasion that falls in the summer why not consider a gift that is Eco-friendly or can be enjoyed outside. Here are some of my favorites.

Solar Educational toys

These are great gifts you can buy for children as well as adults depending on the level of difficulty and skills required to assemble the toy. These toys are powered by sunlight. In today's climate of environmental awareness these solar powered toys and kits are not only great fun, but also introduce children of all ages to the concept of renewable energy and demonstrate alternative energy principles. No batteries and tools are to assemble the toy.

Solar gadgets

If you have a housewarming coming up, consider these cool solar friendly gadgets. I like the Sun and Moon Jar. By day these jars are ordinary looking jam jars but at night these jars will glow either a soothing yellow (sun jar) or blue (moon jar). So how does it work? The idea is to leave the jar either outside, near the window exposed to sunlight, to collect energy from the sun throughout the day via the solar cell. When it turns dark, the jar gives a warm ambient and relaxing glow. It’s a feel good factor for the ecologist in you and not to mention a money saving device so out with the candles and in with the jar! You can even actually store your essential items in it.

Other useful eco-friendly gadgets are solar charging devices for cell phones and other electronic accessories.

RC Flying Toys

Remote controlled toys such as helicopters and planes are great outdoor toys for both adults and children. These toys are usually equipped with pre-installed two channel proportional infra red control system and integral Lithium Polymer flight battery which will provide flights of approximately 8-12 minutes or more between charges. The battery can be recharged in less than half an hour. These toys are great fun and can be enjoyed in the back yard, garden or even the park. It is something that both the parent and child can do together.

Slingshot Flying Toys

These are fantastic toys and inexpensive. The soft toy comes in various animal characters such as monkey, pig and frog. When hoisted in the air they make hilarious noises such as screeching monkey noises, oiking noises and in the case of the frog croaking sounds. It is really quite entertaining. A great indoor as well as outdoor gift in the park, the yard or garden

Active toys

The sun is out and the weather is warm, your kids will no doubt love to play outdoors as much as they can. The Strap On Flashing Glider Shoes or heelys are great gift items for children and kids. Unlike traditional roller skates these wheels strap onto your existing running shoes! They are adjustable, to fit almost any size shoe/trainer and have flashing lights on the wheels when you skate around. The great advantage of these are that you can at least get a few years of use out of these without the worry of growing out of your traditional heelys. Not only are they fun your kids will sure get some exercise out of it!