Healthful Kit for Growing Boys and Girls
Toys that teach aren’t new, but edible Wee Sprouts can give kids a little lesson in health, science and nutrition. You even might get them off junk food for a while.
The simple Wee Sprouts kit includes a mixture of five seeds and beans that produce a mini-vegetable salad in only four days. On the fifth day, the child can chow down with the plastic fork included with the set.
There’s a two-ounce container of sprout mixture, a cardboard seed shop and a colorful 16-page storybook that teaches children how they can release the Wee Sprout seed characters--Alfie Alfalfa, Mighty Mung, Lucy Lentil, Radical Radish and Addie Adzuki--from their “prison of seed.”
James E. Brown, a practicing vegetarian from Pagosa Springs, Colo., says he hopes to “affect the consciousness of a whole generation” by creating a toy that allows children to grow their own food.
Brown has experimented for two years with Wee Sprouts kits in several Colorado school systems, and says: “we’ve found that kids will eat what they grow.”
Children as young as 3 can grow the salad with a little help rinsing the seeds twice daily and reading the storybook.
Brown’s company, Natural Food Systems Inc., has other nutritional products, and distributes Certified Chemical Free seeds and beans. He offers special Wee Sprout packaging to teachers--12 kits at $2 each.
Wee Sprouts are available nationwide in selected health-food stores, gift and toy shops. Or you can order the kits ($5.95 each, plus $1.50 shipping and handling) by calling Natural Food Systems, (800) 874-2733.
A Shiny Car--and No Rinsing
The California drought may be over, but you still shouldn’t waste the up to 150 gallons of water (in just 10 minutes) that it can take to wash your car with a hose.
Protect All Quick & Easy Wash can help conserve water, because one capful (half an ounce) mixed with two quarts of water will wash your car from sunroof to tires. And you don’t have to rinse.
It doesn’t streak or smear when you wipe it dry with a soft towel or chamois.
Protect All is non-abrasive, and its representatives say it’s a great indoor cleaner too because it can be used on painted surfaces, fiberglass, vinyl, chrome, stainless steel, glass, Plexiglas, rubber, marble and Formica.
Protect All Quick & Easy Wash ($10 for a 10-ounce bottle that will give you 20 washes; $18, one quart, 64 washes; $40, one gallon, 246 washes) can be purchased at nationwide auto accessories stores and mass marketing chains. Or order it through Protect All Inc. in Anaheim, (800) 322-4491.
Trip the Lights With Switch Sensor
If you hate fumbling for the light switch in a dark garage, the Motion Sensing Wall Switch might be right for you. It also could be beneficial for disabled persons who have a hard time reaching standard switches.
Sensors inside the switch react to body motion in a room, so the light automatically goes on when you enter, off when you leave. You can set sensor sensitivity inside the light cover, or you can use the switch manually.
It can be set to remain on from 15 seconds to 20 minutes, and there’s a daylight shut-off adjustment so you won’t waste electricity.
The Motion Sensing Wall Switch ($19.95, plus $1.50 for shipping and handling) is easily installed and is available through StarLite Industries, 17 Peppermint Road, Commack, N.Y. 11725; phone, (800) 879-9729.