It was not so long ago that Earth Day was just a day some tie-dyed college students sat around all day with a banner. With Laurie Berkner headlining the NYC Earth Day celebrations in Central Park there's no question that Earth Day is now a mainstream affair with loads of great family activities.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is a book that’s been around for a while, but I figure if I’ve just gotten around to reading it there are plenty of others who haven’t read it either. I had heard the buzz about this book, but hadn’t really paid much attention to it until one of my fellow PTA uber-moms told me that the book says that being on the PTA is the most significant thing you can do to assure academic success for your children. Well, that got my attention.

It turned out that her interpretation was a little bit self-serving, but it got me to read the book, and it is a great book, so I forgive her. If you haven’t read Freakonomics I highly recommend you pick it up.

You could say Freakonomics is either a book that takes a unique look at the world through the eyes of an economist, or is a unique take on economics by using it to look at the world - depending on whether you are an economist or a civilian. If you are a parent, especially an obsessive, urban parent, you will be quite anxious to read the chapter entitled, "What Makes a Perfect Parent?"

I had to create a list of NYC food blogs for a project I am working on and, even though food blogs have nothing to do with parenting, I thought it might be interesting to Mommy Poppins readers. Hey, we all eat, drink, shop and cook. It's good reading. Enjoy.

Get all your questions about NYC private school admissions answered in helpful forums hosted by the Parents League of NY.

I actually just saw this cool toy storage advertised on Daddy Types and thought it was so great I had to write about it.

I don't know about you, but I hate putting things away. I like my apartment to be neat, but I also like to everything to be out enough so that I don't forget about it. To me the ideal way to clean up would be to just be able to toss everything into some cool looking piece of furniture that allowed me to organize the items by kind and also let me see what's in there. Clear plastic drawers or bins will do the job, but not nearly as nicely as these Via Toy Box units.

I hate throwing things away that could be useful (even if I have no current use for them). And there are two things that I hate having to throw out maybe more than any other. One is styrofoam packing peanuts - first of all, it gets all over the place when you try to get it into a garbage bag, but mainly it just seems like such a waste. The other thing that irks my frugal, green side is CDs or DVRs that we've turned into MP3s or just don't need any more.

National Geographic Kids has a great site with lots of educational activities and games for kids. They also have a bunch of kid craft ideas, including directions for making a bean bag chair filled with styrofoam peanuts and a disco ball from old CDs. The perfect solution. You can reuse stuff you don't want to throw away, have a great kid craft activity and end up with some cool items for the kid's room.

I especially like the bean bag chair idea. It's so simple and clever. Just fill a laundry bag with styrofoam peanuts and tighten the draw string. Have your kids personalize their chair by drawing their name and decorating the laundry bag with puffy fabric paint for a little extra fun. (via AT:Nursery)

Find more great activities like this in our Indoor Activities Guide.

Amazon.com is having a big 4 for 3 Sale

A fairy garden is a miniature garden. It has dollhouse-sized garden accessories and miniature plants so that it looks like a tiny little garden for fairies. Kids love gardening, creating their own worlds and they especially love anything their-sized, so making a fairy garden is a great activity for kids.