Ways To Celebrate Earth Day With Your Kids
It’s here. Earth Day. REALLY the start of Spring in Denver, giving the fact that most of the beginning of April is usually filled with a wild ride of snow, sleet and rain. [Case in point: THIS YEAR.]
And not only does Earth Day symbolize rebirth for us Denverites, it’s main focus is – of course – the EARTH.
Here are some simple ideas for celebrating the day of the earth with your kids, and instilling some environmentally sound principals in the process. [OH HECK. Have some fun while you're at it.]
- Plan your summer garden – or container garden if your yard is too small. Have the kids do the drawings for you and really participate in the process. Talk about what plants will survive here in Colorado and why.
- Go through your recyclables together and pull out their favorites for a “Craft Box.” Start using THESE materials for all their art projects instead of buying new supplies.
- Have a race around the house to count all the fluorescent light bulbs in the house. For the older kids: have them calculate how much energy those bulbs are saving!
- Take a 1/2 hour and clean up trash in your alley. Have them take photos of the work they did to me at aimee [at] greeblemonkey [dot] com – and I will feature them in a future post!
- Start a compost bin. See who can add the grossest ingredient. Have the kids decorate the bin.
- Keep a chart of how many times the kids flush the toilet over the next week. How much water is that? [Kids love this sort of grossity gross activity!]
- Plant a special Earth Day tree or bush. Whenever they see that tree, they will know they are helping the environment. And you will remember a lovely family memory.
- Watch Free Willy, Wall-E, Happy Feet (or Inconvenient Truth if they are old enough!) and talk about the importance of protecting our environment.
- Have your kids make a piece of art for my Kid Art Auction for Earth Day and/or bid on existing pieces of art. [It's not too late! Bidding has been extended to April 30, 2009!]
Go get ‘em for Mother Earth.
What other fun things will you be doing with your kids this week to help them live and learn green?
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Hurray for Earth Day! Great practical tips we can all apply. Thanks Aimee.
Great ideas, Aimee! One thing we like to do is use those phonebooks we get as coloring books. You’d be amazed at how well they work for that. (I’m glad our recycling company will take them, but this is a fun re-use project.)
Also, we’re going to do some Backyard Science today and go exploring to see what we can see.
Earth Day is a great reminder to do these things!
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