Next week we celebrate Earth Day. The first official Earth Day was in 1970. It used to be celebrated on the first day of spring (the March Equinox) and still is by some. As a worldwide celebration, however, it is celebrated on April 22, the more widely recognized date.
Photo by: Fractal Artist
Earth Day is a great holiday to get the kids involved, and there are plenty of ways to do that. Here are some ideas for getting in the Earth Day spirit with your kids;
- Pick up trash around your neighborhood, at your school or at the park.
- Plant a tree, or flower, or even a house plant – all absorb CO2 and produce oxygen.
- Make crafts using reused materials – you can find instructions for making a milk carton bird feeder, cereal box magazine holder, aluminum can pots, and many more at Kaboose.com. Even more Earth Day crafts can be found at Enchantedlearning.com
- Make your own recycled paper - a great activity to do with your kids. An interesting experiment for moms too.
- Play Earth Day themed games online – A few to check out are the Clean up Your World Game, and the Earth Day Fun Center
- Talk about water conservation – go to Getwise.org for kid’s activities and teacher resources for learning about water conservation.
- Get your kids involved in recycling – recycling is a perfect, age-appropriate activity and something that kids can do themselves and see a real impact.
- Read Earth Day poems and rhymes
- Read Earth Day themed books with your kids. There are many great suggestions here, including Earth Day Hooray. Over the years, my son latched on to this book. I am so happy that he did, but he pulled it out again (for the hundredth time) the other night, and I admit, I cringed at the thought of reading it – but not because it’s not a good book, I just can’t bring myself to count bags of aluminum cans one more time. So we’ll be searching this list for a new Earth Day book that mom hasn’t read a way too many times already.
The most important thing you can do on Earth Day and every day is to be a good role model for your kids. Our children look to us to set an example. If we really care about kids, we will take better care of Earth. After all, our kids will be around much longer than us to see the results of our actions.
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