Monday, April 22, 2013
What is Earth Day About?
Image source here via Google Images
Little One is really excited that today is Earth Day! At four years of age, she is looking forward to all the fun activities her Junior Kindergarten class will be doing today.
"Mommy, I want to wear blue and green for Earth Day today."
That sounded reasonable (and really cute). However, I wanted to know if she knew what exactly the significance of today is. I asked her the question:
What is Earth Day About?
Little One looked at me and said something about cleaning up the Earth and how trash and pollution are no good for the environment. Actually, her exact words were "Trash and pollution will kill our environment and the planet will die." Wow. Quite an ominous statement for a four year old, don't you think?
Little One wanted to know a bit more when it comes to what Earth Day is about.
Earth Day began on April 22, 1970. It's a day when we reflect on our planet, the environment, and what we can do to keep them healthy. Though I could explain to her about environmental activism, Earth Day observances, the history of the Equinox Earth Day, and a more in depth history of Earth Day, she's only four years old. I'm thinking this year I'll keep things sweet and simple.
When it comes to what Earth Day is about, I'm just telling Little One it's about:
- Taking care of our environment by practicing the 3 Rs (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle)
- Being careful of the decisions we make and the impact they have on the Earth
- Trying to do things to help our environment like planting trees
- Being gentle and kind to living things, including all wildlife - flora and fauna
Some activities to do with kids on Earth Day
Little One's school is having school-wide earth-friendly activities for Earth Day. They're also practicing "litterless lunches" and will see which class accumulates the least garbage.
We actually practice litterless lunch every day. It's something that we as a family just made a habit of doing because we think it's so important. Every day should be Earth Day.
Packing lunches in bento boxes or reusable lunch containers, using a Thermos filled with water instead of sending disposable juice boxes to school, and using MyFunkins instead of disposable napkins all help us make litterless lunches easy and fun.
Some things kids can do with their family or community is have a community clean-up day. Collect waste from streets and parks.
Teach children about how plants have a special role in our environment. You can teach them about ecosystems, and how living organisms interact with each other and impact one another.
Since Little One is still quite young, I have been teaching her about growing her own food.
Some great kits to help with this are:
Grow Your Own Mushroom Kit from backtotheroots.com is a great way to introduce the concept of self-sustainability to kids. Though we do purchase food and other products at the grocery store, we also grow some of our food.
I just returned from the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference the other weekend, and attendees were all given a Mushroom Kit from Mushrooms Canada. My four year old was so excited and eager to grow her own mushrooms! She immediately delved into the box and couldn't wait to get started! I'll be posting a separate blog post on growing our own mushrooms soon!
The Kidz Labs/Green Science Grow-A-Maze Kit is another fun way to teach kids about plants and plant growth. Kids plant a bean in the soil and watch it grow and find its way through the maze! It is a really cool green science project, as kids can observe root development. I taught my four year old what photosynthesis is!
Discovery Box by Green Kid Crafts is an exciting and engaging way to cultivate creativity and curiosity in children by offering a box full of eco-friendly, educational, hands on arts, crafts and science activities. My little girl really enjoyed her Discovery Box. Hours of fun!
MyFunkins, Grow-A-Maze and Discovery Box are all PTPA Award Winners. They're all "Parent Tested, Parent Approved"! To find out more about PTPA, visit their website.
Whatever you and your family do to celebrate Earth Day, we hope you have fun!
Check out Little One planting trees at not even two years of age! We started her early! Wow! Can't believe that she's four years old already!
Happy Earth Day, everyone!
Remember, every day should be Earth Day :)
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City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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15 comments:
Thanks for the history lesson! I really never knew!!! I love the activites you chose! Very cool
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
thanks for linking up with Tales of Mommyhoods Earth Day linky! I actually didn't know until now, how/when earth day started.
Oh wow, what great information about Earth Day! I love celebrating it, and my kids do too. It's important for them to know why there's a day dedicated to the Earth and why the Earth is so important :)
Sounds like great activities. I cannot wait until my son is old enough to start some of these.
Love all these ideas. We also love our My Funkins. Happy Earth Day!
Great post chickie! LOVE those Funkins, and I'm seriously jeals of your grow-your-own-mushrooms! I've always wanted to try that!!
Jennifer:
Thanks so much! It was so funny...Today, Hubby was cleaning up garbage and our 4 year old said, "Daddy, you're saving Mother Earth". LOL! She cracks me up.
mamawee:
Thanks for the Earth Day linky! :) Love your post!
Brandi:
So true. I really believe in teaching kids the reasons we do things. Doing them is important, but WHY we do things is equally important :)
Randa:
Ohhh! It's so much fun when they can do activities like this! I love each stage of childhood. I LOVED when Little One was an infant and then a toddler...but now that she's a Junior Kindergarten student, she's even more fun with all the things she can do! I'm kind of sad she'll be turning 5 next November! LOL!