Earth Day for Kids and some little things we can do at home to teach our kids about taking care of our planet.

Some fun Earth Day activities for Kids

How Energy Efficient are you? (Game - kids find out how much they know about reducing energy and greenhouse gases). Source: EcoKids.ca

Plant a tree or garden - Source: Toronto4Kids

Bring a litterless lunch to school! Actually, Little One brings a litterless lunch to school every day. It's something we think is important to practice in order to tread a little lighter on the planet. For our family, this is important every day and not just on Earth Day.

Lunch ideas for Earth Day for Kids

Earth Day for Kids and MyFunkins

Another thing that helps with our litterless lunches are MyFunkins! Last year, I happened to cross paths with MyFunkins on Twitter and instantly fell in love. With Little One about to start Junior Kindergarten, I wanted to make sure her lunches were going to be as litterless as possible.

Below are some of the latest designs MyFunkins has to offer. My little girl is all about ballerinas and mermaids these days, so these are perfect! I've never seen a kid get so excited over fabric before! Love it!

Little One gets a different Funkin in her lunchbox every day and she's always tickled pink when she sees which one she gets! It's a surprise every day!

I love that we reduce our disposable paper napkin use this way too. It's not just Little One who loves Funkins! I even carry one in my handbag! They come in handy when eating an orange while waiting for your child's school bus to arrive! They also double as a place mat when out and about and grabbing a bite to eat!

For more ways to use Funkins, check out their site.

MyFunkins are a great idea for reducing classroom lunch waste. To see how your child's school can use MyFunkins as part of Earth Day for Kids or for every day lunchtime, visit the Funkins website.

Little One's school doesn't have a lunch break, but two nutritional breaks. The upper part of her bento box has a Vietnamese style salad on rice vermicelli and the lower part of her bento has grapes, sliced pear, sliced orange, and a muffin. She also had a yogourt and a Thermos filled with water to accompany her lunch.

What do your kids like to eat for their school lunches?

Feel free to link up your Wordless Wednesday posts! Ha! Mine's not so "wordless" this week!

If there's one thing I'm passionate about, it's feeding my family healthy food.  Another thing I am really obsessed with is making sure Little One's school lunches are as eco-friendly as possible.  This means using reusable food containers, a reusable water bottle, reusable cutlery, etc.  Little One loves fresh fruit and veg, so I don't have to worry about pre-packaged items or using plastic wrap on things.

The one thing that was missing for her perfectly "Litter-less Lunch" was the napkins. I had been putting paper napkins in her lunch box. I tried to convince myself that paper napkins were "okay", but something still wasn't sitting well with me. If we could use reusable everything in Little One's lunch box, I'd feel that much better.

Then I discovered Funkins!

Thank you, Twitter!  I was trolling the internet in search of more enviro-friendly lunch items and came across @myfunkins in my Twitter feed! I fell in love with the reusable napkins instantly. Even better, I really enjoyed corresponding with the creator of the incredibly fun reusable napkins! Lisa Baumgartner is a breath of fresh air! She's so enthusiastic about making lunches litter-free, and I am so excited about her products!

Thanks to Lisa for the beautiful (and practical) Funkins! Love, love, love them!  Everyone who has seen them have been wowed and have asked where we got them!

Funkins are colourful, bright, fun, reusable cloth napkins. I love packing my child's lunches and making sure she has a smile on her face when she opens up her lunch box. This means lots of colourful fruits and veg, making her food into shapes of flowers, hearts, dinosaurs, and other shapes. Adding Funkins just completes the fun and excitement! So perfect!

Funkins come in a variety of colours and designs for boys and girls. There are even Holiday themed Funkins.

Even I carry Funkins in my purse so I don't have to use paper napkins anymore!  They're handy to have when eating an orange while waiting for Little One's bus to arrive after school! You can even unfold Funkins and use them as placemats!  I was thinking of giving each of Little One's friends their own Funkins as a party favour at Little One's birthday in November, but Little One informed me that she is inviting her ENTIRE Junior Kindergarten class!!! Oy!
I'm on a mission to reduce lunch-time waste...even if it begins with something as simple as putting a reusable Funkins napkin in my child's lunch box.

Find Funkins on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and on their website.

Disclosure - We were given an assortment of Funkins reusable cloth napkins for review purposes. All the thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog are honest and my own.

My baby's off to Junior Kindergarten today.  Someone hold me.

Link up your Wordless Wednesday posts!  We'd love to check them out and comment!

She's excited and thrilled to be going to school.  She talks about her teacher and classmates ALL the time.

Me?

Still clinging onto what remains of the Summer.


Summer, please don't go.

All you mamas (and papas!) with kids starting kindergarten this week, I'll need you to hold my hand. 

I realize it's the beginning of August and Summer isn't over yet, but I took Little One shopping for school items yesterday. *Gasp* I know. Crazy.  She'll be entering Junior Kindergarten and is SO excited about it. Since we don't have the list of school supplies yet, we just went to get some new clothes (everything is too short or too small on her now!) and her school bag.

She has a school bag already, but apparently the kids need a full sized one. I love the adorable Skip Hop penguin one she has, but I was told it's too small.
 Our little excursion and seeing Little One carrying her school bag all of a sudden triggered that flash forward moment of seeing her getting on the school bus for the very first time with a school bag bigger than her! I almost cried in the middle of the store. She's only 3.5 years old. She's too little to be going to school!
Friends have told me to "get over it", but the thought of seeing her get on that school bus and seeing that bus whisk her away just makes me want to cry!

Someone hold me! Come Fall, I know there will be a lot of tears! Ha! They won't be coming from Little One either! She's totally ready for school! It's Mom who is not!