Celebrating Earth Day Everyday: Green Activities for Children

Every year in the United States and more than 100 other countries join together in the celebration of Earth Day on April 22^nd.  Earth Day was born on April 22, 1970, in San Francisco, California.  Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide. On Earth Day, one is reminded to appreciate nature and learn various ways to protect our environment and ensure it for the future.

The 2012 theme is Mobilize the Earth: “Our planet, our home is being neglected. Climate change continues unabated. It seems there’s a new ecological disaster happening almost daily. This Earth Day it’s time to mobilize the planet from the ground up to send a message that the Earth won’t wait!”

Today is not only a day to remember to recycle and take a day off from the car, but it is also a day to teach our children about protecting the environment.

Need some ideas on how to get your kids involved in going Green for good?  Here are a few ideas to help you get started.  However remember there are a lot of great ways that you can to help keep the planet clean and help protect our environment, so be creative and share them with your children!

1. One great way to spend time with you children and have fun has always been to do crafts, so why not spend some quality time with your kids and teach them how to be eco-friendly at the same time.  Here are 5 Eco-Crafts you can do with your kids, which are not only fun, but teach them a valuable lesson about recycling and reusing.
2. Do your kids have too many clothes and toys?  Teach your children about giving to charity and the value of recycling items when you no longer have a use for them, so that not only could you help someone who is less fortunate, but keep our landfills sustainable.  Let your children pick the items they want to give a way and set a goal of 3-5 toys and items of clothing…they will probably surprise you and give even more.  Don’t forget to lead by example as we all have some unwanted and unused items cluttering up the house.  Then make this a quarterly event in your household and everyone wins.  You can also post items that charities will not take on sites like Freecycle, Craigslist and Geebo.
3. How about two lessons in one and walk with the kids to the library to help reduce your carbon footprint and borrow one of the books listed below.  Borrowing books is a great way to teach your kids about reusing things, as by borrowing a book you will not be adding to paper consumption and waste.  Afterwards who knows the kids maybe up to planting a tree or making sure the house is energy efficient and everyone is recycling!

Environmental Books For Kids:

• 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World: Fun and Easy Eco-Tips by Melanie Walsh
• Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel and illustrated by Alexandra Colombo
• The BogeyBugz by Martin Lever
• Planet Earth Gets Well by Madeline Kaplan
• Rising Above Global Warming by B. J. DeFrancesco and illustrated by Shari Lynn Myers
• The Dirt on Dirt by Paulette Bourgeois with Kathy Vanderlinden and illustrated by Martha Newbigging
• MySpace/Our Planet: Change is Possible by the MySpace Community with Jeca Taudte
• Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire Nivola
• It’s Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer
• Eco Babies Wear Green by Michelle Sinclair Colman and illustrated by Nathalie Dion
• Everything Kids’ Environment Book by Sheri Amsel
• Brainiac’s Go Green Activity Book by Mara Conlon
• Gas Trees and Car Turds: Kids’ Guide to the Roots of Climate Change by Kirk Johnson and illustrated by Mary Ann Bonnell

Earth Day Links and Resources for Children:

• Earth Day Teachers Guide Earth Day Lesson Plan for 2nd and 3rd graders Kaboose – History, crafts, recipes and much more.
• Earth Day.gov for Kids – Games and Learning activities.
• Kids in Action: Earth Day Every Day Children’s Crafts for Earth Day
• Amazing Mom’s Earth Day Ideas for Kids and Classrooms
• DLTK’s Earth Day Activites for Kids Time for Kids | Specials | EARTH DAY Crafts, Environmental Games, and Recycling

Please see my previous posts such as; Earth Day…Growing Green Kids, The Struggle to Go Green, and Children Say We’re Failing Them and The Planet.