While we like to try to be kind to our Earth EVERYday, when Earth Day finally comes around each year on April 22nd we take time to re-evaluate and think of new ways to be green. Earth Day is a perfect reminder that we need to be taking care of and protecting our planet. I’ve put together a list of ten easy ways you can celebrate Earth Day with your family!
Ten Ways to Celebrate Earth Day ::
1. Clean Up ~ Visit your favorite local park and take a garbage bag along to pick up pieces of trash to beautify your park.
2. Recycle ~ Start a recycling campaign, whether it be in your home, or office or school. Try to get people on the bandwagon with you to recycle in their own homes.
3. Plant Something ~ Anything! Get outside and plant some flowers, or a tree, or even some veggies!
4. Find just One Small Way to Go Green ~ Sometimes all you can do is to make one small change instead of a complete overhaul. One year around Earth Day I made a bunch of cloth napkins to try to cut down on our paper towel consumption, and it worked like a charm! Simple Cloth Napkin Tutorial
5.
Make Signs ~ Use some (recycled) paper or poster-board to make signs to hang in your house or neighborhood to remind people to be kind to the Earth. Ella made our family a “Recycle” sign that hangs above our trash can in the kitchen to remind us not to pitch recyclables. Another idea is to make a small sign to hang by light-switches to remind folks to turn them off. Sometimes we all need a little reminder to get things done.
6. Get Crafty ~ Take a walk and collect items from the ground like leaves, dandelions, pine-cones and such. Then use a glue gun (with supervision) and the inside of a Cereal Box to create a Nature Collage. Another idea is to find smooth rocks and paint them to make pet rocks!
7. Feed the Birds ~ Make bird feeders with peanut butter (or another type of nut butter if allergies are at play), pine cones and bird seed. Tie a string at the top of the pine cone, spread peanut butter all over it and then sprinkle bird seeds all over it. Then hang the bird feeder in the yard and watch the birds go to town on their lunch!
8. Support Local Farmers ~ Visit your local farmer’s market and buy ingredients to make a farm-fresh, locally sourced dinner. Get your children to help you prepare the meal and talk to them about the importance of supporting farmers and eating healthy foods.
9. Clean Green ~ This is something that’s on my list of things I want to do…I’d like to find ways to make Green cleaning supplies for the house, like laundry detergent. I’ve already started buying some environmentally friendly cleaners, but I’m endeavoring to figure out how to make some myself.
10. Read a Book ~ Visit your local library and find some books about nature and our Earth to read with your children, and then talk about why it is important to take care of the Earth and talk about more ways your family can “go green” around your house and neighborhood.
I’d love to hear of some ways your family is going green, or ways you celebrate Earth Day! Please comment below!
