Earth day is a wonderful time to begin to talk and continue to enforce the building blocks of saving our planet. Help to strengthen your child’s willingness to want to help, be responsible and feel “big”.
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. Draw pictures with your child and role model using the other side of the paper, show them how to use all parts of the paper with leftover space. Chose the best ones and suggest the rest can go in the blue bin for recycling so they can use it to make more paper for future pictures.
Make your own recycled paper! Families who have older children can even try to make their own recycled paper from old scraps.
Indoors: Read books, magazines, websites and newspapers and learn more about the earth. Conserve energy and save water by letting children find dripping faucets; only running the dishwasher when full; taking short showers; turning the water off while brushing your teeth; turning off electrical items when not in use; doing full loads of laundry only. Recycle cans, bottles and newspapers.
Outdoors: Plant a tree. Plant a garden. Clean up roadside litter. Create a habitat by putting up a birdhouse. Build a compost for food scraps, leaves and lawn clippings. Save rainwater and reuse for outdoor gardens.
At School: Urge teachers and administrators to do activities for Earth Day and every day. Suggest ideas for projects: write poetry; create environmentally-themed music; have an environmental poster contest. Check to see which sources of electricity you can conserve in your school (electric pencil sharpener, lights on in rooms not used, etc.) and keep a chart about how many ways you saved energy.
At Work: Make a company Earth Day resolutions list. Conserve paper and electricity. Close shades in the summer to prevent high heat in offices. Don’t use air conditioning all the time. Recycle cans, bottles and newspapers at the office.
While Traveling: Visit parks and nature centers. Visit a maritime museum. While on a drive, have children count how many things might be polluting the air, land or water, and then research if anything is being done to correct the problem.
What children learn now through repetition, proper role modeling and experience will make the difference in their future, save our planet and give them a bigger sense of pride and accomplishment.
