Kids Stuff World » earth day

:: picnic in the park ::

Stacy — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:17:00 +0000

Today was one of those magical, lazy kind of days. The kind of Sunday where it’s OK to eat chocolate for breakfast and munch on cold watermelon while grinning from ear to ear. When bike rides reign supreme and the sun feels like its shining just for you. For a brief moment, I felt like a kid again and then I felt even better, watching the day unfold through the eyes of my own children. It looked a little something like this:

Tell me, how did you celebrate Earth Day?

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Found Things

Stacy — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 06:24:07 +0000

The kids and I have found a new favorite activity. I know it is a favorite because every night when I lay them down to sleep and ask what their favorite part of the day was, they say FOUND THINGS!!!

We’ve been preparing for our Earth Day project. I knew I wanted it to be something we could all participate in and something that would really help the kids to understand what it was that we were doing and why we were doing it. We talk a lot about the environment and the various ways we can do our part, but these are usually things we do in our home or in our local community.

This brings us to the Found Things. The project we’ve been doing in all of our spare time — traveling to and visiting as many outdoor spaces as we can, collecting “found things”. Found things can be anything really, neat little doo dads we find on the ground — bottle caps, squirt bottle tops, shiny things, round things, square things, you name it. Anything we find in nature that is not natural. We keep one bag for found things we want to use in our art project and another for just plain old trash we find along the way. While we’re out, we talk about the birds and the trees and the soil and the Earth and how they all work together. How everything in nature has a purpose and a place and how these “found things” don’t really belong there in the first place. We make sure to emphasize how important it is that we never discard items outside that don’t belong there.

Nature is beautiful. i love the way they see this, but now they are starting to understand how it all works together. The dots are connecting because we started composting this year, it has turned out to be a great learning opportunity. They are starting to understand all the things that can and can not be composted, and it has really translated for them to this experience as well.
These quiet moments together, outdoors, seeking and sharing have really made a difference in the way we are interacting with one another at home too. Our forest walks have taken me back to another time and place, back when I was a child on the Carolina coast searching for shark’s teeth. This may have been my favorite activity of all time and I love being able to bring that sense of wonderment and calm and mindfulness to my children. We plan to keep up our favorite new past time and I hope as they get older they will think back with fond memories of our time in the forests searching for “found things”.

Do you think you’ll try a “found things” walk with your kids?

Next up, Phase 2 of Found Things — the art project. In the meantime, please take a few moments and check out all the incredible Earth Day activities my kid blogger friends have come up with and please feel free to share a link or story in a comment of your own.

Earth Day Blog Hop

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Celebrate Earth Day Everyday

Stacy — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:15:51 +0000

We spend a lot of time teaching our children the difference between right and wrong and how to take care of a home but there’s one area I believe we could all focus a little more attention on.

How to care for the planet.

Teaching kids to appreciate the Earth & all it does for us from a very young age is the most generous gift you can give their generation. Knowledge is power and if they are equipped with the tools to lead a more sustainable life than that of their parents or their parents’ parents, then the future will be nothing but bright.

Earth Day is a great time to start teaching kids the wonders of the world, but I hope you won’t stop there. Incorporate these tips in to your family time all year long.

Here’s a few fun ways to help you get started:

1. See New Lands

No matter what country you live in or how urban your lot, there are thousands of places you can take your child to experience the glory that is nature. Do some research, let the kids get involved and plan a trip to a natural area near you.

It just so happens, this is National Park Week (April 16-24). Plan a trip to your nearest National Park and enjoy free admission and all it has to offer.

Geocaching or Boatnical Gardens are great options as well.

2. Make something beautiful

via

Do something a little bit different this year and concoct some seed bombs using native flowers from your area. Make a day of driving around and tossing them in to empty lots or places you think could use a little pick me up. Guerilla Gardening is just the kind of thing to help you bond with older kids and fun enough to score high with the littles too.

3. Have a picnic for the planet!

Picnic for the planet is an initiative started by the Nature Conservatory to celebrate the planet we live on, the food it provides us with and the people who live here. What a wonderful idea! Hit the farmers market, score some of the freshest locally grown grub and suround yourself with friends and loved ones. Doing good and giving back is what it’s all about.

There are meetups scheduled in 457 around the world!! Choose one to join or create your own. Pick any day of Earth Week since I know folks are having scheduling conflicts around Easter.

Share pictures of your event on Facebook, Twitter (#picnic11) or Flickr (tag picnic11) My family will be attending this event if you care to join us.

* Please make sure to recycle your waste and choose your utensils/paper products carefully

4. Grow Something

The best thing you can do for you family, your yard, your stomach and your pocketbook is to plant a few things to perk up your family meal plans. Love eggplant, but hate how much it costs? Grow your own!! Wish you could add fresh herbs to your meals but aren’t willing to pay the steep price tags, herbs grow great in windowsills!! and are easily cared for by kids.

5. Clean in, Clean Out

No matter where you end up spending your Earth Day, practice a little game I like to call “Leave it better than you found it”. We do this a lot indoors, but the same rules apply for outdoor spaces as well.

I’d love to give you more ideas but I am having some issues with WordPress, please be patient I have no idea how long my site will be unable to update. Miss you guys

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