Celebrate the Earth

Tomorrow is Earth Day! Back in 1969, Gaylord A. Nelson, proposed a day of environmental education on college campuses. In 1970, Denis Hayes led students in creating the observance of Earth Day.

Pollution is still a real problem and teaching young children the importance of recycling, reducing the amount of trash they make, and reusing things is a great lesson. The biggest cause of pollution is the burning of fossil fuels. Many of the pollutants in the air are from factories, but our vehicles are also a cause of air pollution.

Right now, families are staying close to home and not driving to far. I wondered if there will be lasting effects from the decreased traffic. This is the perfect time to think of other ways to get from one place to another without the use of a vehicle. Biking, skate boarding, roller skating, and walking are great ways to get around the neighborhood. I once asked a student how they could get from one place to another and her response was, "pixie dust". What a cool idea. If only...

Creating an experiment to measure air pollution is not so easy for young learners . They would probably collect a lot of pollen, which of course could cause other problems.

How about creating something from the things you are throwing into the recycling bin? There are a ton of ideas online. On the homepage of my website, I have created a slide show of some of the possible items you could help your child create. The items shown include:

puzzle or drawer organizer from a cereal box

rain stick or rocket from a paper tube

sensory bottle or bowling pin from a water bottle

airplane or envelope from paper

houses or vehicle from a large box

robot or small building from a small boxes

car or sailboat from a juice box

pot for seedlings or pencil holder from yogurt/snack cups

collage or colorful paper art from junk mail

insects or a sorting container from egg cartons

guitar or mailbox from a tissue box

an igloo or tea light holder from a milk jug