Earth Day craft ideas, projects and resources for kids, classrooms
and scout troops. Earth Day is April 22, 2009.
Trash to treasure:The next time you're holding a bag of packing peanuts, an empty milk carton, film canister, or cereal box, look at it through different eyes-- Can it be stuffing for a sock bean bag? A house for your favorite beanie animal, a simple musical instrument or a bird feeder?
We asked some of our readers how they taught their children to reduce, reuse and recycle...here are some of the super ideas we received.
Easy Help for our "Feathered Friends"
Lend a helping hand to the birds in your area by supplying them with simple nesting materials. All you need to do is fill a mesh bag ( like the kind onions are packaged in ) with dried grass, short lengths of yarn and string, even stuffing from old furniture or feather pillow, or hair from your brush. Hang the bag in a location that the birds can safely access, watch them collect, you may be lucky enough to see their nest in one of your trees!
Make the world a beautiful place:
Read the story, Miss Rumphius -by Barbara Cooney
Afterwards, take your children for a walk in a park or around
the street. Fill your pockets with seeds. Scatter the seeds
as you walk. Perfect for classrooms and Scout troops.
Updated: A wise AmazingMoms reader shared her concerns about this project..."this could actually harm the environment by introducing species where they don't belong, thus causing them to be invasive."
Before planting any seeds, do your homework with the kids to discover
what plants are native to your area and use that as a planting guideline. What is a beautiful plant in one area, may be considered a weed in an another. I hope Miss Rumphius did her homework!
-- thanks for the feedback Katy!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Earth Day Craft Ideas for Kids
Altoid? Mint Tin Craft
Fun and unique containers are created with your empty mint tins...
instructions >>
Beanie or Webkinz House
Cut and decorate a half gallon milk carton to make a house for your favorite "teenie-beanies". I taught my girls how much pollution was created by plastic manufacturing. So now we make these milk carton houses and use cut 2 liter pop bottles to keep our collection dust-free.
If we can create our own Beanie cases, we are doing our part.
Bath Tub Fish - Milk Jug Craft
Use this fish in the tub, or make two and play catch with a bean bag!
Check to see if the edges are too sharp for your child. We used a nail file to solve this problem...instructions >>
Milk Jug Soccer
In our house we use old Plastic jugs from milk and detergent to play kick ball, float in the pool, and during soccer season we use them to practice passing kicks.
Milk Jugs for the Birds:
Use Gallon milk jugs to make bird feeders and bird baths.
They are easy to cut and can be decorated with acrylic paint,
stickers or permanent markers. The handle makes hanging on
the house or tree easy.
First-Aide Kit Tin
A perfect activity for scout troops or summer camp. Take these small kits in your purse, backpack or gar glove box.
Old to New Crayons
Save those broken crayon pieces to make a fun new colorful
and chunky crayon for little hands.
Peel the paper off of the old crayon pieces. Place paper muffin
liners into a muffin tin. Place the crayons into the muffin liners,
but not too full. Heat the crayons in a 200 degree oven until complete melted. Cool and remove.
Every day Items save you $$
I try to re-use as much of our plastic items as I can. Plastic yogurt containers are super paint cups. Cut a hole in the lid for the brushes
to reduce spilling. Then use another lid to save the paint for next time.
We also save our dish soap bottles for water toys in the summer or the bathtub.
Useful Earth Day Links for Kids
Earth Day coloring sheets and activities to further educate your kids!
Kit's Tip: It would be silly on Earth day to waste paper...
print on recycled paper, or use the the back side of another document.
Free Earth day coloring sheets from FunSchool.com
Coloring sheets, Globe Rider game and craft ideas.
Wildlife coloring pages
Birds, reptiles, mammals, insects fish...
Kids for the Earth
A kids guide to turning the Earth around.
EarthDay.gov
Links resources and activities.
Kaboose.com Earth Day Food and Fun
Celebrate Earth Day with unique crafts, recipes and more!
ECO Kids
Earth Day Canada's environmental education...games, activities and
information for kids and teachers.
National Wildlife Federation KidZone
Earth Day information, games, craft ideas, science, homework help
and so much more for kids ages infant to teen.
