Books PK-5

Earth Day Activities You Can Do At Home

April 14, 2020

This year, since we are essentially home bound and are unable to take to the streets, parks, and auditoriums, I wanted to provide you with a list of ideas you can celebrate and help our planet by doing earth day activities right in your home. But first, here is a little history about Earth Day.

History of Earth Day

Earth Day occurs on April 22nd. It provides the perfect occasion for talking with your family about all sorts of different ways they can help contribute and care for our planet. The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson who came up with the idea for a national day to focus on the environment after Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, saw the destruction of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson knew that if he could infuse the energy of anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, he could get the same support for environmental protection onto the national political agenda.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate and talk about a way for our society to create a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies.

Reference: The History of Earth Day

Earth Day Activities You Can Do At Home

Plant an organic vegetable or herb garden.
Create a rain barrel to collect water for your lawn (check local ordinances first).
Plant a perennial flower bed.
If you don’t recycle already, create a recycling center. If you already have a recycling center, take another look at how your household is using it and how you could improve your efforts.
Make a bird feeder using a milk carton or pine cones.
Create art from recycled materials. Gather extra buttons, used jars and cans, fabric scraps, pieces of yarn, and let your imagination go. Make a necklace or a bulletin board out of wine corks, or make magnets from bottle caps. Even young ones can get in on the fun with these recyclable projects for kids.
Mix up some earth-friendly cleaning solutions to replace the commercial products that you have in your cabinet.
Serve a special dessert in celebration of Earth Day, like this delicious dirt pudding. Or, serve an all vegetarian meal, such as macaroni and cheese and salad, or a vegetable pizza.
Make an Earth Day jar. On scraps of paper, write down simple, easily executable ideas and reminders that you and your family can do to be good stewards of our earth. Put the jar in a central location, and periodically draw a piece of paper and follow the instructions.

Picture Books You Can Read On Earth Day

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