Let me just start out by saying, happy Earth Day! And let me follow that up by saying that for me, last year's Earth Day was an unqualified disaster. I pretty much forgot that it existed and so made no plans beforehand. I was determined not to let that happen this year.
This year, I wanted to make sure that Stenni got a chance to celebrate and get to know what Earth Day was all about. Also, our family started working on at-home preschool about two weeks ago, and I felt like Earth Day would be a great opportunity to learn about all kinds of things that we use and do all the time. So we did lots of super fun things. We talked about recycling, littering, what goes in the trash and what goes in the compost bin and what recyclables go where (she even lectured her papa about recycling when he got home!!!). We talked about re-using "garbage" around the house (like the egg cartons we use to start seeds, and the paper scraps we keep for crafts). We did some cool Earth Day-related worksheets, including some tracing of letters (F for Flower, E for Earth, etc.) to work on preliteracy and fine motor skills. Then we planted a fairy garden, which was really awesome and a lot of fun for both of us (and the other total plus was that we got to hang out outside for a little while). Actually, I planned the garden as an Earth Day surprise for Stenni since before Easter, and bought her a giant pinwheel, a pretty hyacinth, gardening gloves, and a tiny gnome for her Eater basket. We even talked about starting seeds and dragged them all out to look at, but since the temperature continues to fall below freezing here at night on the reg, we didn't plant anything because we don't want to lose it! All in all, it was a pretty good day, and I'm glad that we got a few lessons in.
I hope that you all enjoyed your Earth Day. Did you do anything special to teach your children about stewardship of the planet, or is this just my hippie nonsense side coming out?
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