Earth Day is an important day of celebration in my household.
I want my son to grow up with a sense of reverence for this great planet that we live on. I try my best to be a good role model to him in this regard — I bring my own bags to the market, I buy in bulk, & I try to consume less on the whole. But despite my efforts, I know that I still need reminders, just as he needs to be taught good habits and behaviors.
Earth Day may technically fall on a mere single day each year, but I would like my son and I to live consciously and make "Every Day Earth Day".
We spent the week that led up to Earth Day reading the following books on how we can take care of the Earth. Click on title below book to be led to Amazon site
All of these books were wonderfully written and successfully engaged my son. They offered a multitude of ways we can care for the earth - by not littering, by using both sides of the paper, by growing a garden, by turning off the lights when leaving the room, etc. The Earth Book, by Todd Parr, offered a very silly way to take care of the Earth, and it got the biggest laugh from my son, thereby becoming the most requested. I recommend all of them highly.
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| Various views of our completed project |
After reading the aforementioned books, we brainstormed ways that we would like to help the
Earth throughout the year. We called this "Our Earth Day Pledge". I
typed up the list on my computer (I found a kid font that I thought
would be perfect called "rayando". Find it for free
here).
I printed out our intentions and cut them into strips. I mod podged them
onto one of Earths we made out of paper mache (see the last post
here for directions). *
Note: for this Earth I used green paint for the land masses, not glitter.**If you don't know about Mod Podge yet, you should! It pretty much makes everything look better! Check out Mod Podge Rocks website for great tutorials on how to use it.
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| Close-up of tag hanging down |
I then hung a strip of paper tied to a fishing line down from the bottom of the Earth that said "Earth Day Pledge" on one side, and "We love Mother Earth" on the other. The fishing line was suspended from a toothpick I pushed up through a drilled hole in the Earth.
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| Full shot of Earth and tag |
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We hung our finished Earth from the ceiling in my art studio, so that we can be reminded of our pledge each day.
Let us all try to embrace ecologically sensible habits. Efforts put forth by each of us can make a difference.
Thanks for visiting!
