*First published on FathersofMultiples.com
Earth Day is Coming!!
Start reading this in your best "movie announcer" voice!: In a world of climate change, melting ice caps, over-foresting, urban sprawl…and any other scary term that means the Earth needs humans to help it rather than take it for granted, it is more important than ever to recognize Earth Day. We want our planet to last long after we’re gone, for our kids’ kids’ kids. So, what better way to understand Earth, how it works, and how we can be good stewards for it than by celebrating a day devoted to the planet itself?
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day events in more than 193 countries are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.
For my kids, to really get them into the day, it usually means doing crafts. Earth Day crafts generally are crafts that look like … Earth. So, while that doesn’t leave a lot of variety for the content of your craft, you can get creative and form your Earth many different ways.
Here are 5 great examples:
1. Crayon Earth What’s a good lesson to teach for Earth Day? Recycling! Grab your old broken blue and green crayons and recycle them into something new. Put the broken blue and green crayon bits into a section of a muffin pan and bake them for a few minutes until fully melted. Remove them from the oven. Once the melted parts cool off and solidify, flip the muffin pan, and dump out of your new “Earth Crayon”.
Make sure you are watching small hands carefully, as hot pans and hot wax would not feel nice on little fingers. We don't want our children to grow up hating the earth because of 1st and 2nd degree burns.
2. Paper Plate Earth This paper plate Earth craft, which anthropomorphizes Earth, is a great way of showing your children that the Earth is a living thing. Living things need to be taken care of so they keep living, right? For the record he's not mad, "the eyes are red because of lava"...lol
Color or paint a paper plate to look like the earth. Unless you’re gluing googly eyes onto the plate as your eyes, you’ll want to draw in your eyes and mouth so you don’t color or paint over the spots where you’re going to put them. Once done with your oceans and continents, finish adding the face. Next, cut strips of blue or green construction paper, accordion them up by folding them over and over. Glue these to the plate as your planet’s arms and legs.
3. Hand Earth What Earth day theme does this one show? It shows that you’ve got a hand in taking care of the Earth of course!
Get another paper plate, paint your oceans and continents (leaving the center of your Earth as just ocean, for now). Once that dries enough, paint your kid’s hand green and let them press a handprint directly in the center. The hand is a continent! Now you have a craft AND a keepsake.
4. Painted Earth Rock Our Earth Day theme this time? USING the Earth to make a craft. Find a roundish rock and paint it to look like Earth. Draw in the oceans and the continents. You can even have them mark where you live, like a big map
This is a great craft because it also teaches geography, and how they relate to the world. To be just a tiny speck on a rock really demonstrates how big the earth is. Plus it makes sense to use a rock because after all…Earth rocks!
5. Holding Earth This one continues the theme that you have a hand in taking care of the Earth and being a good steward of nature.
Get a paper plate. Color it to look like Earth. Cut a red heart out of construction paper and glue it to the center of the plate. Then trace your kid’s hands in another piece of construction paper and glue those to the plate as if they’re holding the Earth.
These are just some of the crafts you can do to celebrate the day. If the weather is nice in your part of the world, think about getting outside and doing something to help the earth. How about planting a tree, or cleaning up a park?
Earth Day Anthem
The "Ode to Joy" melody by Beethoven, the official anthem of the European Union, also is performed on the Earth Day. Lyrics for the Earth Day Anthem set to "Ode to Joy" are as follows:
Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment
Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world
Now we must resolve to protect her
Show her our love throughout all time
With our gentle hand and touch
We make our home a newborn world[64]
-William Wallace
These lessons will not only help make sure that the earth is in great shape for your children, but instill in them the importance of making sure it's o.k for their own in the future.