Every Day is Earth Day!
This year Earth Day is a three day event, from April 20-22, 2021. This year’s focus topics include regenerative agriculture, reforestation, cleanup, environmental justice, and more! Although it spans three days this year, the official day is April 22nd. Read all about this year’s Earth Day plan. There is no better time to get the family educated and involved in saving our planet, and no one is ever too young to start.
Before we jump into activities that get your family in on the environmental action, let’s make sure they understand what’s happening. Understanding our environmental issues and the effects are challenging for adults, so the same can be true for children. Generally when we think “Save the Planet”, most are thinking about trees, but it is much more widespread. Saving our planet includes our environment, habitats, ecosystems, species, natural resources and reducing our waste, consumption, goods production, and manufacturing. Humanity has to adopt more sustainable daily life practices.
I know “sustainability” is all the buzz, but it means to strengthen and support, and we definitely need to strengthen and show support to our planet. Our children can adopt sustainable practices, as well. Instead of going into great detail and overwhelming our children with information, the suggested films and activities are a great gateway into initiating the green conversation.
Start with these family friendly films about the environment.
- The Lorax
- Free Willy
- WALL-E
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest
- Fly Away Home
- I am Greta
- The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
- Oceans
- Earth
- Nim’s Island
These films are just the tip of the iceberg; there are plenty of documentaries but I only suggest documentaries at the parent’s discretion as some contain violent scenes.
But now that your family has a general understanding of why we should be more environmentally conscious, let’s see how we can incorporate more sustainable daily life practices.
Every Day Earth Day (Sustainable) Activities
- Plant a tree or a garden.
- Start a Compost.
- Build a birdhouse. Let them decorate and choose the bird feed.
- Start a Recycling Bin. Kristin has some tips on all of the things you can recycle.
- Show them how to upcycle food jars.
- Make it a competition. See who can shower the fastest.
- Make your own almond, walnut or cashew milk.
- Meal plan together.
- For the next celebration, make leaf confetti.
- Swap the Saturday cartoons for trips to your local farmer’s market.
- Clean up your neighborhood.
- Swap the electronics for outside.
- Go for a bike ride.
- Make seed bombs.
- Pack a lunch instead of buying lunch.
- Make household chemical free cleaning products.
- Collect rainwater for indoor and outdoor plants.
- Say no to single-use plastic.
- Spot the labels, No pesticides or antibiotics, No artificial coloring, Non-Gmo, Recycled Materials, Recyclable, Biodegradable, Organic, Vegan, Cotton, Hemp, Linen, Wood, and etc.
- Shop and Eat Local.
- Unplug appliances and electronics.
- Turn off lights.
- Get into Nature.
- Go harvest picking.
- Volunteer in your community.
- Donate, swap, or resell your unwanted goods.
- Continue to learn about the environment, sustainability, the climate, and etc.
If our families, especially our children adopt these practices now, then we may have a fighting chance in slowing or reversing major environmental concerns. Earth Day is not the only day these activities should be carried out; we can all incorporate these activities into our daily lives. Also, getting your children involved will help them feel more included, not just in your family and community but in the world, boosting their confidence and making them feel like they are making a difference, which they are.
