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Earth Day 2010

April 24, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

earth-day-activity-ideas-17 A few years back, we decided to invest some ‘extra’ personal efforts of our own, on Earth Day, to help preserve and protect our environment.

 It has become a tradition of ours, every year since.  Somehow, we’ve been blessed with perfect weather to revel in every year on April 22, as well.   This year was no exception.


earth day ideas

Typically, our Earth Day starts with heading out into our neighborhood in the late morning, with our poke sticks and big trash barrel on wheels, to clean up all of the litter we can find.

As we work our way down the side roads, people drive slowly by, and smile at us, through their puzzled expressions.  As if they are thinking, “What on earth, are they all doing?” (No pun intended. lol).  Some actually roll down their windows, and ask us out loud.  Others get it right away and already know and say, “Are you cleaning up because it is Earth Day?”….to which all the kids say in unison, “Yesssss.”  And they usually say something like, “That’s so niiiiice.  Thank you.”  And again in unison they say, “You’re welcommmme.”

earth day ideas It’s downright sad, to easily find all we do.

We know some escaped the back of a truck on the way to the dump, or blew off someone’s deck by accident, etc.

earth day ideas

We also know how many people just carelessly toss out their vehicle window, anything they are done with.

earth day ideas

We love the part where we get to our beach.

earth day ideas

We don’t find a whole lot of trash on the shore, but some.  There are often adults, settled with their chairs and blankets at the beach, on (school) days as warm and fine as these.  So most of them strike up a conversation with us.  They first group thought we were a real crew, hired to clean up the beach, because of their colored shirts.  But the kids explained, they were trying to wear “Earth Day colors”.  Then they got it…”Ohhhh.  It’s Earth Day….that’s right.”

I know the awareness of Earth Day has slowly grown since the 1960’s.  But it seems we have a ways to go!  For ALL to be aware not only of Earth Day, it’s history and purpose, but to contribute to it’s success every day of the year, through our daily habits.  That’s the goal.

earth day ideas

earth day ideas

For us, our rituals of global love include not only cleaning up, to beautify our environment….

earth day ideas

….but appreciating the beauty and Creation by God already all around us.  Like this huge sea snail I spotted in the rocks, left behind by the receding tide,  as we made or way down the shoreline.  O.k., ‘beauty’ may be a stretch, for a sea snail.  Sure, in it’s shell, it verges on pretty.

earth day ideas

But I am quite sure, out of it’s shell, it’s about as ugly and nasty as the dickens.

earth day ideas The kids studied the sea snail meticulously….

earth day ideas

…and had lengthy discussions about how interesting it was. And big!  Then they decided it would be kind, to return the snail to it’s safe-haven home:  the sea.

earth day ideas

So that’s just what they did, even though it was a bit of a hike to the water line, as the tide was going out.

earth day ideas

But the sea snail seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, or perhaps a thank you, as bubbles quickly rose from it’s shell, to the surface of the water.

earth day ideas

Like any gorgeous weathered day around here by the shore, it’s hard not to feel so blessed, and amazed, at all God has created, for us.  We sure do love it.

Soon, we headed home, ate some lunch, and later on, baked some Earth Day treats!  Cupcakes.

earth day ideas

The cupcakes were deviled food cake mix, aiming for an earthy color.   Then we colored ‘whipped’ vanilla frosting from a can, and got creative.  Going with the whipped was a wise choice.  It was so easier to work with.

I do love the “EARTH” ones, that Michael/Daddy did.

earth day ideas

Michael, {A} and I designed the rest.

earth day ideas

earth day ideas

These 2 were a couple of my favorites.   By sight, and bite.   : )

earth day ideas

Our Earth Day has been  as simple as this, but I have some bigger ideas for the future.  We know many others do special things on Earth Day, and still others do nothing special, but are just good “earthlings” all year long.  (And we appreciate that!)   Did YOU or your kids do anything in particular, at home or at school, for more global awareness, appreciation or nurturing, on Earth Day?

Year round, we try to recycle, conserve energy (for our bills too, lol),  reuse materials, and do other clean-ups on our street now and then, and we never, ever litter!  (We also let anyone we see littering, really ‘have it’.  “Excuse me. Pick that back up, please. NOW!!! <throat clear>. Thank you.”)   Michael wants to put a rain barrel in the ground, to use for watering our gardens.

We hope you had a wonderful EARTH DAY!!  Feel free to share with us anything about your day this year, or any and all tips or habits you use throughout the year, that benefits us all, as we preserve and protect the beauty of our world, together.

(P.S.   After commenting, don’t forget to visit the Home Page!  XO)

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Filed Under: Elementary Homeschooling, Field Trips, Homeschooling, Life In General, The Big Picture, Traditions Tagged With: don't-litter, Earth Day, earth-day-activity-ideas, earth-day-cupcakes, Earth-Day-neighborhood-clean-up, earth-day-snacks, homeschooling, homeschooling-earth-day

Earth Day

April 23, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

  earth day neighborhood trash clean up

As most of you probably know, Tuesday April 22 was Earth Day.  We knew this day represented an opportunity that was full of teachable moments.

The first thing we decided to do about Earth Day, was go out and clean up our neighborhood.  Daddy even made the kids each their own poker sticks!… so they didn’t have to pick things up with their hands too much.  They were so excited to get out there, and get to work!

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While we had noticed unsightly trash on the roadsides before, once we got to cleaning it up, it amazed us just how much there was around, sticking out of leaf piles and strewn about here and there.  What my husband and I really smiled about, was hearing the rumblings between the kids, about how they just couldn’t believe people would throw trash on the ground, and ruin God’s beautiful Creation.  {S} said to me at one point, as he proudly brought more ugly findings to the barrel, “Mama, God is really happy with us, for cleaning up His world. Right?”  And I confirmed his thoughts.

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The kids were so into it, as we all worked together, making a difference in our neighborhood.  They were obviously enjoying every bit of it, but I really cracked up when I happened to notice that everyone had their own yucky expression on their faces, as they worked.  Even us grown ups!  It was a yucky job, and just hard to comprehend the mess around.

Our barrel filled up with little things pretty quickly, and towards the end we found some larger items that barely fit on top:  a huge gas can, a full unopened jug of tiki torch fluid (?), a real estate sign, and if you can believe it……

earth-day_7

…..a bike we had noticed in the woods for many days. It was in pretty decent shape too.  (We later called the police to come pick it up as found property.)

We all walked back home with the sense of a job well done, and enjoyed the cleaner view around us as we did.  The kids didn’t want to stop cleaning up, but our barrel was full, and we had other projects (and work of our own) on our day’s agenda.  We promised them we would head out again soon.

 

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When we got home, we talked about other ways we can care for the gifts and blessings of the amazing and beautiful world God has given us.  We discussed the importance of turning off lights when we leave a room, not letting the water run as we brush our teeth, recycling everything we can, trying not to buy more than we really need to meet our needs, and how there is always more ways to contribute to what is best for our global environment.

Then the little ones colored an Earth Day page.  We all got a hardy chuckle out of {O’s} picture, with all of the skin going on there. (See below, middle). I mean, talk about really relying on your natural resources!!  All we could see was shoes on the girl!  But {O} cleared up our  in-accurate assumptions (with a tad of disgust with us), and assured us that the girl did indeed have clothing on behind the globe. She said she had on “a tank top and shorts, or something”.  (Phew! )

earth-day_9

We are going to start trying to use the blank backs of most of our coloring pages from now on, starting with these.  We aren’t the greenest family around, although we are greener than some. : )  In researching about other ways we can do better, it was nice to realize we are doing many things right.  But we also noticed areas where we can do better, and more.

To wrap up our Earth Day projects, we had Devotion & Cocoa.  Family Devotion is something we do every day, and I plan to post about this wonderful bit of our day that we all look so forward to, and the books we use for it.  But the cocoa was a bonus treat today!

To our surprise and delight,  the Scripture and discussion in our Devotion book was Earth Day themed!  It really helped review and round out all of the lessons of our day, and had a beautiful closing prayer I thought I would share with you.  We hope you had a wonderful and Happy Earth Day too!

Creator of all, thank you for the beautiful world You made. Help me to live in a way that shows love and respect for You and for Your creation.  Amen.

 

 

Filed Under: Homeschooling, The Big Picture Tagged With: Earth Day, earth-day-activity-ideas, earth-day-trash-clean-up, erth-day-for-kids, homeschooling-earth-day

We are wicked happy to have you here! We hope you find much inspiration, help, humor and enjoyment here.




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