Remember to....

Tomorrow is Earth Day! I hope you remembered! We went out this weekend to our local conservation club and bought some trees to plant. We are also all geared up to get some seeds planted tomorrow for part of our celebration. For preschool today, the boys helped me fill a little bag with some pea seeds and a note that read Happy Earth day Love J/Z. Teaching my boys about being earth conscious has been very easy and fun. Here are some tips to help you teach your little ones the simplicity of reducing, reusing and recycling....

Education: I think this is a major part of learning for little ones. We have a ton of nature inspiried books (i.e. I love Dirt, 50 simple things kids can do to save the earth). We love Dr. Suess "The Lorax" and also Wall-E. We do a lot of activities and crafts that involve these principles.
Water: Teach them to keep the water flow to a pencil-thin stream when using the sink. My boys bath together to save water.
Energy: Tell them to turn off the lights when leaving a room and to leave the lights off during the day. Natural sunlight is generally good enough. We also love the book "Being Wasteful" by Joy Berry. The boys really took to this lesson and talk about me being wasteful all the time-ha
Toxic Exposure: Cleaning up messy little hands? Be sure to avoid anti-bacterial hand soaps and hand sanitizers that contain triethanolamine. Anti-bacterial hand soaps have been proven to cause more harm than good because they kill beneficial bacteria as well as the bad stuff and may be leading to super-strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Hand sanitizers that contain the ingredient triethanolamine can damage liver and kidneys. Soap and water work for us!
Waste: Recycle newspapers, magazines and junk mail. You can present it as a game that involves sorting out the different types and putting them in their special bins for points. Assign a daily chore to help with the sorting and recycling. J & Z take on this job as their daily chore. Its great to see them working together for at least once a day.
Food: Teach your child how to help pick out ripe seasonal fruit and vegetables for their snacks and meals. Show them that when they have finished their fruit and vegetables, there are parts that can be composted. Involve your children in composting your food scraps, coffee grounds, etc. Get them used to seeing that food waste is not garbage but rather something that can be turned into soil to grow more food.
Transportation: Walk whenever possible. Although I live in the country now and can't really walk 5 miles into town, we do conserve our trip and plan our weekly menu and shopping needs, and go to the store once to cut back on multiple trips.