Let’s celebrate Earth Day

In a week’s time comes Earth Day!  How are you going to celebrate it with your little ones this year?  There are so many meaningful activities to do together as a family, but what interest me the most are always those involving crafts with recycled materials.  Single-use items, such as plastic bags, water bottles, and straws, are major contributors to waste and pollution.  Apart from using less of these polluting materials, we can also make more effort in reusing or up-cycling as much as possible.  Here are a few ideas on crafts that are fun to do with the kids and you can turn scrap materials into useful objects again to give them a second life.

Make your own reusable bags

These are great alternatives to single-use ones when you go grocery shopping.  There are so many different ways to make reusable bags for every occasion from easy produce bags for fruits and veggies to pillowcase bags for daily use. All you need are some old T-shirts or some fabric scraps, and it is a fun and easy project that the whole family can participate in.

Create a crocheted rug or doormat

Another great way to use those old T-shirts that your kids have outgrown or stained is to make a rug or two out of them!!  What a great way to teach yourself (and your kids) the art of crochet, by a hook or by fingers!  Get those little digits working and the little ones will feel so accomplished when they see the result of their hard work on display right at your doorstep.

Make Earth Day crayons

Wherever there are young children there will be half-used crayons!  There are so many tutorials on the internet teaching you how to recycle remaining stubs of crayons that are too small to draw with or that your kids discard after a few uses.  But this particular idea of making them into the likeness of our planet from emmaowl.com is a meaningful way to teach the kids about reusing and recycling their own toys on this special day dedicated to the Earth.

Papermaking with your used paper

What more can we do with paper that has already been used on both sides or scraps of craft paper left over from some creative projects of the kids?  Let’s make recycled paper turning these scraps into a pulp and teach the kids about the art of papermaking.  It is a lot of work and a delicate process, but the result is the beautiful hand-made paper that the children can use again to make more artwork from it!

Above are just a few artsy ideas to remind ourselves and our kids about the finite resources we have on our planet on Earth Day.  As a family and society, our daily actions are still the best way to make a positive impact on the environment and a constant reminder to ourselves about the importance of sustainability. For more Earth Day activities that are planned in your city this year, check out this global map on the website of https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2023/. I am sure you will find a meaningful activity to join in your community no matter where you are. Let’s make a difference and contribute to a more sustainable future together. 

Stay Sparky!