Every year I try to visit my children’s classes to do a quick Earth Day lesson and craft activity. This year, I had the opportunity to work with a group of third graders who were more eco-savvy and creative than most adults!
I shared with them a quick handout with some simple tips which sparked great conversation. They were especially excited to learn about the incentive-based apps. 🙂
SIMPLE TIPS TO BE A GREAT ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZEN!
- Take a shower instead of a bath
- Bring your lunch and beverage in a reusable container – we have great new water fountains here at school!
- Pick up litter – ask your parents about signing up for the School Team on the
Litterati app to earn money for our school just by picking up trash!
- Turn off lights when you leave a room
- Use both sides of your paper (not toilet paper ????)
- Recycle at school and at home. Not sure what is recyclable? Paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic is usually safe to recycle in Philadelphia. Learn more here.
- Think before you BEG your parents to buy you new things! ???? You can save resources by borrowing, sharing, or shopping for gently used items. Our school has a wonderful library for books, uniforms, and other clothes can be handed down among families, and junky toys usually end up as just more junk! Before you buy a new toy, think about how much you will really play with it – and is it something that can be shared?
- Kids can advocate for change! Your parents might like to learn more about www.momscleanairforce.com where parents and kids can visit with politicians to advocate for a cleaner world! You can also start locally and learn about the Green Team at our school.
- Other reward-based activities with incentives for easy green actions like https://drawdown.ecochallenge.org and
https://www.recyclebank.com/philacycle
I also shared a handy graphic on what to recycle from Green Philly Blog for them to bring home and hang in their kitchens.
For the craft, I needed something simple that would take less than 30 minutes. So I went with upcycling aluminum cans into pencil holders. I collected 30 cans, magazines, stickers, and scraps of wallpaper from my local Buy Nothing Group.
After handing out the supplies the kids went wild with creativity – lids, handles, extra compartments. It was really amazing to see how quickly they came up with useful and unique creations!
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