Happy Earth Day!! I had hoped that today would be beautiful and sunny for some fun Earth Day outside activities...but it's a down pour, so we'll have to keep it inside. We are going to have a "GREEN" scavenger hunt, Elias is going to hunt around the house and see how many things he can find that can be recycled! He'll have a great time, he love to recycle...one of his chores is to get all the recycling, put it in the recycle bin and put it out on trash day...which he loves:)
I have some fun crafts planned, I found a get link that has TONS of fun Recycled crafts for kids
Here are just a few crafts:
Coffee Filter Earth:
Why not make this simple Earth picture craft. An easy painting project all ages can enjoy. You can also use the same techniques to create your own planets.
Age Guideline: 3 Years and Up
Time Required: 15 minutes (Does not include drying time)
The above age and time guidelines are estimates. This project can be modified to suit other ages and may take more or less time depending on your circumstances.
Materials Needed:
Coffee FilterFood Coloring, Blue and Green
Wax Paper
Instructions:
Lay a piece of wax paper down on your work surface. If you like, find a picture of the Earth for reference. Lay the coffee filter onto the wax paper.
Now you can 'draw' a picture of the earth on the coffee filter by using drops of blue and green food coloring. Add one drop at a time and watch how the colors spread. Once the entire coffee filter is colored, set it aside and let it dry.
The dried earth picture can be hung up in a window or attached to the front of a Happy Earth Day card!
You might like:
Make a Plant Person!
You can make a funny "person" with a head of gorgeous green "hair!" Your plant person can sit in a small plastic lid or plate in your kitchen and you can watch his hair grow each day!
You'll need an old nylon stocking, some soil, 2 tablespoons of grass seed, thumbtacks and a twist tie.
First, cut the foot from the stocking and pour the grass seed into the toe. Add soil until the foot is full. Now tie the stocking tightly at the opening using the twist tie, and place it on the plate with the twist-tie side down.
Push in thumbtacks or cloves to make eyes, nose and mouth- or you can use fabric scraps or permanent ink markers. Soak your plant person with water and place in a sunny spot. Moisten it every day. When the "hair" grows, you can cut it in funny haircuts with scissors!
Recyled Crayons
Create uniquely shaped, multi-colored crayons by recycling crayon stubs!
You'll need to peel all of the paper off of the crayons, and place them in a non-stick muffin pan, filling to ½ inch from the top of the muffin molds.
Put the muffin tin in 250 degree oven. Turn off the heat when crayons have melted, but do not remove the tin! Allow the oven to cool completely before removing crayons. For the best rainbow effect, do not move the muffin tray until crayons have cooled completely .If colors mix while hot they become one muddy color instead. Tap the bottom of the tin to make the crayons pop out.
If you'd like solid color crayons, then place only 1 color in each muffin cup.
Juice Box Boat
Why not make a bath time or outdoor toy out of that empty juice box? Its easy and fun!
Just lie the juice box on its side and cut a small "x" in what is now the top. Insert the straw. Now cut a triangle sail out of card stock or construction paper. Punch a hole at the top and bottom of one side of the triangle.
Now decorate with markers or stickers and thread the sail onto the straw.
Recycled Box Village
Don't throw away those cardboard boxes! There are so many things you can make with them!
Here's just one idea- Make your own box village! Use assorted cracker and cereal boxes and empty milk cartons. An adult should use a craft knife to cut off the bottom of the boxes. Then, make siding for each "building" by tracing around the sides onto a sheet of construction paper.
Cut out the individual pieces and glue them onto the cartons. For the roof, cut a paper triangle from a contrasting color. Fold the roof over the top of the carton and glue it in place.
Draw on windows and doors with markers and cut out the openings with a craft knife. Finally, decorate the buildings by gluing on paper of fabric scraps or coloring with markers.
Arrange your village!
Invent an Insect
What does a doodlebug look like? Its all in your imagination when you create your own crazy critters! This is a great craft for kids of all ages, and you probably have everything you need in your house right now!
You'll need an empty egg carton, scissors, glue, and decorations.
Cut 3 linked sections out of the egg carton to make an insect body. Then glue on the insect's other parts using miscellaneous items you find around the house! Use traditional item like pipe cleaners, pom-poms, googly eyes and yarn. You can also use some more unusual items such as toothpicks, candy, pasta shapes, straws, packing peanuts, buttons, peanuts, etc. Be creative!
Lunch Bag Kite
Make your own paper bag kite with your recycled lunch bag and some string! Kites were invented 3,000 years ago in China, and they spread around the world from there. Today, kites and kite festivals are a part of the traditions in many countries and are a wonderful outdoor activity!
To make your lunch bag kite, cut 5 1-yard long pieces of yarn or string. Take 4 of the pieces and tape or staple each one to a corner of the open side of the bag. Tie the loose ends of the 4 pieces together. Tie the 5th piece (for holding the kite) to the end of the 4 knotted strings.
Decorate your bag with crayons or markers and by gluing on ribbon, wrapping paper, or tissue paper. Attach a streamer to the bag's bottom and run with it!
Butterfly Garden
Butterflies appear in gardens where there are lots of good plants that they can live and feed on. Many of these are wild plants and flowers that are easy to grow!
To plant your butterfly garden select seeds and plants that are known to attract butterflies, keeping in mind what you would like to see in your garden. One plant that is a known butterfly attractant is the Butterfly Weed! In fact, they are so well-loved by butterflies that they were named for them! Butterfly Weed is a relative of milkweed that has bright orange flowers in the summer.
Some other flowers to plant: zinnias, day lilies, phlox, lavender, and thistle. Once your garden had bloomed, and is full of butterflies, you can make a net to catch your new friends in!
Butterfly Net
Examine beautiful butterflies and other small creatures with help from this easy to make net!
You'll need a plastic mesh bag (like the kind you buy onions in!), pipe cleaners, a cardboard tube (like the one from a roll of wrapping paper), scissors, tape and markers.
First, cut the clamp off the end of your mesh bag. (leave 1 end clamped) Next, make a rim for your net by twisting together the ends of 2 pipe cleaners. Thread the pipe cleaners in and out along the top edge of the mesh bag. When you're finished, secure the ends of the rim with a piece of tape.
For a handle, use your cardboard tube and cut a slit on each side. Then insert the rim of the net into the slits and tape it in place. Decorate your handle with markers, crayons or stickers! Now you're ready to go out and explore!
When you find a butterfly, examine it quickly, and then draw it. After you let the butterfly go, you can look it up in a book, or on the Internet, to see what kind it was. You can even make your own butterfly book!
Turn Trash In To Treasure
Reusing recyclable materials has never been as much fun as now, because its true- one person's trash is another person's treasure! Collect a variety of items such as egg cartons, plastic containers, Styrofoam packing pieces, six-pack rings, etc. Now get some of your standard craft materials, like glue, scissors, yarn, paint, pom-poms and wiggle eyes. See how many "treasures" you can create out of "trash!" Use your imagination and have fun!
Here are some links to check out!
http://holidays.kaboose.com/earth-day/
http://www.planetpals.com/earthday.html
We'll also have a crafty "green" afternoon with Daddy gets home we are going to build a new Compost box, it will be so fun for Elias and the twins to be involved with it...plus I'm really excited too!:)
This "Green" weekend we are going to get our Garden planted. Yummy Tomato's, peppers, onions, lettuce will be in it for sure. We are going to let Elias choose some veggies that he would like! What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Have a happy Earth Day!!!
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