Celebrating the Earth Day Holiday with Your Children

Each April the holiday known as Earth Day is celebrated around the world. Earth day is a day of celebrating this great big earth we live on, and a day to raise awareness of the special needs of our earth. While many people think Earth Day is all about recycling and composting your trash, in essence it is much more than that. And, because our children are the future of our planet, they are often the center of Earth Day celebrations. Having our children grow up green will help the earth stay healthy as the years go by.

There are many ways you can celebrate Earth Day with your children and spend the time teaching them about the environment at the same time. Here are some basic ideas to get you thinking on how you want to spend your Earth Day this year with your kids.

Every single person on earth, child or adult, can do their part for the environment. You can teach this to your children in very simple and easy to understand ways. From the day your child is able to turn off a light or television, teach them about wasting electricity and make it part of their normal daily routine to shut off the power when they are done with something such as a television or game. Also, teach them to always turn off lights when the leave a room. If you teach them this as very young children, then it wont be such a battle when they get to be teenagers. And, as they become teens, then it is time to teach them to use power strips and get rid of all of the phantom energy drains in their rooms.

In addition to saving electricity, your children can learn to save water by doing small things differently in their daily routines. Simple things like turning off the water while they brush their teeth or taking faster showers all help to save energy and conserve water. If each member of the household does this, it will be a good habit everyone will follow without even thinking about it.

A garden can be a wonderful way for a family to go green. Allow your children to develop a compost pile. You can compost your eggs shells and other organic waste products in your yard to keep them from ending up in a landfill. You can then use that compost as fertilizer for your garden soil. In addition to the exercise and interest that gardening provides, it also provides your children a chance to see how food is grown and used. And, as an added bonus, your children will enjoy eating fruits and vegetables which they have grown.

Finally, the absolute best way you can teach your child about nature and the environment is to spend time outdoors with your children. By getting your children interested in outdoor activities such as hiking and camping, you can ensure that they will have a more healthy life and a better respect for the world in which we all live.

If you want to take your children to a park or on a hike, try letting them lead the way and show you what they find. Children are much lower down to the ground and can show you many things that you might not have otherwise noticed. If you will be spending time outside with your kids allow for a lot of extra time and for them to explore feely.

In addition, take family camping vacations which everyone will enjoy and which will help to teach your children about the outdoors in a way they cant learn simply hiking around in a day.

As you can clearly see, there are many ways in which you and your children can enjoy the earth we live on. There is much more to Earth Day each year than a reminder to recycle your cans and bottles although that is always a good idea too.

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