8 Family Activities for Earth Day ...

Give something back to the earth with one of the easiest family activities for Earth Day by creating your very own compost heap in your backyard. You can use anything from old orange peels to dead plants and various decaying garden scraps. A compost heap is a much better way of dealing with kitchen waste and makes a great fertilizer for your garden growing projects later on.

For some family fun on Earth Day, join up with a local volunteer group. It brings people together in the spirit of work and helping others. Pick up the trash around your local neighborhood, plant some trees in the local park, or just form your own group and help some of your more elderly neighbors.

Part of raising Earth Day awareness is understanding what you’re doing to the planet through your lifestyle. The official Earth Day Network website has a footprint calculator which you can use to discover how your family’s daily life impacts the planet. The results of this interactive quiz are quite a shocking revelation for younger people and a great way for them to understand environmental issues.

Constantly going out to eat at the drive-thru is a way to increase your carbon footprint. It adds more packaging for landfill. Have some family fun on Earth Day by baking or cooking something tasty in the kitchen. Choose food with a minimal amount of processing and spend a little extra on local produce to cut down on food miles and help your local food producers.

Try to have a green afternoon out. One of the best family activities for Earth Day is to enjoy a green picnic. Pick a local destination and walk there to keep your pollution levels down. Use biodegradable tableware to reduce waste, and consider taking your trash and allowing it to decompose in a compost heap.

The best way to promote Earth Day is to create something yourself. Plant a seed in your garden and watch as it eventually sprouts into a fully grown tree. It helps your garden’s local ecosystem, and if everyone does it you could find your area full of diverse and interesting plant and animal life. Try to stick to plants which can survive in your local environment as they require a minimal amount of care, whilst providing a good home for local birds and insects.

Raise Earth Day awareness by investing in education. There are websites like Planet Pals which have an abundance of information about Earth Day and its origins. Help other children understand by suggesting your child’s local school have a day dedicated to learning about the message of Earth Day. Activities can include anything from giving presentations to making colorful leaflets.

One of the fun family activities for Earth Day is to watch some ‘green’ movies. These family friendly movies can include anything from Wall-E to Madagascar to Finding Nemo. Another good movie is Ice Age as it displays what could happen to many species of wildlife in the Arctic Circle if the global warming situation isn’t addressed. It’s fun and it also helps your children appreciate the plight of many of the endangered species in our world.

Being conscious about the environment and doing our own little bit shouldn’t be a chore. Doing some fun family activities on Earth Day can reinforce the values you know make a difference - no matter how little. Will you be doing anything special to mark Earth Day?