Go Green for Earth Day

We only have one planet, so it’s vital that we care for it properly. To celebrate our amazing Earth and focus on collaborating to solve some of our greatest environmental concerns – including pollution, natural disasters and waste – we celebrate Earth Day the 22^nd of every April.

The first recognized Earth Day was in 1970, and it now mobilizes over 1 billion people across 190 countries each year. Leaders and citizens across the world come together to volunteer, spread the word about environmental issues and make our world a better, more sustainable place to live. No one is too young to go green this April – so find out how to get the children in your life involved!

Make Every Day Earth Day

Waste is a common problem in our world today. While the best way to eliminate waste is to reduce consumption over time, that’s not always possible. Thankfully, there are strategies to keep our planet clean. Reusing something is as easy as finding a new purpose for an item that you already have, while recycling is making the object into something else entirely. For the greatest impact, try to first reduce the amount of trash created, then reuse items you have and follow up by recycling materials that cannot be repurposed – trash should be a last resort!

There are countless opportunities to teach kids to reuse items. At Camp Invention^®, we repurpose objects like cardboard and containers for prototyping our inventions. This first model of an idea is a vital step in the design process, practiced by innovative campers and the world’s greatest inventors alike. Children may also be interested in reusing items to create crafts, toys or decorations. By encouraging kids to be creative, we can help them find many ways to use an object outside of its original purpose.

If you cannot find a secondary use for an item, help your child recycle it! Have them look for designated bins – often blue or green in color – that get picked up, taken to a recycling center and transformed into something new! Recyclables can be turned into outdoor playgrounds, clothes, bags and more. Be careful to pay attention to what items your area accepts in their recycling program; common items include clean plastic, paper, cardboard and aluminum.

Try Eco-Friendly Activities

To get their creativity flowing while helping the planet, here are a few ideas for kid-friendly STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities that use recyclable materials to make cool projects. Let your child’s interests guide their use of recyclables!

• What would you do with a Foldibot? Find out!
• Have you ever wished for something that doesn’t yet exist? Invent something from nothing!
• Do you feel empathy for animals and nature? Take on the wildlife engineering design challenge!

After trying out a few of our challenges, curious kids will be eager to find their own ways to reuse materials.

Uncover More STEM Fun

For more fun ideas on ways to introduce your child to STEM concepts, we invite you to visit our STEM activity blogs.