Earth Day Activities For The Kids to Help Save Money and Be Earth Friendly
What’s better than saving money? Saving money AND doing something that helps the environment! During April, much of the country celebrates and learns about earth-friendly practices (April 22nd is Earth Day). Try a few of these ideas for involving the kids this month.
Make It a Family Thing
Get the kids involved in simple activities from a young age. Children as young as preschool age can become environmental stewards. Browse these ‘Going Green’ guides for kids & teens to learn about everyday activities that can be done at home, at school and around the community. Introduce them to the ideas of recycling and reusing with some great kids books & websites that discuss being eco-friendly. There are also some wonderful family movies that share some great messages about protecting the earth.
Borrow What You Read, Watch & Play
Kids like to read, watch movies and play video games but purchasing every item they want would be a huge waste of resources. The library is a huge money-saver for families who enjoy books, magazines, movies and even video games! If the local library doesn’t have what you’re looking for, they can request it for you from any library around the world (seriously, last summer I was looking for a really old book and they found it in Europe and sent it to my library here!). You can also find tons of free kids books online for your computer, iPad or phone.
Stock Up Second-Hand
With summer coming soon, it’s great to have some fun items on hand to keep the kids busy, happy and engaged. But before you run to Target for riding toys or Michaels for crafts supplies, think about shopping second-hand. You can score some amazing items at consignment stores and yard sales in almost perfect condition. And when you purchase a used item, you are helping it to stay out of the landfills. Here’s a list of 10 Things to Stock up on For Summer Fun to give you an idea of what you can find.
Plan Ahead
As the school year comes to an end, take a few minutes and encourage the kids to save school supplies that can be used again next year. Do they really need a new set of colored pencils every year? Can they continue to use some of their folders? I frequently find that my kids use only a few pages in some of their spiral notebooks. This can be a big savings when it comes to back-to-school shopping too!
This post is by my friend Jacquie Fisher who is the author and curator of KCEdventures. KC Edventures is an online resource that provides parents & grandparents with ideas to keep kids creative, curious and connected to the world around them. (In my speak, they give you ideas that combine hands-on, with books, and places to go in Kansas City.)