Earth day activities

As well, many of you should know this past Friday April 22nd was Earth Day, not only do I believe it should be celebrated every day I do try to make the day special for myself and kids.

Not only was this activity less than $5, when bought at my local Dollar Tree, it was super fun for everyone including us adults.


We started off by planting some lavender and marigold seeds which I had previously bought, so it might end up costing around $8-$10. The lavender we will eventually use to make our own essential oils with and possibly soaps or candles. The marigolds will be used outside to help deter mosquitos and keep critters from eating our garden. Both of course, will help to feed and fuel the bees which is one of our number ones when planting.

If you didn't know, bees are having a terrible time right now, with people killing them with pesticides and getting rid of a lot of their foods please look it up.. Here are a few links.

Greenpeace
BeeRaw
SaveBees

Please do not depend solely on these few links I have provided you, look into yourself and do your own research! While you're at it check into global warming and how we can change our effects on the Earth itself. We are killing our mother with no regard to her.  We must change as a whole. Share your thoughts and help people see and be the change!


Next, we made some super cool paper mache globes equipped with tiny holes to show light through with a battery operated tea light candle or a small flashlight. This was started with the use of old papers, newspapers, and magazines which we no longer needed and wanted to find a new use for. We let this dry for two days well, it could've been shorter but we had a fun filled weekend. Then we layered blue tissue paper allowed it to dry around 30 minutes and then layered on green to form our land masses. This was then allowed to dry for around 2 hours to be super sure it was ready to have holes poked in to it. Once the holes are in your ready to a super cool handmade lamp of the earth!

To make these yourself here is what you need:
Balloons
Newspaper torn into strips
Tissue paper in blue and green torn into random shapes.
"Mache Glue" (check below)
Skewer for poking holes

So, start off by blowing the balloon up to the size you would like to have, round is better though to portray the earth.  When the balloons are tied off start by dipping the newspaper into the mache glue, (I used and old butter bowl so that all the tiny hands and mine included could fit without making a super huge mess, but the mess was fun too) and laying it across the balloon. Makre sure you are learving room at the tie for popping the balloon later. Continiue to layer the news paper on, in any kind of pattern until its covered. Allow the paper to dry completely, we left ours a couple of days, but it should only take a few hours. Onces its dry take the tissue paper in blue and cover the newspaper. Do not dp the tissure paper and be a bit easier when smoothing it out as its very delicate. What we did here was dab some glue onto the news paper and then stick the tissue paper to it and then easily rub the mache with glue until the was stuck down. We let the blue dry for around 30 minutes, in the sun. Then we started adding on the green in various land mass shapes, though none were perfect to our earth, in the same fashion as adding the blue by dabbings glue until it stuck. Then we let the globes dry for around 2 hours just to be sure they were ready. Next I took a metal skewer and held the end of the balloon where the tie was so it didnt get lost inside and poked a hole so the balloon would deflate. Once the air was out I gently pulled the balloon out of the paper. Last, if you children are old enough allowing them to poke their own holes is fine, but I had to poke them for my youngest two, just take the skewer and make holes in the green land masses for adding in a battery operated tea cup candle, please do not use real candles as these are paper and are sure to catch fire. If you do not have these candles using a small flashlight should work as well.


My kids have absolutely fallen in love with theirs and the mess it took to make them.

I almost forgot we used a nontoxic edible (if you want) mache glue, which ended up making the waters on our globe look very realistic, such as waves and movements of the oceans.


The "glue" is a mixture of one part flour with two parts water since we made three balloons I used 1/4 cup of flour to 1/2 cup of water and it was enough and a little extra to complete our balloons.



This was something my kids are still talking about and wanting to make more of, now its wanting to make a paper mache pinata, which who wouldn't want to make one of those. I had an amazing time and felt so much like a kid again, it was also a good time to teach my kids about reusing and also what we can do to help the earth and the bees. Simple lessons taught with awesome crafts <3