How to Celebrate the 40th Earth Day, Family-Style

EE Week 2010 has come to a close, but today kicks off another exciting time in the conservation world: we’re celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day!

One of the best ways families can celebrate is by helping kids develop a lifelong sense of responsibility to our planet. Starting with a few simple activities, your family can enjoy more time in nature and engage together in unstructured outdoor play, year-round.

Earth Day Activities

Make a worm compost bin: Red wigglers will devour banana peels, apple cores, lettuce, leftovers-gone-bad, and so forth, then the worms turn their meals into black castings that make great fertilizer for gardens and houseplants.

Show your kids the importance of conserving energy at home: Have your children turn off the lights in rooms they aren’t using. Let them help you change out old bulbs in exchange for compact fluorescent ones which can reduce energy use by up to 75 percent. If every home in America upgraded just one light bulb, collectively we would save about $700 million in annual energy costs.

Learn from Lanie: This year, NWF proudly partnered with American Girl’s 2010 Girl of the Year Lanie, who discovers the world in her own backyard. Lanie can inspire kids to connect with nature through fun outdoor activities, events and curriculum materials.

Get Outside

Help get 100,000 kids outside! Join the Be Out There movement and sign a pledge to spend time outside with the kids in your life.

Click here to read 8 Ways to Get Outside, Reduce Your Waste, and Have Fun!

This week, spend time with your family and friends to build a love of the environment, together.

Photo Credit: Charlie Archambault