4 Books to Celebrate Earth Day

We can celebrate our Earth all year by teaching our children to take care of it.

Grab a few of these books and try some activities to help your child love our earth.

Being obSEUSSed, I have to mention The Lorax story. A message about saving trees and standing up for our environment comes across to even toddler age listeners. There are newer Step Into Reading Lorax books with more current ways to help the earth.

Another new favorite is The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth. 

The illustrations in this book are so vibrant and captivating. I wouldn't mind having them framed and displayed on my walls at home. We went to a story scavenger hunt activity at the park for this book by Chris Burkard & David McClellan (Dreamling Books). 

My children loved the story of the boy who went in search of happiness. The boy searches each scene and asks to find happiness but the Earth reminded him he needs to "stand still for just a moment." I agree that sometimes we keep our children so busy playing and exploring outside but we may forget to take a moment to soak it all in and talk to our children about the beauty and importance of the earth. 

Dreamling Books, the publisher of The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth" took us on a story scavenger hunt. The kids ran to find clues around the park that led them to a prize. Parents can create their own Story Scavenger Hunt by creating small paper clues that lead to the next location then to a prize or destination (like a waterfall) at the end.

We are so lucky to live near these beautiful mountains. Our kids take it for granted sometimes. I always make a point to tak about them when we drive past them or look out the window at them. 

Our family enjoys the earth by geocaching. We go on hikes around our state or visit our local park to find little hidden treasure boxes. Anyone can join the fun using the Geocaching app. We also use a hiking GPS to find caches in remote areas without cell service. 

As we hike with a purpose, we also take time to notice the scenery, animals, bugs and other hikers. If we find trash along the trail we pick it up to dispose of properly. Our kids love these outdoor adventures. 

Old Turtle by Douglas Wood is another favorite of ours with detailed water color illustrations. The story is a fable of the way our earth was created. Animals play a big part of our earth. 

Look for animals at the park or an anima conservancy near you to learn more. Our children love our local Tracy Aviary. 

The fourth book I recommend is The Water Hole by Graeme Base. Hidden illustrations on pages get children interested in finding out why the water is disappearing on each page. The theme of this book will help you start a conversation with your child about water conservation. 

Talk about ways you can save water around home like taking shorter showers or smaller baths and turning water off while brushing teeth. 

We use leftover water in our dinner cups to water our plants.

What are some of your favorite books or activities to celebrate Earth Day? Leave a comment below.

*Disclosure, I received a free Boy Who Spoke to the Earth book in exchange for my honest review. 

Playborhood {Book Review} Creating a Kid Friendly Nieghborhood

How often do your kids play with neighbor kids? Do you ever feel like your kids are over-scheduled or in front of a screen too much?

We've all seen the need for kids to have unstructured play time with neighbors. Parents can help instigate this type of play by creating kid friendly zones in their yards or open spaces in their neighborhoods. This is the basic premise of the book Playborhood.

I had the opportunity to review the book Playborhood: Turn Your Neighborhood Into a Place for Play by Mike Lanza.

Lanza created the ultimate kid friendly front and back yard to encourage free play and shares all of his tips on how to create your own Playborhood in this book. Suggestions range from common to unique such as in-ground trampolines to an interactive large neighborhood map mural on his driveway, where kids can play life-size monopoly style games. 

I liked how Lanza incorporated books into his designs and activities. He had kids create a mosaic representing the book ‘The Big Orange Splot’ and a rock village near their play river representing the book ‘Roxaboxen.’ I also love the idea of the small book exchange mail boxes set up in front yards so kids and adults can trade books.

The Playborhood book shows examples of other neighborhoods throughout the country and research showing why Playborhoods are important.  It takes planning to create a safe and inviting Playborhood and this book compiles all of the ideas you need to start creating your own.


Here is Mike with his wife and three sons. You can see more ideas on his blog, Playborhood.
You can find the Playborhood book on Amazon.



{My Playborhood}



The past few summers I have organized a ‘park hopper’ summer calendar to invite the moms in our neighborhood to get together. We would visit different parks or go on special outings once a week.  As our kids have gotten older (not just toddlers anymore) our schedules have gotten busier and not as many moms have been able to attend. This year we decided to keep things on a smaller level and organize more play times at our homes.  Here are a few things we have done to encourage neighbor kids to come play at our house this summer.


{Stock a Summer Bucket}


 This bucket stays on our porch and is filled with;

• sidewalk chalk (don’t forget the garden kneeling pads to protect their legs)
• bubbles and bubble machine
• jump ropes
• water balloons, spray bottles, watering cans and water guns
• and hula hoops hanging in the background

All of these items get played with during play dates, or unscheduled times when the neighbors just pop over to play. We also got some sno-cone flavors to make sno-cones this summer. We like to keep our picnic table stocked with a basket of fruit, otter-pops and a water jug.


We always leave this bucket of balls outside too so the kids can start a game with their friends anytime. We are lucky to live on a cul-de-sac. Our kids pull out their trikes, scooters and bikes to ride around with their friends.  They also love our driveway because it has a long slope they can glide down quickly.


We’ve had this play fort for years and the kids love playing on it, or in the sand box underneath.


{Two-Way Radios}
My children’s favorite outdoor play items have been walkie talkies. Santa brought them this past Christmas and they have been a huge hit. Anytime friends come over they break into teams and play spies, secret agents, soldiers or other games with them. Get a nice pair and they will be worth it. We love our Motorolla brand, but search around and find some that will stand up to kid use. The neighbor kids love them, and they work across the street so they can play around the neighborhood as they get older. They are amazing for encouraging team play and imagination.
 
{Hop Scotch Step Stones}
Another thing we have done is made Hop Scotch Step Stones. My kids painted the stones and every time their friends come over they love to use this vibrant, interactive path.  We are discussing plans to move the path closer to the house (not in the middle) so we can lay gravel and create a bocce court. Our kids love to play bocce and can’t wait to teach their friends how to play.




{Water Parties}
We also have a hot tub and we invite the kids’ friends over for hot tub parties where they soak for five minutes then run through the sprinklers.  Our neighbors across the street have a large trampoline and sand box so the kids love taking turns at each others houses. No need for everyone to have a trampoline. Below they are playing with pearler beads (the kind you iron).


I hope you enjoyed some of these ideas.  Reading Playborhood got my creative juices flowing, helping me think ‘outside the (sand) box’ for more interactive and inviting activities for children in our neighborhood. 


What do you do in your neighborhood to encourage outdoor play?



*Disclosure: I received a free digital copy of Playborhood for review.