Greening the Holiday Season

Eco Kids magazine

EcoKids 1

Eco Kids Magazine

Consider the best ways to go green and save money this Holiday season. Keep things organic, simple and homemade.

When celebrating Christmas or holidays, improvise by making the best of what you have got and thankful for what you have. Invite children to join in creating a list of fun and meaningful holiday activities the family can do together and a list of kindnesses your family can do for others.

Bake Holiday organic treats, cookies, jams etc. and deliver to neighbors and elderly folk.

Get your eco kids to try homemade organic playdough, finger paint and glue and avoid toxic phthalate-laden polymer clays. If you are short on ideas, it makes sense to choose something out of nature’s recipe book for young Eco Kids - CLICK HERE for details.

It is the time of year when we all draw closer together - and that is the spirit of the season. Make the decision that presents will not be or will no longer be the main focus of the holidays.

Request that family and friends honour your fewer gifts decision by asking them to show their love for your children in other ways. A one-on-one "Holiday Date" is a welcome gift and a wonderful way for family members to form closer bonds with children.

Give children the means to give a few special gifts. Take a friend's or a relative's child shopping or help the child make a gift for his or her parents.

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Ask your children what one gift they want most and a second choice if that one is not possible. When children with a full "love "cup get one gift they really want, they hardly notice what else they do or do not get. Receiving one gift they really want satisfies more than opening ten gifts they don't really care about.

Try giving children their most special gift first instead of last. The reason children tear through opening presents and keep asking for another is that they are looking for that special one they've been hoping for. When they get their special one first they enjoy the rest more.

Eco Safe Toys

Safety. Eco wood toys will be unfinished or coated with natural colorants and materials like beeswax. If scented, check to make sure that natural essential oils were used.
People. If information is available, look for indicators of fair trade, fair wage production.
Planet. Try to get the 411 on the wood species and production process of any prospective purchase.
Local Commerce. Check online for local craftspeople in your area.

Give the little artists in your life gifts that help them to create works resembling Mother Nature’s colorful canvas. Explore the wide assortment of natural Eco art supplies:

Beeswax modeling clays in colors drawn from nature
Plant and vegetable based crayons instead of petroleum products
Natural watercolors
Paper making kits and flower/leaf presses.

The most important thing you can do to teach your children about the environment from an early age is to provide them plenty of opportunities to play outdoors. Food gardens help Eco Kids develop their sensory perception - their senses will be awakened by the smells, sights, textures and sounds. Eco Kids also become familiar with a wide range of flavors and begin to develop healthy eating practices.

Here are some 'green' Eco Kid Holiday activity ideas:

If you have outdoor space, encourage Eco Kids to plant seeds, care for them, and watch them grow. Eco Kids love to dig! Allow the world of mud pies and dirty fingers to work its magic, stimulating the senses and sparking imaginative play. With every spadeful turned, with every poke in the dirt, Eco Kids begin to make sense of the world around them. Eco Kids have a natural affinity with dirt, and it unfolds as they touch, smell and work with plants in the garden.

Create a indoor mini succulent or herb pot display. Try basil, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme and Coriander. Eco Kids can play 'guess that herb?' using only their sense of smell - no peeking! Herbs are not only easy to grow in pots, they also provide Eco Kids with sensational touch, smell and taste experience!

If you have two pots of the same shape but different in size lying around, try making a mini parterre (pot on a pot) garden. Sit the smaller pot on a bed of gravel inside the larger pot. Then using potting mix, plant some herbs, succulents or annuals, starting with the lower pot. You could also do this for bulbs.

Good vegetables for pots include Organic Carrots, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Peppers/Capsicum, Beets, Broccoli, Aubergine, to name a few. Strawberries and citrus fruit also do well in containers.

Build a birdhouse in the backyard.

For a unique gardening experience, try growing mushrooms. Their rapid growth will enthral Eco Kids and may even encourage them to eat some of this excellent source of B vitamins.

There is no excuse for cabin fever on rainy days. Go for a walk in the rain! All you need are gumboots, raincoat and umbrella. Guaranteed to lift the spirits!

Bond with them during a bike ride out in the woods.

If you live in the city, take them to your neighborhood park and observe the butterflies that come to pollinate the flowers. Tune your dial to nature’s channel as you listen for birds and watch for other outdoor critters.

You can even take them to a community garden where they can learn how others grow fruits and vegetables.

It might indeed take a bit of effort to smoothly work it into your schedule, but actively helping your child to build direct connections with the natural world instills a deep respect for the planet from their early years.

Plan a geographical expedition and take your kids to a state park for a hike or a weekend camping trip.

Talk with your children about the plants and animals they see and the things and places that you love or would like to explore.

Have them engage in drawing activities and nature journals where they can record all that they experience on your outing.

Collect leaves, bark and seed pods and create a collage on recycled paper or cardboard. Press leaves between the pages of a thick book and use for collages or abstract pictures, write on them and use in place of gift cards, make rubbings of those you like the most using a black crayon and mount on black card. They make great gifts. Or skeletonise a few of the leaves you like the best and mount them to decorate a box or photo frame for a holiday gift.

It is easy enough to infuse a child’s experience with green living values in the guise of play - everyday tasks can become a fun and meaningful way for them to live and to learn about the world that surrounds them. Getting children excited about composting or recycling starts right at home. By incorporating recycling as a normal part of Eco Kids' everyday lives, we not only help to reduce the amount of rubbish dumped into landfills but we encourage a sense of responsibility in them for the rubbish they create. Children are generally fond of routines and creating compost heaps or sorting recycling from garbage in the kitchen can be a great activity to experiment with at an early age. This type of project involvement in the home can extend into other green value practices, such as picking out recyclable items during grocery shopping trips or involvement in school or community recycling programs.

Also discuss community-based options with your child, such as volunteering some time at a community garden, which nurtures a consideration for the earth and a connection with fellow community members.

Cooking together provides an ideal opportunity to encourage Eco Kids to think green - you can teach them about nutritional health, where our food comes from, and the importance of eating together as a family.

Seek out television shows and interactive media - or better yet live theatre - that teach green living values.

Rather than relying on what is available in your neighborhood, actively suggest that environmental entertainment be incorporated into your child’s school curriculum.
Green educational opportunities outside of school also await your Green Kids - look for extracurricular activities that nurture environmental consciousness.

There are plenty of Kids’ clubs in which you can enroll Eco kids that focus on preserving the environment or saving animals that are in danger of going extinct.
Your local library is sure to offer plenty of resources ranging from books to community clubs and activities that you can explore.

Above all, have your Eco Kids do as you would do yourself. For many years now researchers have been telling us how young minds soak up information - starting from the day they're born. And as 'green' parents we all want the best for our Kids and the environment (their Kids future, depends on it). We want to give them every ounce of opportunity, experience and education that we can possibly infuse into their 'green' hearts, minds and souls.

Getting Kids away from the television and computer, and out into nature, may seem like an impossible concept at first - but you can make it happen. You'll certainly see the benefits, and we have a responsibility to our Kids and the environment to be persistent!

You are without doubt the most important person in their life, and chances are they will want to do what you do. Remember though, time goes fast, so while you have them - teach your children well! Forget about what age they are, it's never too early (or late) to introduce Eco Kids to the natural world - it's inbuilt into their hard drive and waiting to be activated, so just do it. You owe it to them! They'll thank you for it later in so many ways, and the quality time you spend with them throughout the whole process is priceless. What better gift for this time of the season.

May the Holidays fill your heart, and home with warmth.