ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Why not make a difference this New Year.

Practice the five R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink and Refuse and help celebrate our environment and make a New Year resolution to teach our Eco Kids to be "Green!"  

Recycle.... aimed at encouraging children to practice eco-friendly activities, begin with simple recycling of household goods.

Place a recycle bin in close proximity to the kitchen trash area and label the recycle bin with colourful pictures of items the children normally use that can be recycled. Things like juice boxes,and even cereal boxes can be easily drawn into colorful photographs to encourage children to recycle.

In the days following the New Year's holiday, begin focusing on becoming a "Green" Family working to instil eco-friendly activities into everyday activities of daily living. As a unique New Year's resolution, consider a resolution aimed at family unity and collaboration.

Beginning with a few unique activities, applied to the indoor family life as well as the outdoor life, will provide for a great activity to bring each member of the family into a common goal while instilling a sense of conservation and well being to the children.

As a further promotion of an eco-friendly New Year's resolution, when venturing outdoors, encourage children to use bicycles. With the hustle and bustle of every day life, many children and parents are in a rush to keep appointments. While life can be extremely busy, consider encouraging children to use bicycles as a quick alternative to vehicle transportation to destinations such as homes of family and friends and even to school, always accompanied by an adult bike rider.

In terms of family activities, plant an eco friendly garden with your children as a New Year's resolution. Visit a local re-sale store and purchase a push mower which will provide children with a lesson in conserving gasoline, reducing pollution and provide for some physical exercise while creating a beautiful lawn.

 If you don't already have a compost and worm farm, now is the time to start them.

Replace all bags with reusable - library, school lunch etc. (Just imagine if every child at your school replaced their families bags with reusable alternatives).

To conserve water, collect bath water, sink water and even rainwater and use the water to irrigate lawns and water flowers. Recycling water will provide for a reduction in water bill expenses and reduce the energy and costs associated with city water services.

Global Change Activities for Eco Kids

As a family, this New Year, if you own pets, consider providing shelter and food which is also eco friendly to animals. Cats should remain indoors as, historically, a cat may be detrimental to natural wildlife. For animals that are outdoors, provide fruit bearing plants and a receptacle for collecting rainwater in an effort to provide for improved dietary health and reduce the costs associated with purchasing animal friendly foods.

This New Year, working as a family unit to encourage the practice of creating and committing to New Year's Resolutions, while also instilling the values of conservation and care of the environment, will teach children two unique life lessons.

Motivate all your friends to take action now. Organize a neighbourhood beautification program for your community, and you and your friends can take the first shift to set the example. You can also start an email campaign to local, state or federal officials to work toward change in areas like clean-air initiatives and wildlife protection.

Nothing gets people inspired like seeing the real beauty of the earth. Host a viewing party of a nature program like Planet Earth, and show your party guests what we'll be missing if we don’t start living smarter.

Don't forget to teach the youngsters the importance of preserving our resources. Help them with arts-and-crafts projects like making candles by melting down old bees wax crayons (Adults only - hot wax is very dangerous around children) and re-using paper bags as canvases for artwork.

Buy locally (organic) when it comes to your party eats. Supporting local farmers cuts down on the energy needed to ship the food as well as the waste that comes from packaging.

Finger foods are always great for parties and reduce the need for plates or dishes. Serve fruits and veggies that are fresh from the organic farmers' market or from your organic veggie patch and fruit trees!

Bring out the real china and napkins and tablecloths for New Year Teddy Bear picnics or for Fairy Tea Parties.

You might make a poster showing the six points of the  Audubon healthy yard pledge Reduce pesticide use
Conserve water
Protect water quality
Remove invasive exotic plants
Plant native species
Support birds and other wildlife on my property

Recommended Books

Story books are a great way to help children understand their role in the environment, but which stories are best?  

"The Great Trash Bash" by Loreen Leedy
"The Earth And I" by Frank Asch
"The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss
"Dinosaurs to The Rescue" by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

"Uno’s Garden"
by Graeme Base (Viking) 
Leaf Litter: Exploring the Mysteries of a Hidden World
by Rachel Tonkin

Childsake - Over 350
Nature and Environmental Books
for children of all ages.

Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children
by Carol Petrash (Author), Donald Cook (Illustrator)

Brimming with stories, poems, songs, and eco-friendly things to make and cook, All Year Round offers itself as a friendly guide to the seasonal round of festivals. Arranged by season, each chapter includes a calendar of holidays to celebrate.
"All Year Round" (Lifeways)
by Ann Druitt (Author), Christine Fynes-Clinton (Author), Marije Rowling (Author)
 

Web Sites

I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I've come here to celebrate Earth Day, so please
Come join me and help spread the message I bring.
Be a friend to the trees and to each living thing.

Starfall.com
The best interactive site to help teach your children to read. Thierry just loves to guide himself all around the stories etc, his favorite is Earth day - where he helps clean up the rubbish.

Welcome to recyclezone, the site for schools, children and ... Although this site is called recyclezone, recycling is only one of the things we can do about ...

Sustainability resource for kids providing fun and entertaining ways to learn how to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink in the areas of waste, water, ...

Find out what happens to garbage and why recycling is important. Includes a game and other activities.

US Environmental Protection Agency's site for kids. Lots of fun and interesting things to read and do to learn about the environment.

Kids Recycle! is a project of the GrassRoots Recycling Network.

This interactive Web site is designed to teach children about the importance of recycling and solid waste management (or how we take care of our garbage!).