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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Holiday time is the perfect opportunity to introduce Eco kids to the wonders of the night-time sky. Summer is the perfect time to plan an adventure that they will remember well into the start of the next school year, but requires traveling no further than your own backyard. If the wheather turns, or your holiday time is in the winter season, you can create a star party inside. Plan a stargazing sleepover party for your children and their friends and help them begin to unravel our place in the cosmos.

Although this will not necessarily be a birthday party, incorporate the same elements you would in planning one. Schedule energetic activities in the beginning of the evening to help the kids burn off the last of their steam, and quiet activities to settle them down.

Serve organic finger food that ties into the party's theme and tickles their imagination.

And in the process, you can sneak in a little off-season education.

Ask everyone to arrive at 6:30 p.m. in time for a little fun and then dinner.

Backyard Eco-camping: Start the party at dusk. Set up tents in the backyard, tell spooky stories, gaze at the stars and identify constellations. For treats, have children make their own organic trail mix. Older children can have a sleepover in the tents....

All the children (and any accompanying adults) should bring their own sleeping bags and insect repellant.

Set up enough tents in your yard to accommodate all your guests. If you will have boys and girls, you can label the boys tent "Mars" and the girls tent "Venus". Later in the evening you can explain the Roman mythology behind the planets' names, and that Mars was the male god of war, and Venus the female goddess of love and beauty.

If you will be cooking outside on a barbeque, make sure it's located a safe distance from the tents.

Decide whether you will be focusing on locating planets or constellations.

Purchase a star map from your local hobby shop or telescope store.

Borrow, or rent a telescope.

Moon Walk Game - Cut out large, crater-shaped circles from brown paper bags, and number them sequentially. Lay out an obstacle course with these shapes, so that they are fairly close together, but not touching, making sure sequential numbers are contiguous. The object of the game is to have the children take turns moonwalking (jumping) over the craters in numerical order without touching them. Explain the concept of gravity, and how astronauts were able to walk on the moon.

Rocket Relay Races - Divide the children into teams and supply each team with a flashlight. Create a cutout of a quarter moon, and cover with reflective tape. Each team is a rocket and each astronaut on the rocket must race to the moon with the flashlight and back, handing the flashlight to the next astronaut on the rocket. The first team to send all their astronauts to the moon wins.

Space Song Sing Along - Begin to wind things down with a space song sing along. Before the party, practice the songs you plan to use.if the children are older, challenge them to create their own lyrics. This can also be done as a team competition

Stargazing - When the sky has sufficiently darkened, begin stargazing. Start with the moon for younger children. Progress to discussing the solar system and the planets, and try to locate as many planets as possible according to your local star map. With older children, try to identify constellations.

Constellations - Conclude the evening with a discussion of some of the more understandable constellations to children, whether or not you find them. You can talk about how sailors over the years have used the stars and constellations to guide them. And you can tell stories about the myths behind some of the constellations.

Serve a plate of moon rocks (Swiss cheese cubes)or use star cookie cutter and cut out organic cheese.

Serve a tray of Rocket Dogs(organic sausages and vege varieties for children who don't eat meat)sweet potato makes a great base and add grain and grated vege and fry / bake,  inserting a narrow craft stick into cooked sausages, and pushing the stick into a Styrofoam sheet that has been covered with foil. Position rocket dogs close enough together so that you can put organic buns on them and they will stay upright.

Make thin sandwiches and cut out shapes with star, moon and sun cookie cutters.

Make a dip (avocado blended with yogurt / fetta cheese) or a bean dip surrounded by organic corn chips/ beetroot chips and organic carrot and celery straws + snow peas etc.

Make cookies with star, moon and sun cookie cutters, platter of fresh organic fruit, go to town with the melon baller (especially if a birthday celebration, have sparklers in an upturned watermelon for the moon and decorate).

Decorations
 
Cover the food table with a black cloth and cut out silver star confetti.

Make a simple solar system model to use as a centerpiece.

Decorate the table with rocket ship models.

Make large cutout stars and cover with foil. Hang off all available trees. Add moons and suns if you wish.

You might serve fresh moon punch , the drink of the astronauts.

Favors

If this is a birthday party and you want to send the children home with favors, you might include a copy of the star map, flashlights or books on space.

If having a real sleep-over for breakfast- keep it simple and have a juice station with fresh fruit and the children create what they want to drink + moon muffins ( lovingly throw everything in - flour, oats, egg, yoghurt, chopped organic dried dates, apricots, cranberries, grated apple, zucchini, beetroot, coconut,add coconut milk / orange juice to cake consistency and bake in muffin tins) / pancakes - buckwheat flour, yogurt, egg, grated apple, mashed banana, cinnamon, sultanas and fry in coconut oil. Add a fresh fruit platter and Enjoy!

Another star theme with a difference.

Shining Star -  Let the eco kids dress up as their favorite eco conscience celeb's. Check out www.ecorazzi.co for the greenest Hollywood stars. Perhaps have the kids write emails (cut down on paper!) to their celebrity and attach their dress-up photos. (older eco kids).