10 Kid-Friendly Earth Day Tips
By Ruby Roth
1. Grocery Shopping: Picking fruits and vegetables at a farmers’ market is a great moment to talk about where we spend our money, where it goes, and where it’s not going (as in factory farms). Your kids get to hold the money, hand it over to a farmer in exchange for some beautiful food, and learn the power of their purchases.
2. Errands: Turn boring chores like picking up cleaning products or shampoo into scavenger hunts looking for cruelty-free logos. Shopping is also a perfect time to point out and discuss other animal products like gelatin, leather, fur, ivory, etc.
3. Meal Prep: Give your children jobs in the kitchen. Let them help you wash salad, cut vegetables, and push the buttons on the blender. They’ll be much more inclined to try new foods when they are invested in the preparation. It’s hard to resist tasting something you’ve made yourself.
4. Snack Time: When you have your kids’ friends over, break out the vegan superfood snacks! Kids love goji berries, hemp seeds (yummy sprinkled on a banana!), coconut, and raw chocolate. Explain in simple language why you choose these snacks over others (such as neon-colored cheese-type snacks).
5. Connect with Animals: Skip the zoo and visit or volunteer at a nearby animal sanctuary or shelter. Being with animals is incredibly joyful and provides the space to talk about how animals all over the world need love and protection. The experience leaves a lasting impression of compassion towards all living beings and fosters a sense of connectedness to animals.
6. School: Show-and-tell, book reports, essays, and science projects all provide opportunities for your child to learn, articulate, and share interests in eco-conscious issues—environmentalism, animal rights, plant-based diets, etc. Learning to stand up for his or her educated beliefs, in a safe space, will boost your child’s confidence and help peers understand new ideas from a friend’s point of view.
7. Charity and Giving: Teach your children about giving. Suggest fun fundraisers for eco-friendly organizations, such as starting a penny-collecting contest between school classrooms. Whichever class wins gets to donate the funds to an animal sanctuary or the environmental cause of their choice.
8. Plant a garden: Okay, if not a full-on backyard organic garden, then plant one seed…in any container! Get any container out of your recycling bin, let your kids do the work, and watch the magic happen! Kids are much more inclined to eat a tomato off the vine or taste a mint leaf if they watch it grow and pick it themselves. Or talk to your child’s school about building an organic garden box in the [school?] yard.
9. Gifts: Give a gift that lasts forever—and doesn’t end up in a landfill. Sponsor an elephant “adoption” in the child’s name. Choose biodegradable gifts like a crystal that hangs in a window and makes rainbows or a flowering plant in a hand-painted clay pot. Prepare something vegan for the party table. Wrap gifts in brown paper and decorate the outside.
10. Politics: As an ongoing practice, ask your children what issues are important to them. Have them write a letter (whether of praise or concern) to an authority figure that represents the issue. Teach your kids about the personal power they possess to stand up for themselves and other living beings.
Ruby Roth is the author and illustrator of the children’s book, “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things.” A former elementary school art teacher, Roth found that her students were not only curious about topics like animal rights and the environment, but receptive, responsive, and eager to take action. In 2009, she created “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals,” a resource for vegan and omnivorous families alike. For more information, visit www.WeDontEatAnimals.com.
If you liked this post, click LIKE below!
3 Comments
I am so shocked that there is only one comment to this blog post! I felt this was an excellent post – to the point, full of concrete things that we can do right away. Not all CSL members may have kids, but certainly those who do not can use these suggestions with their nieces and nephews, younger cousins, neighbor’s or friend’s kids, when teaching or volunteering if applicable, etc. I would love to see more posts like this – well-organised and structured, giving specific examples in which we can act and make improvements, however small they may be, in our lives and in the lives of those around us, as opposed to some of the more esoteric posts. Just my humble opinion!
I Cant wait to do these things with my son! Thanks!
Love this list, love Ruby Roth, and love her stunning book THAT’S WHY WE DON’T EAT ANIMALS.
April 23, 2010