This Sunday, April 22, is one of our favorite days at Colorado Moms Know Best -- it’s Earth Day!

Here are some of our favorite fun activities to do with our kids to teach about personal responsibility and contributing to our community. Better than a top-ten list, it’s our...

EARTH DAY ELEVEN: 

1.  Plant a garden. You may want to start seedlings inside until the danger of frost has passed. Create pots by upcycling trash (e.g. egg cartons) and decorate them.

2.  Pick up trash in your neighborhood park or nearby open space. Get some friends to join you and make it a contest to see who finds the most, the weirdest or the largest piece.

3.  Ride bikes or carpool to your activities for the day. Or ride skateboards or in-line skates, or walk, skip or run. Talk about using less fuel to power their world.

4. Start a compost bin. This is a fantastic way to reduce your family’s waste and at the same time create nutrient-rich compost for your garden.

5. Make shadow art. Trace each other’s shadows in the same place throughout the day. It’s a fun way to teach a science lesson about the earth spinning on its axis.

6. Calculate your family’s carbon footprint using www.carbonfootprint.com. Can you can cut back on your family’s usage? It might include things like getting a programmable thermostat or turning off lights.

7. Research how you can eat more locally grown foods. Maybe even visit a local sustainable farm.

8. Reduce plastic waste. Do a kitchen treasure hunt for plastic items and talk about what you could change. Could you buy reusable sandwich bags and water bottles? When you go out, along with your shopping bags, consider bringing metal straws, reusable lidded cups and reusable containers for “doggy bags.”

9. Reduce water use. We’re facing another drought so teaching your children to conserve is important: turn off the water while brushing teeth; replace part of your yard with a xeriscape garden.

10. Volunteer for and donate to a local conservation group. Teach your child philanthropy and help a local cause by choosing a group together and donating. Ask your children to give a portion of what’s in their piggy bank.

11. Take Action to protect the places we play with our kids! Join Colorado Moms Know Best in supporting The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) which helps protect public lands, forests and monuments and expands outdoor recreation opportunities locally for our kids and families, like our community soccer and softball fields and parks. Contact Senators Gardner and Bennet - thank them for supporting LWCF and ask them to permanently re-authorize it. See www.coloradomomsknowbest.com/blog for more information.

Colorado Moms Know Best is a network of parents standing up for our children by protecting Colorado’s outdoors and quality of life, especially our clean air.