1. Teach your child about bees and pollination. Beth is terrified of bees, but we try hard to teach her about how much bees do for our environment. We taught her about pollination and how we need the bees to help pollinate flowers to grow fruits and vegetables. We stop often at flowering trees and bushes to watch the bees collecting pollen. When we heard about the Cheerios campaign to #BringBackTheBees, we went to their site to sign up to receive free Cheerios wildflower seeds. Our seeds will arrive in 4-6 weeks and we will go plant them for the bees.
2. We watch National Geographic on TV. Beth is learning about animals and ecosystems all over the world. She can tell you which continent each animal comes from and what type of ecosystem it requires.
3. Incorporate some STEM projects and teach your child about alternative energy sources by conducting fun experiments. You can make s’mores in a simple solar oven. Simply take a cardboard box and line the inside with aluminum foil. Next, place your assembled s’mores inside the box and cover the top of the box with plastic wrap (to help good in the heat). Place your box in direct sunlight with the top of the box propped open at an angle to help direct extra sunlight into your “oven”. You will be eating a gooey s’mores in no time! There are lots of fun activities you can do at home using alternative energies. Just do a search on Google or Pinterest for “alternative energy activities for kids”.
4. Start recycling or build a compost bin and create your own fertilizer. Bonus points if you use it to create a garden with your child! You can use a compost to teach your child about reducing waste and recycling. There are simple compost bins that can be built in a day. If composing seems like too much work, at least start a recycling bin (if you don't already have one), and teach your child about recycling. In addition to your regular paper, plastic, etc. recycling bin, we have a battery recycling bin. We make sure to always put dead batteries in the bin for recycling and take them to a recycling center or our neighborhood recycling day. Batteries leach horrible tiffin's into the earth when they get sent to the dump.
5. Teach your children about conserving water. Show them how to turn the water off while they brush their teeth or wash their hands. I grew up in Arizona, and we had to be ultra water conscious there...in the desert, water is a precious commodity. We try to make sure that Beth pays attention to water consumption and never leaves the faucet running without being used.
