Kids with a conscience for our planet

Did you know it's blog action day? Over at The Action Blog you can find out lots more about it. But in brief it's the day where bloggers around the web are going to unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Their aim for BLOG ACTION DAY is to get everyone talking towards a better future. That's cool in my mind!

Most people who read this blog know that we're a little green. For a start we have a few thousand wriggly pets in the Wormery. We could be a lot greener ofcourse and we do try but if everybody just tried a little bit, then somehow it would surely make a difference... Maybe not, but as my dear Nana used to say, if you don't try, you'll never know. This post is not about food but it's the article I wrote for The Daily Tiffin today.

Without taking away that wonderful optimism and naivety, or making life thoroughly boring for our children we can still teach them to have a conscience about our planet. Recycling is a great place to start and there are many ways in which you can do this everyday.

In the UK we have a great resource in the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle website.

Reduce the amount of the Earth's resources that we use.
Reuse don't just bin it, could someone else make use of it?
Recycle Can the materials be made into something new?

You can find all sorts of information which doesn't just relate to the UK. Some great links can be found on the following page which is part of the site. Fun Green Sites for Kids

Here are a few ways that you can do your bit to help.

5 Small ways you can involve your children to reduce the amount of the Earth's resources that we use, include:

1.Turning lights off when you leave a room.
2.Don't throw out old toys - Give them away to charity. (A winning situation all round!)
3.Do you know somebody that could make use of those outgrown clothes that have only been worn a few times?
4.Turn the tap off while brushing teeth.
5.Turn a piece of paper over and use the other side instead of getting a fresh piece.

5 small things you can do with your children to re-use everyday household items for arts and crafts materials. For example:

1.Washing up liquid bottles make great rockets or turrets for castles.
2.Shoe boxes can be decorated to make, among other things, great keepsake boxes.
3.Kitchen Roll Holders can be decorated and then worn on arms, they're known as power bands in our house, because it's full of boys, girls would probably prefer to call them pretty bangles and decorate them in an entirely different way.
4.Yogurt pots can be decorated and used as mini plant pots. Good for cress heads, instead of using eggs.
5.Cereal boxes, cut the top off, decorate, then use as storage boxes.

5 Small things you can recycle so that materials can be made into something new, include:

1.Jam Jars
2.Plastic Milk Cartons
3.Old paper that can't be used for drawing or painting
4.Cereal packets
5.Old birthday, Christmas or other celebration cards

It's really important and so easy for our children to learn to have a conscience about our planet. I don't need to bore you with the details of why.

Tomorrow - We'll be back to food and still with Britain. Among other things, ham and peas pudding. Maybe some promised lemon drizzle cupcakes and flapjacks -are they British?