Earth Day

Tree T !

So this was not quite what I imagined in my perfectly optimistic head, but my son liked it, after doing it we were reading a book that had trees in it and he said “Look mama, T for Tree!” I wanted to make it from mostly recycled materials, to stick with the Earth Day theme we will be doing all week. Below I have linked a reader submitted spring tree craft that would be a great add on to this activity!
  1. Gather your materials. You will need a cardboard egg carton, green and brown paint, glue, scissors, a marker and a large piece of construction paper.
  2. Start by drawing a large T on your paper.
  3. Cut a long piece of the cardboard off the top of the egg carton for the trunk.
  4. Paint the trunk brown
  5. Paint the bottom of the egg carton green, for older kids I would cut them before painting, but little guys need to have a larger object to paint.
  6. Let the paint dry.
  7. When the paint is dry enough to handle cut the egg carton into “Leaves” aka smaller pieces.
  8. grab the glue and add glue to the bottom of the T
  9. Add the painted trunk
  10. Add glue to the top
  11. Add the egg carton leaves.
  12. Let dry.
Books!

” the alphabet tree” by Leo Lionni is a stunning book. The book is all about letters that come together to make words and then after a caterpillar informs them that they need to say something they join together to make sentences. Up to this point the book is a brilliant teaching tool , but for me the best part is yet to come. When the words get together they decide to say ” Peace on earth goodwill toward all men” and then the caterpillar asks them to jump on his back so he can take the words to the president . Considering it was written in 1968 it’s quite the statement. A fantastic activity to do with your child after reading this would be to ask them what they would write to the president ? For younger children using letters on leaves you could spell out easy 3 letter words like they do early on in the story. All in all a brilliant book.

Chicka Chicka abc by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault is a favorite. A lot of parents are familiar with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom but not this shorter board book version that is perfect for young toddlers . I started my son with this one and moved on to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom at about 2. The colors are so bright even the youngest of babies will like it and the rhythm of the text will keep toddlers going too!


“Up , Up, Down” by Robert Munsch is a cute and funny story about a little girl who climbs and climbs and falls and falls! She decides to climb to the very top of the tree. This time she doesn’t fall and doesn’t come down until it’s time to lecture her parents withe their own words. Kids love this book, it’s silly , it’s about climbing and has giant band aids in it, what kid wouldn’t love it?

Additional Activity
Sent In By You


Isn’t this beautiful?
Bring a little of the outdoors in , and reuse bubble wrap with this adorable spring bud craft !
Pop over to The Entertaining House for the full how to.

Recycled Art !

We make art with recycled things all the time here at No Time For Flash Cards, I’d like to say it’s all out of concern for the environment but often it’s just because it’s what is available, we eat an insane amount of cereal and need to do something with all the boxes! Here are some of the crafts we have done using recycled materials. Click on the craft title to link to the original post with full how to instructions.

Recycled World!


Recycled UFO!


Recycled Bird Feeder!


Roll Rockets!

The Spotlight is on :

Earth Day is right around the corner and I can’t think of a better blog to showcase than Green Mama’s Pad ! What I love about this blog is that readers follow along with Marianna as she makes changes to her family’s life to be more environmentally friendly. So many are small changes that add up to a greener life! She has great product reviews and giveaways but my favorite feature is her new green glossary. In honor of Earth Day Green Mama’s Pad is having a blog party all week don’t miss it !

Earth Day Blog Party @ Green Mama's Pad

Recycle Town!
We are all about being frugal and recycling at our house and after a certain someone got a new recycling truck for going potty consistently we decided to make a recycled town for the new truck to drive around. This has been a big hit with my son, and because the store fronts can be changed up, or just taken off the boxes can be used to play store , for another craft or finally make their way into the blue bin at the end of your drive way.
  1. Gather your materials. You will need some cereal boxes, and smaller boxes ( like mac and cheese, or cracker boxes), scissors, markers, and tape. You will need a box and a half for each building. Don’t forget your recycling truck!
  2. Start by talking with your child and deciding what to draw, I drew our buildings but if your child wants to , go for it! My son decided on a church, fire station and the aquarium. Make as many or as few buildings as you wish.
  3. Open up the cereal boxes and draw inside.
  4. Have your child color the buildings if you drew them.
  5. While they color, draw some roadway.
  6. Hand them the road way when they are done with the buildings and let them at it !
  7. Cut out the buildings and roadway.
  8. Tape store fronts to the full boxes.
  9. PLAY!

Song!


My Backyard!

Don’t throw your junk in my backyard,
my backyard,
my backyard ,
Don’t throw your junk in my backyard,
my back yard’s full!

Rocks and trees and butterflies
butterflies,
butterflies,

Rocks and trees and butterflies

Dirt and leaves and bugs!’

Don’t throw your junk in my backyard,
my backyard,
my backyard,
Don’t throw your junk in my backyard ,
my backyard’s full!



Books !

” The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute ( anymore) “ by Stan and Jan Berenstain provides an excellent overview of a whole bunch of concerns for our world. It touches on recycling, deforestation, air pollution and more. The text would be far too long for the younger crowd but Pre-K on up would be an appropriate age range.


” The Whole Green World”
by Tony Johnston is a celebration of the Earth and it’s beauty. The text is short enough to hold young children’s attention and the illustrations by Elisa Kleven are bright and so detailed you will fall in love! I think it’s important to teach our children to see the beauty of the Earth, especially when we are teaching them to conserve it!

Crayon Candle !

I have been wanting to try this for ages, finally I saved up enough crayons from restaurants, and goody bags . This took a while , it was a true nap time creation from the time my son fell asleep until I heard “Mama I’m up” almost 3 hours later. So block off some time without little hands before starting this project.
  1. Gather your materials. You will need many crayons of various colors, something to melt the crayons in ( I use aluminum cup liners in a ratty old cake pan- the wax does leak through some times) , some popsicle sticks for stirring, a recycled jar and a candle wick.
  2. Start by setting your oven to 220-265 I am impatient and melt them at 265 but many people have said that that is too hot and they had smoking, so my suggestion is to start low and adjust accordingly.
  3. Peel the paper off the crayons and break into small pieces. I used 7-10 crayons of each color for my candle.
  4. Melt.
  5. Put the wick in the jar and hold onto it as you pour the melted crayon into the jar. If I had had a longer wick I would have wrapped it around a popsicle stick and laid the stick across the jar to keep it in place.
  6. Let the wax set before adding the next color.
  7. This is what happened when I didn’t wait long enough.
  8. Keep adding and letting the color set.
  9. Trim the wick when all colors are added and set.
** Update – I lit the candle and it burned well for about 15 minutes, after that the flame got tiny tiny . The smell was fine, although I admit to liking the smell of crayola! Overall I would do this as a pretty decoration, exploration about melting and color mixing and not to make a candle to use in emergencies ! **

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