The English Schoolhouse: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: A Lesson for Earth Day

When our oldest son's friends came over a couple of days ago, I had an idea of what to do during their visit. With Earth Day approaching and the entire group being around the 3-4 age range, I knew it'd be the perfect time to talk to them about our planet and the importance of everyone taking care of it.

One thing I've noticed throughout all of my years of teaching is that kids just get it when it comes to the idea of doing what's right for the Earth. It's just like their sense of fairness during playtime--they understand immediately what's right and what's not. It's a shame that what comes so naturally to us as kids often changes or subsides as we grow into adults.

Before the group arrived I'd tried to print out a Do-a-Dot tree activity:

But my printer was all out of colored ink. Before frustration set in completely I remembered a picture of a mug I need to buy immediately:

And it all worked out:

Turns out the kids know how to make their own Do-a-Dot trees.

We did the calendar, sang a few songs, and I talked to them a bit about Earth Day and what it is. I showed them this short video to focus their attention on the lesson:

We discussed what we can all do to help take care of our planet, Earth. It was amazing to hear what great suggestions these little munchkins had. "I never throw my trash out of the car!" one kid offered. "Me neither!" another chimed in. "You have to recycle," a third offered. I wrote all of their ideas down on the chalkboard.

We practiced recycling with the bins we have at home:

Then we learned a song by Jack Johnson about recycling and other ways to do our part:

We had a snack and jammed to Bob Marley while eating:

Then it was time for our craft. In the recycling video above, the animated little girl is wearing a 'I love the Earth' shirt. We borrowed that idea and used it on paper: