Earth Day Ideas - Recycling Garden Pots

Type: recycling

Age: over 2

Admit it, with a couple of nice days days here and there and the sunshine teasing us into thinking it is warmer than it really is, we are all ready for full fledged SPRINGTIME! For most people that means getting out the patio furniture, dusting off the lawn mower, and of course, beginning some spring planting. Gardening is a great kids activity (one that I blogged about before here) - I mean dirt - love it! But did you know that after you get all those flowers in the ground the pots and containers they come in can do little more than be thrown away? That's where your little heart and you come in!

Thanks to an organization Peace, Love and Planet, you are able to recycle all these containers that may not otherwise be reused. Check out their website for lots of interesting information on our earth, recycling and other lessons for your kids. Peace, Love and Planet is a local operation, meaning all their recycling drop off locations are in Michigan, but if you check out this page they suggest that farmers markets, plant centers or nurseries are often happy to help.

So gather your little ones, maybe a wagon and some of that spring sunshine and collect all those extra potting containers. You'll be doing yourself, your little heart and Mother Earth a HUGE service!

Caring Cans

Type: donation/recycling

Age: 3 and up

My oldest, Schuler, loves to return cans. Odd I know. Like most people, returning cans isn't exactly a job I relish, so to have such an enthusiastic partner definitely makes the job much more enjoyable. Once our recycling bin hits about 6 bottles, she is clamoring to head to the store to take care of them. Up until now I have just used the money towards whatever items I was purchasing, but because of Schuler's interest in it, giving her the use of the money seemed like a good idea.

She is just now grasping the concept of how money is used to purchase things and how we need to save it, etc. So she was very excited when I told her that she would get to have all the money we get from the cans to use to help other people however she wanted. We got a little container and she decorated it with stickers to hold all her earnings.

I debated if we should decide up front what cause, or who would receive the money, but I thought it would take awhile to accumulate much, so maybe it was better to wait until we had some to give before deciding where. We did make it very clear that it was to go to other people who needed it "Like people who don't go to work a lot or go to the bank" she asked me? Exactly! In the meantime we told her she could use her 'can money' to make an offering at church. I'll keep you posted when we make our first official donation, but in the meantime, if you and your little one try this activity, I'd love to hear about it!