Earth Day

It's Good Friday AND Earth Day!

Today we had a really nice family day.  We talked about the meaning of Good Friday and how Easter is really not all about the Easter bunny.  The kids are well aware of this but, in today's marketing driven world, there is always a need to reinforce things.

Then, I had a few fun Earth Day activities lined up for the kids.

Nature Scavenger Hunt
I found this spring scavenger hunt and thought it would be perfect for Earth Day!
I wrote out a list of 12 items for the kids to look for: pine needles, grass, acorns, mulch, pinecones, green leaves, dried leaves, a rock, a stick, moss, sand, and dirt.  I sent them out with an old egg carton and the hunt was on!

They were quite proud of themselves for working together to finish the hunt!

Mud, Dirt, and Worm Snack

I put chocolate pudding in a bowl, covered the pudding with oreo crumbs, and stuck in a few gummie worms.

Sarah and Jillian had seen this snack before - Matthew had not and his reaction was precious!

"Mommy, is that real dirt?" 

"Mommy, can you take the dirt off the gummie worm?"

"Can I eat it?" 

Recycled Milk Carton Wallet
I found this idea at Family Fun.  They have instructions, a video, and the template to make the wallet.  This was a 'mommy craft' and actually took longer than I thought it would.  Some of the folding can be a little tricky.  But, the kids love it and each want one of there own - so I will be cutting up a few more milk cartons tomorrow!

I love how it is the carton's cap that keeps the wallet closed.

Jillian loves it too!

Hope you had a great day too!

Milk Carton Bling Rings

You can recycle your milk carton tabs into finger bling for your little princess!

I put a thick layer of regular Elmer's glue onto the top of the tab and sprinkled little seed beads onto the glue.  You can use a toothpick to move and arrange the beads in the glue.  Then, I set the tabs into a bed of rice to help hold them upright while they dried.
 
Once dried, both Jillian and I were so excited that she tried them on before the final ModPodge step.  As she was taking them off the dried glue and beads just slipped right off the tab!

So, I applied gentle pressure to remove/slide the glue and beads from the other rings {as you can see in the picture below}.  Then I used my hot glue gun to really adhere the beads/glue onto the milk carton tab.



Next, I used ModPodge over the beads and again set them in the bed of rice to dry.

{I used regular satin ModPodge but you can buy shiney and sparkle ModPodge too, which might make the beads really pop}

Once the ModPodge was dried the Milk Carton Bling Rings were all ready to be loved by our little princess!

 

Idea from Meet the Dubiens

Linking up to Momnivores Dilemma