Let’s Make Earth Day Every Day!
Fun family mindfulness tips and activities to help teach kids how to be kind to the planet
It is lovely to have one day each year to bring to our attention to the importance of being kind to the Earth, and making sure we are doing all we can to keep it healthy and full of kindness.
We all share this planet, and the way we take care of our daily actions today will have a lasting impact on the future for our kids and further generations to come.
After the last two years we have had, the need to take care of our planet by allowing it to breath and heal has never been so clear! So how can we show kindness to the Earth on this day and the year going forward?
Here are some mindfulness tips and activities for kids and families to enjoy!
1. Ways I can help the Earth
Take 15 minutes out of the day to get thinking about ways you and your children can help the Earth, every little counts!
Perhaps you can find a quiet Saturday lunch time, or after school one evening in the coming week to share these thoughts with each other. This activity can also be a reminder to ourselves of how sustainable we are living.
Get a piece of paper and draw our planet on it. Within the planet, note down anything that comes to mind when thinking about ways we can care for the planet.
This could include things like;
Carry a reusable bag instead of getting plastic ones.
Carry a water bottle.
Don’t litter
Use less plastic containers, tubs, tubes etc.
Don’t buy clothes or things we don’t need!
Cycle or walk to school one day a week.
2. Bumble bee breath
Do you know how important bees are for us and the planet? They help keep the ecosystem going by helping to pollenate food and plants for our survival! A whopping 70% of the world's agriculture depends exclusively on bees!
Humming bee breath serves to benefit us in many ways! The healing humming sound itself helps alleviate stress, lower the heart rate and can even release neurochemicals like oxytocin, the love hormone, which increases connection to the self and overall wellbeing.
Begin by finding your easy pose, sitting cross legged with your spine nice and long. Next, take your index fingers and lightly press your ears closed to block out any external sounds. Take a nice deep inhale through the nose and make the sound ‘hmmm’ as you breathe out of the nose slowly and calmly, taking your time here.
Repeat as many times as needed.
“Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet.”
3. The things I love to eat!
Let’s remember to be grateful for all of the yummy and healthy foods we like to eat, and remember that without a healthy Earth, we wouldn’t have any of them!
4. Practice Tree Pose
Follow our video of Alby, Magical tree and friends practicing tree pose together.
Tree’s are so important for our healthy planet, so let’s be trees together to remind ourselves of that.
This is a calming balancing pose which helps refocus the mind and can also calm the breath too.
Once you get into your tree pose, can you name which kind tree you would be? Would you be a strong, wise oak tree? Or maybe an apple tree? All trees are beautiful, unique and amazing exactly as they are (just like you are too!)
Did you know ~ Trees are the largest and oldest living things on Earth. Some trees live for hundreds or even thousands of years!!
5. Earth Day Mantra..
What will your mantra be for ensuring a healthy Earth? Maybe you can write it out, make it all lovely and colourful to stick up on the wall.
It could include something like:
I am mindful of what I use
I am careful with my rubbish
I care for the Earth
5. Earth Day Cookies
Like any day, we can too easily buy a chocolate bar or biscuit while we are out which is covered in plastic wrapping. So instead today let’s make some Earth day cookies free from packaging!
What you’ll need:
1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
Add the butter and sugar to a stand mixer and beat until it becomes light and fluffy.
Add the egg, vanilla and almond extract and mix until fully incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Then, add it to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix until it forms a loose dough.
Place the dough onto a clean surface and knead it until it forms a ball. If the dough is sticky, you can lightly flour the surface and your hands. Then, cut the dough into two even sections. Add blue food colouring to one half of the dough and green to the other. Knead the dough until the colour is fully incorporated.
Take a piece of blue dough and a piece of green dough, and squeeze it together a few times until the colours are slightly marbled. Roll the dough into a ball, then flatten it to 1/4″ thick. Place it onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and repeat until all the dough is used up. Make sure to place the cookies at least an inch apart.
Bake for 6-8 minutes. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, until they are firm enough to move to a cooling rack. Once they are fully cooled, store them in an airtight container and enjoy!
(Recipe sourced from ~https://raisingveggielovers.com/fun-and-easy-earth-cookies-for-earth-day/#recipe)
