A to Z: Let's Go Green!

It's never to early (or late) to go green! Teach your little learners about environmental responsibility with this ABC group craft. This simple activity from Learn Every Day About our Green Earth encourages responsible treatment of the environment while providing a fun classroom game to fill any afternoon. With multiple additional project suggestions, this activity is perfect for any budding environmentalist!

Materials:

• poster board
• marker

What to Do:

1. Make a large poster that has an A to Z list of ideas for how to help the Earth. Here are some examples:

• Bicycle instead of using a car.
• Don't run the water when brushing your teeth.
• Eat organic foods.
• Feed the birds.
• Grow a flower or vegetable garden.
• Plant a tree.
• Quit wasting food.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
• Turn off the lights.
• Use paper on both sides.

2. As you teach each letter, introduce a green idea, a green project, and sing the following song:

Whole World Green by Kathy Stemke (Tune: "Mary Had a Little Lamb")
I will make my whole world green, I will make my whole world green.
Whole world green, whole world green, G-R-E-E-N, green!

3. The following are some examples of green ideas and green projects. Challenge the children to think of some of their own:

• Feed the birds: Make a bird feeder.
• Grow a garden: Make a tin-can herb garden.
• Hold on to helium balloons: Make a helium balloon craft.
• Join your friends to clean up your neighborhood: Make a trash monster.
• Plant a tree: Make a thankful tree.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Use old ice cream containers as building blocks.
• Visit a recycling center: Become a human recycling machine.

Instructions

Take the children on a walk outside your school or in a nearby park. Point out
the various colors that you encounter during the walk. Note the shades of
greens in trees, plants, and grass.
2. Observe the various shades of brown in the different tree barks, the blue sky
and white clouds. Discuss the bright colors and soft pastel hues of the different
flowers. When you return to the classroom, show the vibrant color illustrations
of our Earth in the book Earth by Penelope York.
3. Point out the many different colors across the Earth's landscape.
4. As the week progresses, read
several poems each day in S Is
for Save the Planet: A How-to-
Be Green Alphabet by Brad
Herzog and show the
illustrations.
5. Read the book Sesame Street
Let's Help the Earth, and note
that Elmo is helping our Earth
by recycling, saving water,
turning off lights, and planting
trees and flowers. Share each of
these illustrations.
Assessment
Consider the following:
* Are the children able to notice the colors in nature?
* Are the children willing to help preserve the beauty of our Earth?