Earth Day is April 22, so whether or not you believe in a young or old earth, you may be looking for a fun way to have an an earth day party while still doing “science stuff” in your homeschool. I've got some great ideas for you!
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Make it an Earth Day Party
Everyday is a holiday in my book, and as every day could be your last day on earth why not make it memorable and enjoy it as much as possible? Ok, don't go to extremes, but truly, none of us is guaranteed tomorrow, and that is reason enough for me to want to make learning fun for my kids, and create great memories together every chance we get.
Here are some of the things we did at our Earth Day
Party, I mean homeschool day:
Have earthy decorations
You don't have to go all out to make the mood festive. We scrounged up the plastic animals in our menagerie (i.e. toybox) and stationed them around our globe from the schoolroom as our center piece. We added in fun globe keychains, which we'll be using for another outreach later on, earthy colored balloons, and science themed partyware.
Our party favors included:
- Balloons – which we also used for games
- Earth lollipops – These didn't actually taste that great, but looked really cool
- Globe keychains
- Pop Rocks candies – so fun!
- Geode notepads
- and Globe pencil sharpeners – a big hit with the bigger kids!
Have earthy snacks
- Chocolate pudding cups as “dirt pudding” with oreos for dirt and gummy “earthworms”
- Oreo “dirt” cookies
- Corn chips
- Fish salad w/tomaotes
- and “bird's nest” cups of yogurt covered raisins, raisins and nuts
- and of course, water to drink.
Everyone seemed to love it and didn't even notice that the table runner was the same one from the Olaf party, just turned over to the alternate design.
Have earthy activities
We have been reading lately about geodes and earth science in our homeschool, and one or two of our kids has voiced an interest in archaeology. The geode and dinosaur dig activities earned me more than one, “This party is so awesome!” or “Best school day ever!” comment! The kids LOVED it! And then began planning how soon they could earn enough money to order more on their own!
Not all of the geodes came out so well, but several had really pretty crystals inside. The dinosaur dig was great fun as well!
I'm not sure if they were claws or fangs, but either way it was tons of fun to dig them out of the sand block with the little brush and pointed stick that came with the kit.
And through it all we got to talk about the blessing God has given us in our earth, the food we eat, the worms and animals and how they each play a part, and the beauty that is everywhere, even hidden inside rocks! Amazing! And all that we can learn if we take time to “See”, observe and appreciate nature.
Homeschool days are what you make them. Regular, run of the mill routines, or fun Earth Day Parties. With Earth Day right around the corner, which of these ideas can you take and use to up the fun meter in your homeschool earth science studies?