Celebrate Earth Day with us!
On April 22nd, we celebrate Earth Day and are reminded of the importance of protecting our environment – and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors.
In honour of Earth Day, our crafts are nature-themed and use everyday materials that you can find at home.
We hope you’re ready to craft, create and recycle? Here’s a handy guide to get involved for the day:
Easy Peasy Apple Bird Feeder (Ages 3-5)
Creating bird feeders with little ones is an excellent way of teaching them how to care for nature. The Easy Peasy Apple Bird Feeder is a great way to use up apples with brown spots.
– 1 Apple cut in half
– 2 tbsp Peanut Butter
– 1-2 tbsp Seeds, plus extra for sprinkling
Take your apple halves, and with a spoon, remove the pips and core until you’re left with a hole.
In a bowl, mix the peanut butter and seeds.
Take your apple halves and fill each hole with the peanut butter and seed mixture. Sprinkle some extra seeds over the apple.
Tie the string to your apple halves and hand them from a tree branch in your garden.
Now you’re ready to look and see how many varieties of birds you can spot enjoying the bird feeder.
Bug Hotel (Ages 5-8)
Take care of the bugs in your garden and create their very own sanctuary to keep them safe. Creating a bug hotel is simple, educational and fun.
Search around your garden or local park for lots of natural materials. These are a few examples of things you can use:
– Wooden boxes
– Old plant posts
– Dry leaves
– Wooden sticks
– Old broken bits of pots (make sure to handle with care)
– Pieces of bark
Identify an area in your garden where you can make the perfect bug shelter.
Use your wooden boxes or old flower pots to create a solid structure for the outside of your bug hotel. Lay them side by side or stack them up. Play around with the formation until you are happy with the structure.
Take the materials you found and use similar materials to create areas inside your hotel. You can do this by either stacking up your materials in layers or making ‘zones’. This will help encourage lots of different bugs to settle in your bug hotel.
Continue adding material to your bug hotel until it’s been filled in with all your materials.
Your bug hotel is now ready for all its critter guests. Over the next few weeks, have a look to see how many different bugs you can see.
If you have a go at any making your own bird feeder or bug hotel, we would love to see pictures. Tag us on Facebook @Rainydayboxco or Instagram @Rainydaybox.
Happy Earth Day, everyone!