On Friday, April 22, it’s Earth Day, when we collectively try to give Mother Nature a break. You can’t cajole her with bouquets of flowers or chocolate, though. She wants us (and our kids) to do some of the cleaning up around here. Here are some Earth Day-related events and activity ideas for families.
St. Lazare is holding a number of Earth Day-related events on April 16:
- On Saturday, April 16, there will be workshops for age 4 to 7 on how to turn recycled objects into musical instruments, at St. Lazare Library.
- On the same day, at the St. Lazare Community Centre, zoologists/naturalists from the Ecomuseum and Morgan arboretum will hold a session for kids about animals of the St. Lawrence River Valley, and local forests. More information.
- The city’s Earth Day Treasure Hunt will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and residents are invited to leave items that are unwanted, but in good working order, on their curbs for others to pick up. (Why don’t all municipalities do that?) More information.
Dorval hosts a session on biodiversity for age 5 and up on Sunday, April 17 at 1:30 p.m. The session talks about the advantages of biodiversity and features a live snake. More information.
April 23 at 9 a.m.: Terra Cotta Park Cleanup: Join Girl Guides and Scouts in their annual park cleanup, Maywood Ave. entrance, Pointe Claire. Rain or shine.
April 24 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.: The Canadian Centre for Architecture hosts Vegetables in the Backyard, a session about the transportation of food from one place to another, how we consume food, and the locavore movemement. The session includes a visit to a grocery store. More information.
April 22 to 28: The Big Spring Cleanup is being held in Laval. The 2011 goal is to get 22,000 participants to pick up 65 tons of garbage. You can register to get involved here. The annual public cleanup on Mount Royal will be held Sunday, May 1.
The Montreal Botanical Gardens and the Biodome are hosting a few special activities on the weekend of April 22 to 25, including a paper-making workshop. More information.
Plant something! The Morgan Arboretum hosts its annual tree and shrub sale April 22 to 24.
Anytime green activity ideas for kids
If your kids are about age 6 and up, check out Born to be Wild, a 3-D film about efforts to release orphan orangutans and elephants back into their natural habitats, at IMAX Telus in Old Montreal. Oceans, another recent nature documentary that’s out on DVD, is great for kids about 8 and up.
No matter where you live, you can get the kids involved in a local street, park or neighbourhood cleanup. If they happen to have one of those grabber toys, this would be the perfect occasion to use it.
Check out the Biosphère’s exhibition of 16 outfits made from recycled consumer goods.
If it’s raining, ask kids to go through their toys and books and for donation to an organization that will reuse them, for example, Les Lutins Verts or a local Joujouthèque (toy-lending library).
Make or buy a bird feeder to hang near a window, then watch the birds come and go.
What green activities do you do with your kids?
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