Celebrating Earth Day at Home

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15 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day From Home

Earth Day celebrations this spring will happen at home this year while we continue to combat COVID-19. Here are a collection of ways that you can mark the day and celebrate nature and the gifts of Earth while at home:

• Plan to plant a garden that attracts butterflies and birds. For tips see: 

  How I Made Our Yard Into a Bird and Butterfly Haven

• Pick an endangered species and research about their habits, habitats, adaptations and more.
• Create your own animal. In what habitat would they live? How do they interact with other animals? What are their adaptations? What do they eat?
• Take time to star gaze and learn some of the constellations. A variety of stargazing apps can help guide you including some that you can point to the sky to identify constellations. Check  Best Stargazing Apps 2020 in Good Housekeeping.
• Celebrate animal rescue by going behind the scenes at Willowbrook Wildlife Center here in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Willowbrook has been sharing behind the scene videos of their wildlife rehabilitation center as well as visits with resident animals.
• Become part of Citizen Science with Journey North. With Journey North, you can help track migrations by reporting sightings of a variety of birds, butterflies and animals.
• Take a tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History particularly in the Hall of Fossils to learn about the dinosaurs, how ecosystems changed and more. Also, check out the Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals from some new appreciation of Earth's creations.
• Unjunk your cosmetics and other products. I love to check with Environmental Working Group to unjunk my products periodically.
• Work on decluttering and get items ready for donation. Please note that you may need to store your donations until this is over. Don't pile them up at Goodwills that aren't currently open! 
• Take a plastic inventory of your home and brainstorm ideas of how you can reduce dependence on disposable plastic.
• Take a nature walk in your own yard. If you take time to just pause in your yard, move around, even get down on the ground to observe you will be surprised by what you find.
• Reuse items. Find ways that you can reuse items around your house that you may have gotten rid of. Or, challenge each other to find a unique way to reuse a set of items that were going to be cast off.
• Make Earth Art. Gather natural materials outside and create. Do so without disturbing anything living, so focus on rocks, sticks, etc. Keep everything you use natural.
• Start a Nature Log or Bird Log. A great way to note nature discoveries whether from your window, out in the yard or on walks happens to be transportable logs! They are great places to jot down descriptive info about your discovery, the surroundings and more.
• Create nature scavenger hunts. Have each member of the family create a nature scavenger hunt that can be used in your yard. Have fun seeing nature through each other's eyes!

Enjoy Earth Day celebrating gifts from our Earth and giving her a little love!