Celebrating Earth Day as a Family

Back in 1970 the first Earth Day was created as a day of teaching and education about the environmental issues our planet faces. Designed to raise awareness and conservation efforts to keep our planet and its inhabitants healthy, Earth Day quickly became an international phenomenon celebrated around the world.

This Earth Day, help raise awareness with your own family by taking part in an Earth Day event together. This year’s theme is protecting threatened and endangered species and there has never been a better time to get your little ones interested in taking care of the world around them.

Cities all over the country will host Earth Day activities throughout the month, like San Antonio, which hosted its event April 13 at Woodlawn Lake Park. The event will focus on education and efforts to improve air quality in the city.

Lighthouse at Woodlawn Lake Park. Photo: Keymts – Dreamstime.com

Los Angeles will host numerous events, including an Earth Day run in Pasadena, April 22, to raise money and awareness for conservation efforts. Kids Earth Day, a family-friendly event in the beach neighborhood of Playa Del Rey, is a great way to get kids involved with live music, fun activities and a beach cleanup.

Savannah, Georgia, hosted its annual Savannah Earth Day Festival in Daffin Park. The event was filled with workshops, storytelling, entertainment and kid-friendly activities to promote awareness about the environmental impact humans have on the planet and its native species.

Nashville’s Centennial Park was home to the Nashville Earth Day festivities on April 20. This day was filled with live music, educational activities for kids, a green market featuring local produce and products, and plenty of fresh air and sunshine — a great opportunity to learn together while having fun together as a family.

If you can’t find an organized Earth Day activity to get involved in, create one of your own for you and your kids to do together. Plant some trees, pick up some trash or spend some time identifying environmentally harmful practices within your own home and coming up with ways to go a little greener, such as replacing plastic straws with re-usable ones or plastic wrap with a product like Beeswrap, an ingenious re-usable food wrap that greatly reduces plastic waste. Encourage your children to participate in the process as much as possible — often times a simple conversation with your children about the devastating effects plastics have on creatures like sea turtles can be enough to encourage a lifetime of conscientious habits.

Whichever activity you choose for Earth Day 2019, it’s a great opportunity to come together as a family for a good cause.