Good Morning! It’s time!
Today is HUGE in the OBE universe as we kick off a week’s worth of fantastic Earth Day good times with the opening of our new Family Community Gardens in partnership with the Comox Valley Regional District.
The ribbon cutting is the culmination of a day’s worth of family-friendly events including those fun recycled puppets we showed you here on Tuesday along with egg cup plantings and some very cool worm jar making.
In honour of kicking off Earth Day in style, let’s check out a few great planet-focused reads that are fun, thoughtful and an excellent way to plug your kids into thinking green.
I also have to throw in a movie plug for, strangely as I’m not a giant Barbie fan, Barbie Presents Thumbelina. Popop and Grandma Sharon sent this one in a recent care package and I have to admit that it is one cute, sweet tale about getting your priorities straight when it comes to the planet.
Fairies, Earth Day, it’s bound to win.:)
Anyway, we’ve been checking out green books the last couple of weeks and came across a few that got a muched-love rating.
The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales, retold by Dawn Casey and illustrated by Anne Wilson, ended up first on our list.
The tiny person totally dug folk tales from far off places like Australia, Bali and Wales. To boot, each tale is followed up by an eco-project that reflects that culture.
This gorgeous book (the illustrations are lovely) is a great way to connect the dots between cultures around the world in a hands-on way that kids totally get.
Keeping going down the folk tale path, a friend recommended The People Who Hugged The Trees by Deborah Lee Rose, illustrated by Birgitta Saflund.
At first, I thought this tale from India might be a bit heavy for our preschooler. But, the story brought out the best in both of us.
It’s lesson about determination and sacrifice for the good of the many is both touching and something that gets in a kid’s head. We went out for a tree walk the afternoon after first reading this and had an amazing chat about loving the trees. It struck me golden.
On the bit lighter side, we almost always defer to Wendy Pfeffer for some very cool nature tales. Her Wiggling Worms at Work is a totally great way to learn about the nature of any kid’s most beloved nature treasure – worms.
It’s a bit silly, a lot of cool information and perfect for learning about all of the cool things we’re going to be doing out at the Compost Education Centre on Headquarters Road.
We’ll be out there from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. today and – after you’ve come out to hang with OBE, leave a comment here about your favourite part of the day to enter into a drawing to win some great Earth Day books including the Barefoot Book of Earth Tales, About Insects, A Guide for Children and a David Suzuki Eco-Activity book.
Our giveaways today are courtesy of Barefoot Books Publishing, Blue Heron Book Store in Comox and Planet Kids in Comox.
We were happy to see you at the Compost Education Centre today Robin and crew! Julia’s favourite part was when Robin told her that the flowers she was planting would grow to look just like the ones on her coat! Sophia’s favourite part was the WORMS! (And thanks Ken for finding her a carrot too!) They were both excited to show Daddy all the cool stuff they came home with.
Thanks,
Stacey
What a fun morning Robin, we didn’t spend nearly as much time with you guys as I would have liked but it was great to see you all and of course make our worm home. If I can convince C that it does not need to go into her bedroom with her I’ll be happy!
Worms were definitely a hit for us along with the “stick your head through the hole in the picture” thingy. I think that’ the proper name for it isn’t it??
Thanks for all the fun projects. We enjoyed planting the seeds and making the puppets but I think the best part for Erika was watering the Earth Day tree:) We are now tryign to find a good place for our wormy home!! TY, TY, TY!!
Well, thank you all so very much for making it a fabulous morning!
David was way into the water table and the compost containers (though he did spy the birthday cakes in the shed) but today’s star was Emma, the little princess who could. Seriously, this is normally one girlie-girl but Ken made those wigglers so very appealing and bingo! there was our princess, holding those worms. A big cheery thank you from Emma, the ‘worm goddess’.
I loved learning about Barefoot Books from your latest posting! But when I went to make an order (about $33 worth) there was a $20 fee (for Canadian orders) added to the shipping cost of $7.50 so the grand total of shipping was almost as much as the book order, unfortunately making it unaffordable for me. Do you know of anywhere local (on Vancouver Island or in BC or even in Canada) where the books could be order from to hopefully make the price more affordable? Many thanks!
Hi Kelly, yikes! That’s horrendous.
Little Me on Cliffe Avenue carries Barefoot Books and you may be able to talk to Sherry and Kristina about ordering the titles for you. They have an awesome store and are always great to work with!
Robin, Where is the Family Community Garden located? I somehow cannot find a location for it…
or is it various parks?
It’s at the Comox Valley Regional District Compost Education Centre on Headquarters Road, just south of the fair grounds on the same side of the street as the curling rink.
Thanx for the great stuff Robin, my boys love their egg carton flowers….and are sure to bring in rainwater they have saved (my carport is FULL of buckets of water!) to water them!