Fiona McKenzie Johnston shares eight ideas for eco-friendly activities to do with children over the holidays.
You might already have got the summer holiday plan sewn up. But just in case, here are some ideas for children’s activities that don’t cost the earth (either way) and won’t (all) clutter up your house with twig, leaf and air-dry clay ‘ornaments’. There are pursuits for the scorching days of summer (here’s hoping) and crafting projects for rainy-day relief – and all appeal in different ways to a variety of different age groups.
Make Your Own Bags for Life
If you’ve got a sewing machine you can easily run up a bag using any strong-ish fabric you have to hand, otherwise plain linen bags are available from Hobbycraft (you can buy them cheaply in bundles – it’s also an excellent children’s birthday party/ school summer fair activity). Decoration, depending on the age of the child, can take the shape of embroidery – sketch out the design first, and then go over it using a simple backstitch – or painting, using Eco brush pens by OkoNorm, available from Conscious Craft.
Do a Litter Sweep
Take inspiration both from Easter egg hunts, and from movements such as Take 3 For the Sea and collect rubbish from your local area (wearing rubber gloves for protection) knowing that you’re helping to protect our planet from plastic pollution. You could even use what you find to create a piece of art that can be added to in months to come, using more found treasures. One person’s trash, as the idiom goes . . .
Make Seed Bombs for Guerrilla Gardening
Identify where in your local area could do with some extra greening – it might be around the base of trees that line your street, or you might have come across a patchy piece of grass that could benefit from some love – it might even be in your own garden. The National Trust have got an excellent recipe for seed bombs and you can admire your work in weeks to come.