Tree Hugging Family » Youth Activity

DisneyNature: EARTH release on Blu-ray and DVD

Jennifer — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:55:47 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, DisneyNature: EARTH is being released on Blu-ray and DVD September 1st. As I noted previously, when the movie was released in April, this great family-friendly film is narrated by James Earl Jones and follows three families of animals, whales, polar bears, and elephants, through their daily lives. This is an excellent nature-minded film for kids and adults.

DisneyNature: Earth is being released in a couple of formats. There’s the 2 disc Blu-ray combo pack which includes both Blu-ray and the DVD along with Disney Blu-ray: Filmmaker Annotations which is exclusive to the Blu-ray pack. The set also includes Earth Diaries: The Making Of The Movie. The DVD includes the extra, Earth Diaries: The Making Of The Movie.

DisneyNature: Earth is available for pre-order now and will ship on September 1, 2009.

Stay tuned because to celebrate the release on both Blu-ray and DVD, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is hosting a cool giveaway for three readers here at Tree Hugging Family.

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Green Kid Site Spotlight: Children of the Earth

Jennifer — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Children of the Earth is a great family friendly, kid heavy, green focused website. There’s plenty to see and do, tons of activities, book rec commendations, eco-ideas submitted by kids, an eco-gallery of art by kids, a green home section, and lots more.

You could play around here for a good long while before running out of activities or ideas. Gather your kids and pay them a visit.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

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Got Extra 2-Liter Bottles?: Create An Eco-Bottle Treehouse

Jennifer — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:00:48 +0000

The Eco-Bottle Treehouse Project is pretty in-depth; but a nice project to reuse old 2-liters and to teach kids about Biodiversity and Ecology.

Stats from the project website:

Learner Level: Beginner; Intermediate
Target Grade/Age Level: High School (Ages 15-18). Can be modified for many age/grade levels
Learning Objective(s): Plan and build an ecobottle (or eco-column) out of five 2-liter bottles that will include an aquatic section, a decomposition section, and a terrestrial section. Observe the ecobottle for 4 to 6 weeks and record their hypotheses, observations and analysis in their science notebooks. Create a treehouse for each ecobottle group, based on their research of this simulated ecosystem.

Like I said, in-depth. Also, you’ll need a bunch of supplies, but from what I see, you won’t need anything that’s too tough to come by. This would make a perfect eco-homeschool project, or just something cool you could try on weekends.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

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Great Summer Projects, Crafts, & Nature Activities for Kids…

Jennifer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:39:29 +0000

With summer here, maybe you’re looking for something new to do. We’ve posted lots on fun kid activities, so I thought I’d round up a good bunch of stuff that you and more importantly, your kids, might enjoy. Don’t forget, if all else fails, there’s always a picnic at the park.

Nature based fun:

Messy & colorful fun:

Plant based fun:

Recycled fun:

Yummy fun:

Now you can’t say the kids are bored – there are enough projects here to get you going on the path to summer fun.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

[image via stock.xchng]

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Perfect Summer Recycled Dollhouse Project

Jennifer — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:04 +0000

With summer coming up (or here) you need some long-term projects for the kids and this one is super. I would have totally gotten into this as a kid. I’m actually trying to talk Cedar into this for one of our summer projects.

The Perfect Dollhouse: A homemade miniature villa from Family Fun. It’s a tiny, completely custom, recycled dollhouse box. So tidy, that it slides right under a bed. So creative, that it’ll be a hit all summer. The sky is really the limit with this project. You probably have tons of recycled bits around the house that will work for this cool project.

They only have tiny pictures online, but great step-by-step instructions for all sorts of furniture. Like:

How cute is all this stuff! Visit the entire article for many more furniture ideas, plus the items used to make them.

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

[images via Family Fun]

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Got Paper?: The Best Folded Paper Crafts for Kids

Jennifer — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:10:31 +0000

If you’ve got a load of paper to be recycled; why not put it to some fun use first. You can get double the use out of paper with these cool folded paper projects for kids.

Paper Toys: From double decker buses to dinosaurs to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, this site has a load of folded paper projects to try.

I can’t remember if I’ve showed Readymechs here before; in any case, they’re worth pointing out again. These are the cutest little paper folding monsters you’ve ever seen! Check out these two:

Cubeecraft papercraft toys – fun fat headed folks to cut and fold. Here’s Indiana Jones & Batman; but there are loads of other great projects too.

The Toymaker is this amazing site that offers books, super sweet holiday ideas, like what’s fun in the good old summertime, free paper dolls (otters) and other paper folding project – which include toys, gifts, and more. I can’t even tell you how great this site is for kids (and adults) you just have to go play around. Trust me, you’ll be soooooo glad you did. Following are two of the free paper projects offered.

Butterfly Basket

Magic Fairy Wand:

Have fun!

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

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Ditch your watch and use the sun to tell time

Jennifer — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:15:03 +0000

This is a really cool project for older kids. I’d love to try it with Cedar, but he’s still little enough that he measures everything in “Spongbob episode” time. Time makes him fuzzy.

[Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay via Nasa]

Make your own sundial:

Nasa offers one of the better make your own paper sundial pages I’ve seen. Not only do they offer full instructions for both an easier paper sundial and a more sturdy version, but they include complete explanations behind how and why a sundial works. Information on accuracy, history, latitude, and further resources are all covered.

This is just one more cool way we can use the power of the sun.

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Water Use Earth Day Project for Kids

Jennifer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:00:37 +0000

Down the Drain is a useful project for anyone, and it can be done all year round. Being a science and math major, well, back in the day I was, I really like the scientific approach to this fun experiment. Of course we all want to save water – we can’t live without it.

Down the Drain encourages youth to track their water use. This project was developed by the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) which is located at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Who can participate?:

The project was developed for 4th-8th grade age kids, but is honestly useful for us all. There’s no registration, and no rules about who can try this project out. It’s ongoing, free, and there’s interaction with data from kids everywhere.

How it works:

First there are some cool water lessons to do, these lessons are designed to help kids realize just how much water is in a gallon, thus allowing them to more accurately record water use. Kids record their personal and their household’s water use separately for one week. There are water collection data sheets available at the site for both personal and home use.
At the end of one week kids can compile their results and submit the data to the project website.
In between starting and completing this project, kids get to develop a hypothesis and make predictions. Later there are tips for kids about water shortages, saving water, and even a really neat mind boggler.

Overall, this is one of the better thought out projects I’ve seen related to kids and water use. Try Down the Drain to celebrate Earth Day, or just try it because you want to save water.

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Five Fun Ways to Reconnect with Nature

Peggy — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:00:50 +0000

If you live in a busy city, drive a car, have too many meetings and sit in an office all day it’s easy to be disconnected with the nature around you. But the chipmunks, butterflies, waterfowl, song birds and armadillos are all around. So is the life-giving earth you walk upon.

Taking time out to get in touch with your inner tree can really keep you inspired to be green.

How can you reconnect with nature? Many ways, and they don’t all require getting dirty. I know your next meeting may be in five minutes, so here’s a quick list:

1. Hang a recycled bird feeder near a favorite window and watch the birds as you eat breakfast.

2. Host a houseplant exchange adventure at work. To start, co-workers take a new or beloved houseplant to work and sit it on a table. During the day, everyone quietly selects a different plant. Repeat one day each month. Soon, everyone will know many plants while only taking care of one at a time. If you kill the plant, just replace it! Assigning each plant a small journal to accompany it in its travels is nice as well. A cooperative and forgiving spirit is required.

3. Pick your own strawberries. Many farmers let you do this, and they often sell you the berries at a reduced price for picking your own. You must pick strawberries at least once in your life. Strawberries are now ready in California, Texas and Florida!

4. Walk through a plant nursery at lunch. The smell of green and water will refresh you. Plus, you can slowly study new plants.

5. Watch Planet Earth. I don’t recommend many DVDs, but this mini-series takes you where you can’t go yourself, cleverly opening your eyes to hundreds of wonders in nature.

Are you going to try any of these? Please let us know if it helps you feel connected with nature.

Chipmunk image via flickr. Stawberry image via stock.xchng.

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Quick Tip: Kids Can Read for the Planet

Jennifer — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:39:11 +0000

If you’re a kid (or parent) looking for some good reading material then do I have a resource for you. Planetpals, one of the best eco-kid websites around has a very cool Best Ever Planetpals Earth book list. And believe me, it really is the best earth-friendly book list ever for kids. It’s super jam packed with carefully selected books that emphasize treating our planet well.

If you’d rather read changing earth-friendly content for kids on a monthly basis, then check out the Planetpals Earthzine. It’s new each month, so you can bookmark and check in each month for new topics related to saving the planet.

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