Handing over some major power is one good way to get a kid to do something, and it’s no different with green living. The kid with green power is going to be more involved, more in control, and thus likely more on board than the kid who just gets lectured about green living. Following are some ways to empower your kids in their efforts to live green.

Assign labels to smaller kids: Normally labeling kids is lame, but assigning them to be on light patrol, recycling king duty, or giving them another cool eco-label is fun and makes their job of …read more

Rainforest Heroes is a site / program created by the Rainforest Action Network for kids, parents, and teachers. The goal of the this interactive site is to teach everyone about rainforest conservation.

What’s noteworthy at the site:
Rainforest Heros is packed with tools for adults that make teaching kids about rainforests easier. For example at the Teacher’s Lounge, you can download an awesome Kids Action Toolkit that’s designed to answer your students’/kids questions about rainforests, climate change, Indigenous land rights, animal and plant species, and the latest causes of deforestation. There’s also a neat FREE movie you can watch with your kids, …read more

Now that warmer weather is coming it’s time to hustle the littles outside. I know I talk about this until I’m blue in the face, and all of you are sick to death of it, but seriously, kids who get outside = kids who love nature = kids who grow up into adults who WANT to preserve nature.

That said (again) below are some surefire ways to get the kids outside and keep them outside.
1. Get artistic: The best thing about outside art time is that your inside stays tidy! Set up easels or an art table with a tie on …read more

Here at Tree Hugging Family, I’ve shown a fair share of green videos. I thought I’d collect some of my faves, and re-post them, in case you missed some.
First – a round-up for the kiddos…
This first video is hands down my most favorite recycling video for kids, by kids (ok older teens) of all time. These kids are so flipping funny and so on target with the music and how the video was cut. I laugh every single time I watch it.

What tofu does when you walk away… I love this video – it’s pretty silly. My son liked it, …read more

I just got a heads up about a cool new club for earth-loving kids. The Clean Air Club, is an interactive website that helps to teach kids about the importance of protecting their environment. The club (and website) are appropriate for kiddos 14 and under.
The club was started by Cook-Illinois Corporation, the nation’s largest independently owned and operated school bus company. Recently, Cook-Illinois Corporation made some eco-changes to their company; they switched most of their fleet of 1,700 schools buses to bio-diesel fuel. This switch reduces around 1000 tons of toxic emissions in Chicago.
About the club – perks for kids: …read more

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

Here’s a fun game for kids from the EPA – the Dumptown Game located at Recycle City. It looks good for older kids, maybe eight and up; younger kids with a parent, because it’s sort of involved.
Here’s the game description:
“You are Dumptown’s new City Manager! When you start to play, you’ll see Dumptown at its worst — it’s littered, polluted, and nothing is being recycled or reused. There are many trash cans and dumpsters, but no recycling bins. That means all of the trash is going right into the landfill …read more

I recently got an email from Trish, blogger over at Green Student U, a fantastic up and coming resource for already green students, or wanna-be green students.
There are a lot of green websites and blogs out there but not as many slanted toward college and late high school youth. This blog completely runs that demographic, in a fresh way too.
The idea behind Green Student U, “It’s important for college students to know how they can become involved in the green movement. That’s why Green Student University was created. We offer valuable green information and stay up-to-date with the latest green …read more

F.A.C.E, when it started, was the brain child of nine year old Melissa Poe. At first the club had just six members but by 2001 had grown to over 300,000 members from all areas of the United States and in twenty-two foreign countries.
What F.A.C.E is:
Kids (F)or (A) (C)lean (E)nvironment (F.A.C.E) has one main goal – to protect and preserve the environment. At the F.A.C.E homepage you can learn about various missions you can undertake, such as recycling, tree planting, and smart green building. The site is updated with news of what other kids are doing and the organization makes it …read more

This week’s green audit is going to be kid specific; although adults are certainly welcome to participate. We’re going to be looking at schools, or rather the greening of schools.
What we’ll be looking at this week will include:

How schools can protect resources such as paper, water, and electricity.
What’s scary and not so green about the school cafeteria.
Schools supplies and how they affect sustainability.
The school grounds; including cleaning and maintenance.
School-based traffic and transportation.

We’ll also take a look at some very green schools, and a few other random issues that affect school greenness. I’ll offer some easy checklist formats this week, so …read more