Recycled Gifts

Environmental Education Topic for December:

Recycled Gifts

 

It's time to start crafting for holiday gift giving. Who wants a tin can pencil holder?  

No. I already have ten. 

But it's recycled! 

Umm. So?

There are plenty of amazing ways to reuse objects destined for the landfill or recycling center. And not all of them are pencil holders! The craft ideas suggested below can be used for holiday gifts and can inspire discussions on product lifespan, the waste stream, and stewardship. The processes of decomposition and biodegradation ensure efficient recycling of organic materials; creating soil, feeding creatures, sustaining plants. What happens to our waste products? What do they nourish? And how can we reduce waste? Get crafty and reuse!

Activities:

Decoupaged Votive Candle Holder

Materials: glass jars, mod podge, pressed flowers and leaves, tissue paper, scissors, brushes

Procedure: Collect and press flowers or leaves to dry them out. Or cut colored tissue paper into shapes such as starts, moons, butterflies. Cover jars with mod podge. Stick on leaves, flowers, or shapes, cover with more mod podge. tear white tissue paper into pieces and stick on jar. Cover with more mod podge. Let dry. Place votive candle inside.

For more instructions see: http://www.makingfriends.com/votive_flowers.htm

Recycled Calendar Stationery Set

Materials: old calendars, paper, pens, glue, scissors

Procedure: Use the template provided on the site below to trace and cut calendar pages into envelopes. Use the small pictures on the back of the calendar for the stationary. Glue a small picture to the corner of a piece of paper. Create a decorative border with pens.

For more instructions see http://www.makingfriends.com/recycled_stationery.htm

Recycled T-Shirt Bag

Materials: t-shirts, sewing machine or needle and thread, scissors

Procedure: Cut off the arms of the t-shirt. Cut a hole around the neck. Turn it inside out and sew up the bottom.

For more instructions see http://www.marthastewart.com/article/good-thing-t-shirt-bag

For an entire book on how to turn t-shirts into other t-shirts (but cooler!) check out Generation T: 108 ways to Transform a T-Shirt from the Seattle Public Library

Cap Stamps

Materials: plastic soda bottle or container caps, styrofoam trays, pens or pencils, ink pad, scissors, glue

Procedure: Trace the bottle caps on the stryofoam and cut out. Draw designs into the styrofoam. Glue to bottle caps. Use as stamps in ink pad

For more instruction see: http://thelongthread.com/?cat=20&paged=2

Easy Weave News-Print Basket

Materials: newspaper, plastic jar, scissors, clear tape

Procedure: Cut the newspaper into strips. Tape two strips together to form a cross. tape another two on top to create an asterisk. Place this on the bottom of a jar and fold the strips up the side and over the lip of the jar. Weave strips horizontally around the jar, taping at the ends. Remove the jar and tape vertical ends under.

For more instruction see: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-material/recyclable-projects/easy-weave-newsprint-basket-858559/

Tin Can Robots

Materials: tin cans, random pieces (tin foil, paper clips, bottle caps, wires) hot glue gun

Procedure: Turn tin can into a robot by gluing found objects on as eyes, mouth, arms, antennae 

For more instruction see: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-material/recyclable-projects/can-do-robots-674831/

Fun Fall Gardening

Environmental Education Topic for November:

Fun Fall Gardening

It might be fall, but the garden fun hasn't stopped. That's right! Put on your rain boots and go outside! There is still plenty to do in our Club gardens from removing annual vegetable plants (yeah, kids get to pull stuff!) to planting cover crops and bulbs, to mulching and composting. And don't forget a Harvest Fair. Check out North Seattle's Harvest Fair on November 19th for some good food and good ideas to bring back to your Club.  

Activities

Remove Non-Producing Crops

Get the kids out in the dirt to pull out annual plants, weeds, and debris. Perhaps some of your veggies went to seed? Kids can collect seeds from pods and examine plant parts including roots, fruits, and leaves. What do these parts do? How do they function? Add pulled plants to the compost pile as long as they are disease free. 

 Plant Onion Sets and Garlic Cloves

Onions and garlic show up early in the spring and can inspire excitement for the garden as soon as the weather warms. Onion sets look like small onion bulbs and you can plant them in well tilled soil about 4-6 inches apart. To plant garlic cloves, buy a head of organic garlic, allow the kids to break it into cloves and plant each clove 3-4 inches deep and 4-6 inches apart in loose soil. Which side of the clove or onion set points down? How do you know? Mulch with compost on top. 

Plant Cover Crops

Annual cover crops contribute to the health of your soil and the productivity of your spring and summer garden. These plants fix nitrogen, displace unwanted weeds, retain soil, provide flowers with nectar for beneficial insects, and provide organic matter that can be tilled under in the spring. Cereal rye, winter wheat, clover, and fava beans are excellent choices and can be purchased in bulk at City People's Garden Store. Fava beans not only fix nitrogen and break up compacted soil with a long tap root, they also have edible flowers! And the beans can be eaten as small peas, or harvested and dried for eating later. Plant them 4-5 inches apart, thinning to 8-10 inches, in rows 18-30 inches apart. They don't like to be planted with the onions or garlic though, so choose different beds for each. 

Mulch Garden Beds With Leaves

Kids can collect leaves and spread them on garden beds not growing a cover crop. Burlap bags can be used to hold down the leaves. As the leaves decompose they release nutrients into the soil. You can also make a wire frame leaf bin. Like a compost bin this will allow the leaves to break down throughout the winter and in the spring you will have a nice pile of leaf mold that acts as a fertilizer. Mmmm moldy.

Hold a Harvest Fair

Combine your thanksgiving meal give-aways with a Harvest Fair. North Seattle will be inviting families to an evening of learning, eating, and celebrating their Club garden. Families will receive recipes for produce that can be grown at the Club or at home and a local chef will demonstrate some easy vegetable meals. The kids in the fall LEAP! garden program will teach other kids how to plant seeds for indoor herb gardens and they will distribute their illustrated How-to-Garden guide. 

Though most of the produce is now gone from many of the Club gardens, herbs can still be harvested and dried. Kids can collect and dry herbs that might be used in holiday meals. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Hehe! Include recipes for stews, soups, and stuffing that use the herbs. Kids can decorate the recipes with drawings and help distribute their harvest. The kids are the educators and providers. It is so powerful for them to take this role and contribute to the health of their community.

 

Salmon Return!

Environmental Education Topic for October: Salmon Return!

Many of our Club kids participated in the Salmon Homecoming Celebration and are currently discussing salmon migration in their classrooms. We can enrich their learning through salmon themed conversation, investigation, and activities during Club time.

Conversation:
"I might be a migrating sockeye salmon for Halloween. Their flesh begins to peel off and decay when they are still alive! Kinda looks like a zombie. Eww cool! And they grow big hooked snouts and long sharp canine teeth! What are you going to be?" or "Wow! You sure can jump as high as a salmon trying to get upstream!"
The kids might think you are a little weird... but weird cool! Right?

Investigation:
Do your Club kids garden? Compost helps fertilize our Club gardens, but some people may use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides on their home gardens. These chemicals can wash into ground water and into our lakes and streams, harming aquatic life. How can we educate our community about salmon safe gardening practices? Make brochures? Hold a garden open house? Help the kids come up with an empowering project. 

Or perhaps your kids are into recycling and reusing. How many plastic bags did you see on the ground today? How many do you use a day? You can collect/request canvas shopping bags for kids to paint and give to families. Less plastic shopping bags equals less trash in the waterways. 

Activities:
You can contact Seattle Public Utilities to request materials to stencil storm drains and pick up trash. The Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery  (FISH) can provide salmon and water pollution presentations for your Club. And you can always play Bears Vs. Salmon tag! See below for more activities, printable worksheets, stories, and resources.

Enviroscape lesson with Celina from FISH

Wallingford kids stencil storm drains

Some Salmon Facts:

• Four main species of salmon migrate to the Cedar River to spawn: chinook, sockeye, coho, and steelhead. Cutthroat trout are year-long residents of our local fresh waters. 

• The Cedar River (which runs into Lake Washington) is home to the largest sockeye run in the lower 48. 

• Salmon are born in the fresh water of streams and rivers. They remain in freshwater for months or years before moving to an estuary where fresh and saltwater meet. The salmon then swim to the ocean spending one to five years, depending on the species, before migrating home to spawn and die.  

• Not all salmon return to their home stream at the same time of year. There are different runs of salmon that return from the sea at various times and seasons. Cedar river sockeye spawn (deposit and fertilize eggs) from September through January.

• Salmon are part of local Native American spiritual and cultural identity.

• Salmon populations are threatened by human impacts including pollution, dams, habitat destruction, and loss of spawning grounds.

Some Wild and Crazy Salmon Facts:

• Chinook, or king salmon, can live up to nine years and grow to over 100 pounds.

• When male salmon return to spawn they grown long hooked snouts and sharp canine-like teeth.

• Some salmon migrate over 1000 miles up river to spawn.

Activities and Resources:

Salmon Homecoming: An Activity Book for Kids

People for Puget Sound

How Many Salmon Math Worksheet  and How Many Salmon Background Information and Benchmarks

Anadromous Adventures

Salmon Friendly Seattle

Salmon Challenge Interactive Web Game

Spawning Salmon Viewing Locations

Puget Sound Starts Here

Lake Washington/Cedar River Watershed Map

Things You Can Do to Help Salmon Thrive

Nature Sculpture

Environmental Education Topic for September:
Nature Sculpture

The natural world is filled with forms, colors, and textures. Whether you have access to large driftwood logs, or you are out making art in back of the Club with leaves and sticks, natural materials can become elements of amazing sculptures. Attention to the beauty and diversity of natural forms around us can help deepen our connection to the local environment.


Inspired by Andrew Goldsworthy
Check out a book by Andrew Goldsworthy from the Seattle Public Library. Use the photos as examples of sculpture made entirely from natural materials. Ask the kids how he may have constructed the pieces shown. How long might it have taken to build the pieces? What do the kids like or dislike? What questions would they ask Andrew Goldsworthy about his art? For even more information you can also check out the Rivers and Tides documentary on Andrew Goldsworthy from the library. This film is more suitable for an older audience, but younger kids would enjoy shorter parts demonstrating Goldsworthy's artistic process.

Sculpture Activity
The kids can work alone or in groups to create their sculpture from natural materials. Discuss some artistic considerations such as positive and negative space, balance, combination of colors and textures, and how the piece involves the viewer. Remind kids to use materials found on the ground (rather than stripped from a tree) and encourage thought of the landscape in which the piece will be built.

Art Show
After the groups have finished their art gather everyone together. Each group or artist will have an opportunity to show their art and explain their ideas. Encourage questions from the viewers about the materials selected, what was most difficult to achieve, the name of the piece, and what the piece might mean or allude to. Environmental art is by nature impermanent. Bring a camera and let each group or artist take pictures of their creation. You can continue to visit the art on different days to see how other people or the natural elements have added to or changed the work.


The above photos show kids from the Federal Way Club and the wonderful constructions they created on a Parks In Focus trip to the Olympic Peninsula this summer. The Udall Foundation provided digital cameras for the kids to use and keep and Parks In Focus staff led photographic and environmental education activities.

Tracking

Environmental Education Topic for August:
Tracking

Tracking is a great skill to practice on hikes in city parks, at sandy beaches, and even in the playground. Tracks are evidence of the wild creatures who share our urban space. Use track discoveries to provoke discussions on animal behavior, diet, movement, and the hidden lives around us. Tracking is one more way to increase awareness and hone naturalist skills.



Activities

Who Goes There?
Use field guides, http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/nature/tracking.shtml, or pages of tracks printed from the computer, http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_circulars/circ561.html to identify tracks. What type of animal was it? Can you tell by the size and shape of the track? Or maybe by the spacing and orientation. Some animals bound with two feet in front and two in the back, others may pace, others may place tracks in a single file line. Sometimes tail and feather marks can be seen. Was the animal running quickly, turning around, or jumping? Use the suggestions found at this website: http://www.concord.org/~btinker/guide/tracks/tracks_db.html to carefully describe and draw all the attributes of a track.
Blank Slate
Use a board to clean an area of debris and smooth the dirt. Choose a place that might be frequently visited by animals, such as near a stream or close to fir trees. Check the area day after day for new tracks. Find tips on how to ask open ended questions about tracks and download printable field journal pages on the American Museum of Natural History website.

Plaster Cast Tracks
You can make tracks in mud, sand, or soft dirt with replicas of hooves and paws. Or you can find tracks of wild animals and, in the city, often domestic dogs. Mix plaster according to the directions and pour it into the track including the claw marks. Let dry for at least an hour. Pry up the plaster with a butter knife or stick and refrain from cleaning the dirt or sand off until the next day when the cast is completely dry. For more information on this and other tracking activities see: http://www.bear-tracker.com/teachers.html

Guess My Gait

Tom Brown

This works well in damp sand at the park or beach. Smooth an area of sand and walk normally across it. Now walk faster along side. Create a third line of tracks by running. What changes? What part of the track is deep or scuffed? Why? Use a board to smooth the sand again. One person gets to make a line of tracks while everyone else closes their eyes. The detectives try to determine if the tracks were made by slow or fast walking, running, jumping, turning, stopping, or leaning over. Like the human tracks, animal tracks also change depending on the movement of the animal. The Tom Brown books listed below provide detailed information on how tracks change with movement.

Resources:

Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign
Paul Rezendes, New York:HarperCollins Publishers, Incorporated, 1999.

Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival
Tom Brown, NY: Berkley Press, 1983.

Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature Observation
Tom Brown,Brandt Morgan, Berkley Publishing Group, 1989

Guides:

National Audubon Society Pocket Guide
Familiar Animal Tracks of North America
John Farrand Jr. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Chanticleer Press, 1993.

Track Finder
Dorcas Miller, and Cherie Hunter Day
Rochester,NY: Nature Study Guild 1981

Pacific Coast Mammals: A guide to mammals of the Pacific Coast states, their tracks, skulls, and other signs 

Ron Russo and Pam Olhausen

Wheeee Water!

Environmental Education Topic for July:
Wheeeeee Water!

Isn't it just so much fun to play with water on a hot day? Yes it is. Now, let's get educational. You can use these activities to discuss conservation, address current environmental issues, and infuse inquiry-based learning into a camp day.

Activities:

Water Cycle Yoga

Make up movements for different stages of the water cycle. Rise up with outstretched arms for evaporation, bring arms into a circle above the head for condensation, wiggle fingers, drop arms, and crouch down for precipitation. How fast can you do it? Water never disappears, it just changes form. Again and again and again. In a cycle. Kids like to hear that the water we are drinking today could have been slurped up by a dinosaur millions of years ago.

Surface Tension Trials

Why are rain drops shaped like rain drops? Why does water appear to extend above a glass when you carefully fill it really full? Surface tension is the attraction of water molecules to each other. Kids can use eye-droppers to count how many drops of water they can fit on a penny. They can try to balance a paper clip on water by sliding it across the cup. And they can amaze friends and family with a magic trick. Sprinkle pepper on a bowl of water. Ask a volunteer to stick a finger in the bowl. Nothing happens. Now, without anyone noticing of course, put a little bit of dish soap on your finger. Stick this finger in the bowl. The pepper will spring out to the edges. The dish soap disrupts the surface tension and the intact tension of water toward the outer edge of the bowl will pull the pepper towards it. Magic! Science! More experiments can be found at http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/cat_surfacetension.html

Build a Watershed

Water flowing from surrounding terrain into a common area is watershed. Animals, plants, and people are connected to each other in this watershed through the flow of water. Kids can get in groups to build a watershed with clay or salt dough. They can make mountains, lakes, rivers, and seas. When they have built a 3D representation of a landscape, they can cover it with saran wrap and spray it with a spray bottle. Where does the water collect? Was it what they expected. Look up and around. Where would we expect the water in our watershed to flow from and to? EPA's Wetlands and Watersheds web page can inform you on local wet features.

Salmon Migration Obstacle Course

Set up an obstacle course with a jump rope for a dam, cones as a fish ladder, and bears and fisherman who can tag salmon. You can require the fisherman to only move one foot, or hop around in a bucket. Discuss the obstacles salmon face as they migrate upstream to the location of their birth. The Washington Department of Ecology provides plenty of information on their Salmon web page.

Plankton Races

Plant (phyto) and animal, (zoo) plankton are food for many aquatic creatures and are an important building block in the Puget Sound food chain. They also are neutrally buoyant; and float around, not on the top of the water, nor the bottom, but in the middle. Can the kids make a neutrally buoyant creature? With a mix of materials, the kids construct their creature and can then test it in a bucket. It is harder then they expect. Some materials might include: sponges, string, washers, pipe cleaners, clothes pins, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and styrofoam peanuts. Plankton facts and the activity can be found at http://marinediscovery.arizona.edu/lessonsF00/bryozoans/2.html

Clean Up the Oil Spill

Put a bit of blue food coloring in pans of water. Add some cooking oil (which you can explain is not quite the same as crude oil) and give kids some cleaning materials such as spoons, sponges, paper, cup of dish soap, etc. Ask teams of kids to try to clean the oil from the pan. What works? What makes more of a mess? Add some feathers to the oil. Do they change? Oil is a problem for the quality of our water in Puget Sound as well as in the Gulf. How does oil get into our water locally? Hint: cars and cement. Find out more on Puget Sound Partnership's website: http://www.psp.wa.gov/oilspills.php

Aquatic Life

What can you find in Lake Washington? A puddle? A stream? Scoop out some water and take a look. You can use magnifying lenses and microscopes. Return the water and it's organisms to the location it was found when the activity is over.

How to Build a Raised Bed Garden

June Environmental Education Topic:
How to Build a Raised Bed Garden
This spring Federal Way and Kirkland built raised bed gardens with materials granted by Home Depot. Raised bed gardens can be placed in areas with marginal or poor soil, they promote root growth and water drainage, and they prevent kids or dogs from running through the vegetable patch. Building the garden is a wonderful exercise in teamwork, leadership and developing skills with new tools. Below you can find the materials we used and an outline of steps to help you get started.

Materials for a 4x8 ft Raised Bed Garden
Drill
Hammer
Staple Gun2 1/4inch Deck Screws- 1 box
2x6x12 Cedar- 4 planks
2x4x8 Cedar- 2 planks
Weed Block- 1 roll
Garden Soil- 28 cubic feet Compost- 2 cubic feet
Seeds and/or starts
Trowel/sWatering Can
Hose and/or soaker hose
If you borrow a drill and hammer, you can purchase the rest of the materials, soil, seeds, and starts for about $200.00. LEAP! also has some trowels, shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, and a drill available for project use. Contact Christine at cmorris@positiveplace.org to request tools.

Step 1
Decide with the kids where to place the garden. How much sun will it get? Is it near a hose or spigot? Is it in a prominent spot or gathering place where families can be involved? Can a picnic table or play area be located near-by? What kind of community impact will the garden have?

Step 2
Decide when to build the garden and who will be involved. Will it be during Club time or on a weekend with family members and community volunteers?

Step 3
Purchase and gather materials. Ask the hardware store to cut the 2x6x12 Cedar planks into 4ft and 8ft sections. The 2x4x6 and be cut into 2ft long pieces. Cedar is not the cheapest lumber, but it resists rot and does not contain the chemicals found in treated wood.

Step 4
Build the raised bed on a level surface if possible. Start by drilling one 2x6 into a 2x4. Then drill another 2x6 in a right angle to the 2x4. Continue with all four corners. Add the second level of 2x6 planks and drill them into the 2x4s. You now have a box. For added support drill two more 2x4s in the center of the 8ft sides.

Step 5
Place the box in your desired location. Staple the Weed Block around the sides of the box. Poke holes in the bottom for drainage and for roots to pass through. The Weed Block will help prevent soil from leaking out any gaps in the box between the boards and will suppress grass and weed growth.

Step 6
Fill the box with soil. Work in compost.

Step 7
Plant seed and starts. You can create signs and labels for the garden. Use a watering can to gently water the seeds. Once they have sprouted you can use a soft spray on a hose or a soaker hose to water the raised bed.
Step 8
Decorate. Paint the box, make scarecrows, wind socks, stepping stones.

Step 9
Celebrate!

Spa from a Salad

Environmental Education Topic for May:

Spa from a Salad!

Take a look at the ingredients in your shampoo, soap, lotion, cosmetics. What did you find? Hmmmm.

This DIY spa is cheaper, it's fun, contains no weird chemicals or parabens, and is healthy for you and the environment. Hooray! Perhaps treat someone you know for mother's day. A spa day is also a fun activity to include in your gardening curriculum or with your Smart Girls Club. You can discuss beneficial uses of plant products, or compare the independence gained from controlling what materials you put in your body care products to growing your own food without herbicides or pesticides.

Cucumber Slices Eye Soother
-1 cucumber
Preparation:
Cut the Cucumber into 1/2 inch slices. Lie down and place them on your eyes for at least 15 minutes. It feels cooling and reduces puffiness. Kids think it is funny.

Banana Face Mask
-1 banana
-1 tbsp honey
-1 egg whie -juice from an orange or a lemon
Preparation: Mix the banana, honey, and egg whites together. Add a few drops of juice from the orange or lemon. Leave on your face for 15 minutes and then rinse off with water and a warm washcloth.

Avocado Face Mask
-Avocado
-Honey
Preparation: Mash the avocado with a fork until creamy. Add 1 tbsp of honey. Apply a thin layer of the face mask and allow it to set for 15 minutes before rinsing off. Avocados contain vegetable oil, helpful for dry skin care and honey reduces swelling, inflammation, and has antimicrobial properties.

Clay Face Mask
-1 bag cat litter (must be labeled as 100% Natural Clay)
-Water
-Drops of essential oil
Preparation:Mix a couple tablespoons of cat litter with water and drops of essential oil. Apply it your face and wait for the mask to harden. Rinse it off with water and a wash cloth. The clay cleans and tightens pores.
Ginger Mint Hand and Foot Scrub
-Honey
-Freshly grated ginger root
-Chopped fresh mint leaves
-Olive oil
-Brown sugar
Preparation: Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl using 1/3 olive oil to 2/3 brown sugar. Use the scrub as a buff on dry hands and feet. Rinse with warm water. The oil helps skin retain moisture while the sugar exfoliates.
For more great DIY bath and body craft ideas check out this website: http://www.craftbits.com/bath-and-body-crafts