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Monday is Earth Day! I love this day to celebrate our planet, and give a little back. It’s also a great day for teaching our children. I know, I should be better about teaching them every day, but I’m not. We’re working on that though.
School days always get away from me, so I thought, hey let’s do a fun little learning crafty thing on Saturday. The girls were at first just ho humming, do we have to turn the wii off mom? attitude when I told them we were going to plant flowers. (by the way, I’m a mean mom and they only get to play wii on Saturday’s). Once I pulled out all the stuff, and had them run outside to find some rocks, their attitudes changed pretty fast.
This truly is a simple “craft” that anyone can do, with very basic supplies. You’ll want to start with an empty milk jug. Wash it out as good as you can, and then using a pair of kitchen shears (or other good scissors) cut the jug in half, just below the handle.
Step 1
While you, the adult, are handling the scissors, send your children out into the wild to find some rocks. Not too large, but not too small either (unless of course you have a gravel pit, then by all means get a bunch of tiny rocks).
Now that the dangerous scissor cutting is done, and you have a pile of rocks, layer the rocks in the bottom of the jug. I would go up about 1 inch for good drainage. You don’t want your plants sitting in too much water.
Step 2
Next cover the rocks with dirt up to the top of the jug. I used some extra seed starter I had, but you can go out and get some backyard dirt for this project too. My kids I know would love any excuse to go dig up some dirt.
Step 3
Now you’re ready to plant. I let the Princesses choose from a myriad of seeds, just because I already had them (thanks Mom!). So in our recycled milk jugs we’re growing Marigolds, Sweet Peas, and Daisies. Once the seeds are planted give them a drink of water, set out in the sun, and wait for them to grow.
Since putting ours outside, the Princesses have been checking on them every few hours, to see if they’ve come up yet. So far the idea hasn’t worn off, and they haven’t lost their patience. I just have to continue to explain that it takes a few days for them to grow.
Next on our spring crafty list – A Fairy House!
Happy Earth Day… great project.
That is a great idea! I'll have to rescue a couple jugs from the recycle bin.
I always hate throwing the milk jugs away since we don't have recycling around here 🙁 Thanks for stopping by!