Join the KSE Wildflower Team

Spring flowers are in full bloom! And that includes wildflowers in our parks, neighborhoods, and even in our own backyards! Pinks, reds, and yellows pop up throughout forest floors, prairies, and parks.

A fun and effective way to get kids outside and interested in nature is to take some time to observe the wildflowers that bloom this time of year. KSE has a great activity set up for kids, families, and classrooms to Join the KSE Wildflower Team. It's easy!

	Take a hike in the woods or a meadow and take your camera or your sketch book along with you.
	Simply take photos or enjoy sketching the wildflower plant.
	Record the location where you found it and try to find it's name.To find out the name of the wildflower you have discovered, it isbest to "google" wildflowers by your state.  For example: Wildflowers in Minnesota
	Email photos or scanned colorful artwork to kse@kidsforsavingearth.org or snail mail to:
	37955 Bridge Road, North Branch, MN 55056
	Include your first name, email address and school or other group, city and state..
	Check this KSE Wild Flower Wise web site to see your photos or art on line
	Plant a wildflower garden and put a wildflower wild sign in the area you planted.

And be sure to check out our page of wildflower photos submitted by other Defenders of the Planet.

Welcome to May! A message from Tessa Hill

Hello Friends of Kids for Saving Earth!

May is a month to be enjoyed outside. Take time to take your students outside to soak up some sun and the wonders of nature. The more children learn to love nature, the more they will want to protect it. This May calendar is filled with activities you can do outside.

Take your kids on a hike to look for wildflowers. Make sure to have them bring cameras if they have them, or let them borrow one to take photos of their favorite wildflowers. They can email the photos to KSE and we will place them on our Wild Flower Team page.

In Minnesota, where the Kids for Saving Earth headquarters is located, we celebrate the opening fishing season in May.  People fill the highways headed to their favorite lake to catch their favorite fish--most often walleye. It's ironic that they often do things that aren't so good for those beautiful lakes or the aquatic habitat. For example, most people are still using sinkers made from lead, a very toxic material. Check out our Get the Lead Out campaign to learn how your students can help encourage politicians to make laws to protect children and animals from lead poisoning.

Getting the word out about your activities is an important way to inspire others to act to protect the Earth. Ask your students to become KSE reporters and write emails or letters to their local newspapers or TV newscasters. Tell the kids to say they are reporters from Kids for Saving Earth. Click here to learn more about this Earth-saving activity.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Tell your friends and associates to join the Kids for Saving Earth team.

Happy spring!


For the Earth and its children,

Tessa Hill

President, Kids for Saving Earth

Happy Arbor Day!

"Each generation takes the Earth as trustees." - J. Morton Sterling

April 29, 2011 is Arbor Day in the United States. The holiday was started by pioneer, journalist, and nature-lover J. Sterling Morton. He recognized the benefit of trees: shade, natural windbreaks, and erosion prevention. He organized the planting of hundreds of thousands of trees in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day event in 1872. Over 135 years later, we continue to celebrate this important and constructive holiday.

The Arbor Day Foundation has several ideas and suggestions for families, youth groups, and schools to celebrate and contribute to this event. They also have a great web-pamphlet on the history of Arbor Day you can read to kids.

And be sure to check out our extensive list of Kids for Saving Earth Programs for additional activity ideas.

What are your plans for Arbor Day? Let us know in the comments below.

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is this week, Friday, April 22nd!

Earth Day is a great day to realize what simple things we can do and change in our daily lives to help the Earth. It's also a great day to teach our children the importance of this worldwide holiday, and the importance of taking care of our Earth.

Kids for Saving Earth has many, many materials to help you do just that:

• The simple eco-activity of having students cleaning their desk can be a good lesson in how to reuse and recycle, while doing some spring cleaning! Clean Your Desk (pdf)
• Get kids interested in Earth-related research with this simple fact sheet: Earth Facts (and tips) (pdf)
• Encourage kids to use cloth napkins for a week to save on paper waste with this eco-activity, Use Cloth Napkins Week
• Teach kids about the importance of cutting down on waste and plastic-usage by telling them about the Great Garbage Patch (pdf), the floating trash "island" in the Pacific Ocean. 
• The emissions from buses are toxic, and when they idle outside of school, kids inhale them. Get kids to take action by reducing the dangers of idling school buses outside their school. No Idling! (pdf)
• A great addition to any environmental education curriculum is the Kids for Saving Earth Promise (pdf), a multi-lingual program for kids to promise to keep the Earth "healthy and beautiful."
• Lastly, to reward kids' Earth-saving efforts, give them a Defender of the Planet Certificate (pdf).

Of course, you can find much, much more on our website, kidsforsavingearth.org. (Click on "Programs" for the complete list.)

Be sure not to let this important Earth holiday go uncelebrated. Take this opportunity to teach a child about protecting the Earth!

And let us know what you're doing for Earth Day! Comment below, reach us via Twitter (@KSEgreenschool), or comment on our Facebook Page!

Simple Spring Activity: Make a Bird Feeder

Since it's finally spring here in Minnesota, we wanted to attract some of the birds to our backyard! We reused some common household containers -- in this case, milk and egg cartons -- added some bird seed, and voilà! A simple and functional bird feeder!

The finished bird feeder (click to enlarge)

By using this KSE Eco-Activity (pdf), or just by searching "egg carton bird feeder" online, you can learn to create a bird feeder in a few simple steps.

We also created a feeder with similar steps using the bottom half of a milk carton. 

Within just one day, the birds had found both feeders. They love them!

It's a great, easy way to reuse old materials and get kids interested in nature in their own backyards.

By the way, does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

Related: Become a KSE Bird Buddy! Click to learn more. (pdf)