Earth Day: Fun Stuff to Do with Your Kids

The state of the environment is a major issue these days. When it comes to motivating others to take up more environmentally friendly activities and practices, one of the main points of argument happen to be that the world needs to be healthy and habitable for future generations. But in order to guarantee that these efforts are successful and continue to be so, it is imperative that the kids who make up the future generation know just how important this issue is and how best to help care for the world that they live in.
Earth Day April 22, 2015
Earth day is the 22nd of April, and what better time to teach kids about what’s good and green in the world? The snow has melted and making way for budding flowers, plants, green grass and trees are finally growing their season’s leaves. There are plenty of fun ways to get kids interested and involved in this day that will stress its importance in the present as well as the future. 
1. Read about Earth Day. Getting kids interested in the topic may first require some familiarity with this particular day, for starters. Books with pictures and easy digestible facts can help pique kids’ interest while educating them at the same time.

2. Get outside! It’s important for kids to have a relationship with nature if you want them to care more about Earth Day. This way the weight of the issues mean even more to them. Take them to the local park, go on a mild hike or even take them to national landmarks if you happen to live near them.  If you don’t you can always play around with Google Earth, plus you can explore natural wonders all around the world that can benefit from their protection!

3. Volunteer! Your child’s school or even the local park that you may have visited might have ongoing cleanup programs or they might be running something special for Earth Day itself. Find out what’s going on in your community and make a fun family outing of it!

4. Plant something! Whether you plant some flowers, some vegetables to feed the family or plant a tree as part of an Earth Day program or event, this can be a positive experience all around. Knowing that they are responsible for a living plant that will continue to grow can help kids feel more a part of Earth Day as well as an integral inhabitant of this planet as well.

5. Instill good habits all year round. Encourage your kids and your family to recycle, not to litter and to partake in other planet and environmentally friendly activities and practices. These are the things that are truly important and are helpful to practice all year round, not just on Earth Day. While such practices and ideas are important every other day of the year as well, you can still use Earth Day as an opportunity to teach kids these important lessons and to make positive memories that will stay with them forever, encouraging them, too, to teach future generations the same things as well.

Year Round Tip: We have great outdoor personalized books that can instill the love of the environment to kids.  Our Fishing Adventure personalized book and My Camping Adventure that helps kids understand the beauty in the mountains and all around them.  
Camping Adventure Personalized Book

Now is the time to purchase these two personalized books as we have an April sale of 15% site-wide. Use AprilShowers-KD at checkout – expires April 31st.




Get Your Child Enthusiastic About Reading

 Parents it’s your job not the schools to get your kids to read books that will interest them…Sorry.

Some parents rely on the school system to provide the literacy education that the child needs but in fact it is the parents’ job to find books that will interest your child and get them to read or if they are not able to read yet, YOU can read to them.



This can be as simple as getting books that your child can relate to.  For example if they are learning how to ride a bike, get books on bikes.  If you’re going on a camping trip, get camping books.  Have you made a trip to the zoo lately?  Get a Zoo book. 

Freedom of choice is a key to getting them motivated and excited.  They get to pick out their own books which will motivate them to read.  Most children complain that there is no book that they want to read or are interested in.  This can solve the problem and there will be “no more excuses.”

Let them read whatever they’d like especially boys.  If all they want to read is comics, joke books, pop-ups, let them.  Boys have different reading needs than do girls.  As long as they are reading they are building their literacy skills.  Libraries are the best places for kids to find books that kids will gobble up and most bookstores and book websites offer a large variety of children’s books.

Reality Check: Due to technology gobbling up most of parents’ time, most of us don’t realize that we are failing our kids as role models.  The best role models are in the home (parents, siblings, grandparents) and not in the schools.  It is important that your kids see you read (books and newspapers) all the time.

Incorporate into your household 20 to 30 minutes of reading either daily or on special days of the week.  These 20 or 30 minutes would be considered a drop everything and read (no television, phone, computer, or anything that can be a distraction) that goes for parents too!

When parents read with their children, they are fostering the bonds of healthy interpersonal relationships. The benefits of reading are unequivocally positive.

 www.kdnovelties.com

Autumn Adventures

As the cooler autumn weather sneaks in, what’s more perfect than reading some of your child’s favorite adventure books

Engage your child and start talking about your past summer and any mini-adventures you may have been on, like the day at the beach swimming in the ocean. Did you do any fishing on the lake picking wild flowers or go on an awesome vacation?

What fun things do you have planned; a fall camping trip? This great camping adventure story would be perfect. Or, have plans to go see the circus coming to town? Going pumpkin picking or climbing trees for apples are all terrific mini-adventures.

Be sure to help your child discover the adventures in your every day, it will make the days much more exciting and their favorite adventure book way more interesting…and there’s nothing better than fun reading time!

We have a great selection of adventure books that can be personalizedfor your child and your special adventure.