I am not an educator. Really, really not. But I do care about the wellbeing of our earth and I want to teach my children a sense of responsibility and love of nature so that they will also make conscientious choices in their lives. For those reasons, I am particularly excited to be included in the book tour for Patty Born Selly’s book Early Childhood Activities For A Greener Earth, a book that is full of green school activities for kids ages 3 through 8.

What the book is full of:

• activities costing little to nothing
• goals for each activity
• National Science Education Standards
• Fun!

The National Science Education Standards are important, I think, for people who homeschool. I do have to say that the it is an intensely educational book. There aren’t many pictures or illustrations. But that just leaves room for more activities! One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 4 “The Food We Eat”. I am excited to try some of the activities with Little Sir (3 years old) to help him learn to be a more adventurous eater.

As a little taste of what you might find in Patty Born Seller’s book, here is a sample!

10 Things To Do With Rocks

We’ve got little rock piles in every room of this house. We can’t help it-I’ve always been a saver of rocks, and L is too. Everywhere we go, she and I are collecting them, absentmindedly putting them in our pockets and bringing them home.

We dug out the stash of rocks and the kids came up with some very creative ways of using them. In no particular order, here are 10 favorites:

10. Use them as trucks. Long, flat rocks became bulldozers. Small round ones were steamrollers. J even designated one to be a feller buncher, his all-time favorite truck. (um, whose child is this?)
9. Use them as blocks. They make fantastic building elements. We created a cave, some bridges, and a “garage.”
8. How many can you stack to make a tower? Which kinds of rocks work best for stacking?
7. Use them as characters in a puppet show. They all have distinct personalities, have you noticed? Is this a bit of a stretch for you? Pick up a rock and make it “talk” to your child. He or she will likely get the other rocks involved in the conversation and you’ll soon see each rock’s personality emerge.
6. Wash the rocks. You can do this in the sink, a pan of warm water, or better yet, the bath.
5. Paint them. An old favorite, this activity never gets old. Tempera paints are bright and bold, what effect can you get using watercolors? Or forget the paints, how about pastels? Crayons?
4. Paint with them. Instead of using brushes, use rocks. Dip them in paint, press them on paper, roll them around in a tray lined with paper.
3. Sort them. Let your children decide on the categories: size, shape, color. Where found, boy/girl (for some reason, in our house, rocks have gender) etc.
2. Hide them around the house. In our house, we never seem to tire of “hide-and-seek” games. The kids love it when I hide their stuff so they can search for it. Rock hunting inside is a new challenge.
1. Roll them around on various surfaces and compare what happens. Watch how they move, listen to the sounds that they make. This is especially fun if you’ve first dipped the rocks in paint. (see #5 above)

You can order Early Childhood Activities For A Greener Earth from the Redleaf publishers today for 30% off with the code GREENEREARTH now through June 30!

This post has been a part of the Children For A Greener Earth Blog Book Tour.

NOTE: I was given a promotional copy of the book to review, but all opinions are my own.