Caroline Fernandez: Activity Mummy

Mar
22
2013

Earth Hour Activities

On Sat Mar. 23 Make Earth Hour a family affair

Earth Hour is this Saturday March 23rd. At 8:30 p.m. families can save energy for one hour, making a contribution to the global movement of living a more environmentally friendly and sustainable life. Turn off the lights and turn on your family—so to speak. I have a few tips and activities to help you enjoy Earth Hour with your family.

Own the Hour. I know they say 8:30 p.m. is Earth Hour but that just doesn't work for my family — the lights are always off at 8:30 — it's bedtime! So, I say, own the hour. Why not make Earth Hour when YOU want it. Yes, it does go against the "collective" part of Earth Hour but turning the lights out at 5:30 will be more meaningful to us as a family because we will all be awake.

Some Earth Hour Tips (we live in a tech driven/instant need world...forecast your Earth Hour)

  • Will the baby need a warm bottle during Earth Hour? (how will you warm it?)
  • Will the kids need a drive to Karate class? (how will you get there?)
  • Are you supposed to be in on a Twitter chat? (um...even twitter gets turned off during Earth Hour)
  • Will the kids need dinner? (Make something ahead!)

Activities without screens, batteries or USBs. Sounds very Little-House-On-The-Prarie right? But there are, indeed, a few things (no, not sex...the kids are in the room remember!) which you can do without screens:

Earth Hour Activities For Kids

Earth Hour Activities For The Family

Celebrate Screen Free

Here are a few of the activities within those great links...

  • draw
  • play a board game
  • read a book
  • play road hockey
  • walk to the playground
  • tell stories
  • build a fort
  • put on a puppet show

There are lots of ways to play screen-free. For me, it's not so much about the collective global movement but showing my kids we CAN turn off the lights and still have a good time. There is more to life than screens.