Recycling: 5 Fun Ways to Help Kids Grow Up Green

Conserving water, recycle paper items, and use a ceramic mug instead of styrofoam. Growing up green is becoming a common way of life for our 21^st century kids. They study sustainable communities, visit recycling plants and some schools in rural areas are raising their own produce. A local school in our county is raising chickens to include fresh eggs as part of a healthy diet. All in all children are becoming more and more a part of the universal Green Team. Being a firm believer in "Keeping it Green" here are 5 fun ways to help kids grow up green.

Green Team Certificates: Invite your city or town officials to sponsor a Green Team Certificate Day. Plan a day to honor kids who make an extra effort to keep their city or town clean and green.

Recycle Your Room: Instead of buying new items use recycled materials. Redesign your favorite chair or desk with your favorite sports, fan, and fashion magazine photos. Paper blinds are a great way to add color as well as being biodegradable. Old or outgrown jeans make great wall and closet organizers. Bind the bottoms with colorful headbands or bandanas and store your stuff in the legs. For younger kids parents can mount a pair of outgrown jeans for each kid to store toys, books, etc. If you prefer not to permanently mount them reuse those plastic squeeze clip pant hangers and hang them anywhere you like.

Outdoor Green Gardening: Got Milk? Use old plastic gallon milk containers as plant hangers for outdoor gardening. Cut 2 or 3 three inch holes in the body of the container. Cover the container with plastic wrap to hold the soil in. Fill the container with an inch of pebbles and potting soil. Break a small hole in the plastic covering the holes and insert strawberry plants, cherry tomatoes or whatever your kids enjoy. Hang them on the porch, in windows, any sunny location and watch them grow into a healthy homegrown snack. Easy to water - just unscrew the cap.

Recycled Sock Sense: Everyone has a drawer of mismatched socks. Instead of throwing them away or buying new ones become a trendsetter and wear them!

Free Range Seeding: During the spring months use those old fall jackets, the ones with the small rips or holes in the pockets and full them with assorted summer flower seeds. Let the kids play in a little used area of the yard or lawn. As they run around seeds will fall from the pockets. Its healthy exercise and you will be surprised by what blooms over the summer months.