Earth Day Activities including dandelion jelly and mini gardening kits

Earth Day is one of my most looked forward to days of the year. Not necessarily the actual holiday, but to me it means the weather is consistently looking better. We can be outdoors more comfortable more often. We have more daylight and all the things that means in itself.

Over the years, we have done many things on Earth Day or Earth Day weekend. Usually, part of that is yardwork. One year, we cleaned out the koi pond and re-lined it. I hope that's not the plan this year. Regardless, we usually spend much of the day outside.

One of my favorite activities is making dandelion jelly! The kids adore making jelly out of "weeds." It tastes a lot like honey. We pick a bunch of dandelions where they are plentiful and nobody is spraying chemicals near them. This is the actual recipe we use, from Simply Canning. There are plenty of activities for kids of all ages to help with from picking flowers, removing stems, stirring, etc. We have also experimented with dandelion bread and tea.

Dandelion Jelly with Kids

Picking dandelions

DIY Dandelion bread

Some years we start our garden plants at this time. Purchasing seeds that don't take as long to grow or just some fun flowers to plant later. Have you ever had your child grow something? Whether you have a home garden, live on a farm, or just want to plant some flowers, this is a fantastic learning activity for kids!

They can see how one little seed can become so much more! If you need help beginning, PaperPie has a terrific Tiny Gardening kit. Click the link for a quick video.

Mini Gardening Kit for kids

If you just want to have extra resources on hand to share about the Earth and what it means, does and how to protect it, there are several other book resources here for Earth Day.

Earth Day Favorite Books for Kids

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