Fun Freetime: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Earth Day Activities

This Earth Day, pitch in with your kids to help make every day a beautiful day in your neighborhood! A special, all-new episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the top-rated PBS KIDS series from The Fred Rogers Company, premieres on April 22 (check local listings) – just in time to help young viewers learn the importance of cleaning up, picking up and recycling. 
The new show features two stories. In Neighborhood Clean Up, King Friday proclaims that it is “Clean Up Day” following a windstorm and everyone helps restore the playground by throwing out and recycling the trash. The Neighborhood children – along with young viewers at home – learn that, by working together, the playground can be ready for play again in no time! I Clean Up Time, Daniel and his best friend O the Owl are playing “farm” at Daniel’s house, making quite a mess!  After losing his watch in a messy room, Daniel realizes that cleaning up and putting his toys away will help him find it.

Inspired by Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood special Earth Day-themed episode, here are some simple and fun ideas for celebrating the special day (and Mother Earth) together:

·         Proclaim your own “Clean Up Day”!  Tidy up your yard, and clean out the winter clutter.  While you’re at it, find out what kind of trees, plants and wildlife are “at home” in your backyard and neighborhood, too!

·         Plant a garden!  Pick out the kinds of vegetables you’d like to grow or design a flower bed together – kids love to get their hands dirty!  If you live in an apartment, you can create a beautiful flower or herb garden right on your terrace or windowsill.

·         Help beautify a park or playground!  Get a group of parents and preschoolers
together and visit a local park to help make sure that it’s trash free and ready for playtime!

·         Recycle together!  Invite your children to get in on the act of recycling!  Have them assist you in tying up those newspapers and magazines, collecting the cans and bottles, crunching the cardboard boxes – and making sure that everything goes in its proper bin.