Mindful Littles was very excited to join Orinda Action Day on Earth Day, where we hosted a station that was all about “Arts/Crafts from Recyclables.”  Kids could create any art, craft or invention using recyclable materials such as empty boxes, containers, paper bags, bottles and more.  Our station was a huge hit as kids loved coming up with original creations including building a house, wagons, amphitheaters and more.  It was incredible to see how engaged and creative kids were simply using old recyclable items and a few art supplies.

Mindful Littles also joined cleanup projects that were setup around town by the Orinda Action Day team.  A couple of our Mindful Littles organizers (Sarah & Maya) took folks around on cleanup sites and shared an Earth Day Trivia game we had created. The same trivia game was also available at the Mindful Littles booth during the Volunteer Fair.

A few interesting insights that our littles learned from our Trivia Game were:

• 75% of the stuff we throw out CAN be recycled, but we ONLY recycle about 30%.
• We create about 4.5 lbs. of trash per person everyday.  This may not seem like a lot but over the course of a year this adds up to 1617 lbs. of garbage per person per year.
• A Styrofoam cup has been termed the “eco-enemy” and is something that is likely to never decompose and can be very toxic to our Earth.
• Lunchtime trash is the 2nd biggest source of waste at schools. Paper is #1.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that on average we use about 300 gallons of water per household each day, but more than 10% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to adequate drinking water.

All in all, Mindful Littles was very happy to be able to help our families have some creative fun and be a bit more mindful about our great planet on Earth Day!