Enjoy Celebrating Earth Hour As A Family

It was a stinker of a day. The sun was blazing. The kids played outside with the dinosaurs and lego when the power went out. Conversation between adults centred around the disappointment of not being able to have a coffee or toasted sandwich for lunch. The burning question from the 4 year olds “Can we still play with the dinosaurs”?

This question makes me think about the world from a different angle. The most important thing for the kids was whether they could still play with their dinosaurs without needing the electricity. Their play was about being in the moment with their friends using their thinking and the power of imagination to fuel their fun. Our adult thoughts centred around the negative aspects of not having connected power -The how-can-we-manage-without-power approach.

For Earth Hour, let’s be “em-powered” by the kids. I would like to take their lead to think about how we can live and play without relying so much on power. As a family, use Earth Hour as a time for being together and playing. It just happens to use less plugged-in energy, money and power.

Celebrating Earth Hour with Younger Children

In New South Wales Australia, Earth Hour takes place during daylight savings. The weather is usually beautiful with warm to hot days and easy-to-sleep nights. It doesn’t become dark until about 8pm. The official one hour Earth Hour time is 8.30-9.30pm. Easy peasy step 1- Bring your family’s Earth Hour celebration forward to a time when your younger ones are awake.

Ways to Reduce Energy Consumption at Home

Your little ones will have a better understanding of your family’s energy consumption when it’s obvious to them. As a visual for children, reducing energy usage in your house means:

Turning off the lights, fans and air conditioning
Switching off all forms of technology – phones, computers, devices, TV
Cook using alternative sources, reducing your stovetop, oven and microwave cooking.
Wash by hand rather than putting on the dishwasher
Delay using the washing machine

What to do for an Hour?

Let’s go back to the children’s train of thought about the impact no electricity will have on their dinosaur and lego playing. None. So as a family think about ways you can be together, play and use your imagination without relying on power sources.

In 2018, Earth Hour is celebrating it’s 11th anniversary as a global phenomenon. Earth Hour is something that really brings communities together.

Here’s some ideas on how you can celebrate Earth Hour as a family:-

Out and active Earth Hour activities in the outdoors are:

Play at the park
Go for a body board swim at the beach or lake
Have a backyard camping adventure
Go for a family bike and /or scooter ride
Enjoy a family walk
Jump on the trampoline
Play kick and catch with this wonderfully big 65cm globe ball or 60cm beach ball

There are plenty of games that young children love playing as a family that don’t rely on electricity. Some ideas for games to play with no power are :

Charades
I spy
Simple card games such as Uno
Imagination games – use dress ups or play toys that spark creativity
Sidewalk chalk games
Backyard family games such as wooden Uber, traditional Quoits or colourful Bocce

Reading books together is another wonderful unplugged way to enjoy Earth Hour as a family. These children’s picture books are some of my environmentally-themed favourites for 3-6 year olds:

The Earth Book by Todd Parr
10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh
I Can Save The Earth by Alison Inches

The next couple of ideas aren’t particularly environmentally friendly. But they are super fun for young children and provide lots of powerless entertainment.

Glow in the dark products such as glow sticks, thinking putty, glow in the dark tattoos and loom bands.

Anything that has a magical feel to it such as glow in the dark products, are always a hit with kids. Even though it may not yet be fully dark for your family’s earth hour celebration, there is still enough darkness to make these products glow!

Sparklers are heaps cool too.

Earth Hour is a Fantastic Initiative

Earth Hour is a fantastic initiative to show us how much energy we use in our everyday living. Once the kids have gone to bed you can enjoy Earth Hour again as adults! Use natural beeswax candles as your light source when it’s actually dark at the official 8.30pm time rather than switching the lights back on. Love being together. Delight in playing. Wonder with your imagination. Without relying on power to fuel our fun, it’s amazing what you can do. Most of all, enjoy your family’s Earth Hour!

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