Down to Earth

Don’t you just love people who are down to earth? Us too.

In honour of Earth Day this Sunday (April 22), we’ve cultivated a list of places, things and events to help inspire your family to get down with it—the earth we mean—all weekend long.

If it seems counterintuitive to spend Earth Day indoors, popular children’s author Barbara Reid (Read Me A Story, The Party, Perfect Snow)—who illustrates her own books with her distinctive plasticine art—will make it worth being walled in at the ROM this weekend. Reid, who also has a showcase of her work on display, will be bringing her most recent book, Picture A Tree, to life and will teach young audiences how to make their own plasticine creations.

Plant a seed in their little minds and who knows where it can take them. On Earth Day, it can take them to ARTicluations, a locally run art store in the Junction, offering two sessions of seed paper making. Kids make their own plantable paper out of recyclable material. Registration required.

Get all the dirt on dirt. Dirt! The Movie is a fast-paced, engrossing and thorough look at one of earth’s most precious, and contentious, natural wonders. Available on iTunes and recommended for kids eight and up (there are some war-related images).

Wondering what on earth there is to do if you’ve exhausted all your other ideas? Try Earth Day events at Evergreen Brickworks, the Toronto Botanical Garden, Downsview Park Earth Day Tree Planting, or our mayor’s Community Clean Up Day.

From little minds, great things grow. See what can happen when you start from the ground up this Earth Day. Tested by Alison R., Toronto