Earth Day for fun.
That was the order of business Friday at Uplands Elementary School as classes celebrated the annual event by turning the schoolyard into a fun zone with recycled materials from home.
“It actually started last year it was an Earth Day challenge called Earth Play for Earth Day so it was decided to do it again this year,” said teacher and co-organizer Kelly Maxwell. “It’s all about kids learning to connect with nature and just finding things and play with them and not actually having to buy things as toys.
“It’s finding a cardboard box and nails and hammer and building things and have fun. “Just being unstructured because a lot of times our lives are so structured and kids don’t get that time.”
She added it’s about kids learning to communicate and talk to each other.
“They love it, see that they take two things and they build a story out of it. They’re definitely building their imagination and their creative thinking.”
Grade 3 student Peyton Kulak who was making a tire swing with two friends described it as: “Celebrating Earth Day and having fun and building things.”
Classmate Liam Reid believes by not recycling the consequences could be serious.
“We need to protect our earth because if we don’t protect earth we’re not really going to be here anymore,” he said. “You can have fun and you can use your imagination and make whatever you want with all the stuff you have.”
