Matthew's 9th birthday was on Friday and for his party he wanted to have the theme of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." We had a blast! The image you see is his cake, it's supposed to be a compost pile like the one we have in the garden. I used five round chocolate cakes, layering them with frosting, shredded coconut dyed yellow for straw and green for grass, chinese chow mein noodles for dried out plants, fruit chews, "malt ball" robin's eggs, and of course a gummy worm here and there. I wrapped chicken wire around it to make the compost heap more complete.
In addition, we had some fun activities that related to the theme. Each child was instructed to bring a plastic bag, a tin can, and an empty plastic milk jug. The first thing we did was go out and pick up litter. (You'd be surprised at how much litter there was in a square block!) Each child filled up their plastic bag they had brought with litter - each bag was very full! We then separated each bag into what can be recycled and what has to be thrown away.
Next, we talked about compost piles. I had each child take out their tin can (now with a hole at the bottom) and we filled them with nice soil from my old compost pile. (The chickens had nicely aerated it for me.) We talked about what you can put in a compost pile. We then planted a pansy in each can.
After eating the compost pile cake (I kept teasing them that I couldn't believe they would want to eat dirt!!) using disposable forks made from potato, we played a game of toss, using the plastic milk jugs. I had cut the bottom off of each one, leaving the top with the handle. They could then play catch with a "recycled" aluminum ball. While one group was playing outside, I had another group inside reusing scrap paper to make new paper!
The door prizes were the most popular. The first door prize was a recycled, reusable bag from Target using old plastic Target bags. The second was a set of colored pencils made from a certified forest where they replant trees. (If you ever wondered how a pencil was made, check out their website at www.forestchoice.com- it's quite interesting.)
I think the children had a good time and learned some important things about caring for the earth as well. :)