Celebrate Earth Day!

April 19, 2022 |

This Friday, April 22 is Earth Day! From the creation of Grain of Rice Project, we have made it essential to cultivate environmental stewardship. In fact, it is one of the 9 Key Principles as members of Fair Trade Federation: "Fair trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the environment and promote the responsible stewardship of resources. Members reduce, reuse, reclaim,  recycle, and regenerate materials wherever possible. They encourage environmentally sustainable practices throughout the entire trading chain."

Recycling and reusing has always been important to us. At our original site in Kenya, we worked in the largest slum in East Africa where trash pick-up was extremely limited, so we always made it a priority to try to repurpose materials. Now we are in a village that doesn't provide trash pick up and so the need to creatively reuse materials is imperative. We are proud that our artisan team produces little waste and that most of our scraps from sewing and other various pieces can be reused in new pieces. This also goes for our school. If you've been following us on social media, especially Instagram, you may have noticed all the materials we use for school products and experiments.

This Earth Day, we invite you to consider your own environmental impact in your everyday life. We have gathered several activities that are great for all ages. Some activities will require supervision and assistance for younger kiddos. Several of these activities our students participated in last month as a part of the curriculum.  Some activities require a little bit of planning while a couple can be more spontaneous.  

Make your own Bird Feeder this Earth Day (Minimal Prep Work)

Download Earth Day Activity Sheet (Flower Collage and Nature Scavenger Hunt) (Medium Prep Work and Spontaneous)


(Flower Collage)

Download Sheet for Bury Your Trash Experiment (Medium Prep Work)

We hope you enjoy these activities to enjoy this Earth Day or over the weekend! We also invite you to take a photo during your activities and tag @grainofriceproject to be featured on social media!

Leave a Comment

Share

Reality Check

March 25, 2017 |

I am a crammer, or rather I like to think of it as a time maximizer.  I like to make full, purposeful use of my time.  But all this cramming sometimes sets my head spinning, and this week was no exception.  Although I’m had some nice rejuvenation time away this week, I came back feeling…

Read More

International Women’s Day

March 8, 2017 |

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day.  All around the globe, there women are making amazing accomplishments, in big and small ways.  Grain of Rice Project and myself are privileged to be surrounded by incredible women of faith, hope and perseverance, and I often think that the unsung heroes are the average people who are doing…

Read More

Harmony

February 26, 2017 |

Last week my friend thoughtfully told me that it seemed like everyone was trying “win” their side of the argument in all the ongoing debates on social media and the news.  And she said, “I don’t want to win.  I just want to live in harmony.”  That seemed very insightful because amongst all the discussions,…

Read More

We Need Each Other

February 20, 2017 |

Independence.  Self-reliance.  Individuality.  Personal success.  These are some of the things that our Western, American culture values.  We set out to achieve great things, often for personal gain.  But I would like to offer an alternative idea: the idea of community, the idea of togetherness, the realization that our actions all affect each other. The…

Read More

My Kibera Sister

February 5, 2017 |

My Kibera sister rises just before the sun begins to poke out from beneath the horizon.  She can hear the scratching of rats scampering around above her.  Her four children are still asleep in the crowded room, with its four red mud walls and tattered tin sheet roof trying its best to protect them from…

Read More

Collins

January 28, 2017 |

Today we are highlighting, Collins, who is an integral part of our team in Kenya.  Collins is one of those people who does so much for people and yet gets so little credit.  A faithful servant since the early beginnings of Grain of Rice Project, Collins started volunteering with us in 2013 and continued volunteering…

Read More

Overcoming Fear

January 21, 2017 |

I could make out the faint noise as I stood at the bathroom sinking washing my face and hurriedly trying to prepare myself for the day.  I hoped I had misheard.  I dashed into the kitchen and cracked open the sliding door and waited, listening intently.  Nothing.  So I had been imagining.  And then, just…

Read More

Uncomfortable

January 15, 2017 |

I asked my husband why it is that so many Kenyans know about Kibera (where GORP works), and yet they have never been there.  Why is this slum right down the road from other government embassies, from Heifer International, from one of the main shopping centers in the city, from one of the poshest coffee…

Read More

A Look Back and Ahead

January 8, 2017 |

Another new year is upon us, and today I had coffee with a friend who asked me what my goals were for Grain of Rice Project this year. My answer was to see growth in the amount of people GORP impacts for Christ, both in the U.S. and Kenya but to still maintain personal connections…

Read More