Children and Nature: Family Fun Ideas to Get Green

Encourage your kids to be "nature sleuths" and help them develop their own detective kit with magnifying glass, paper, and pencil to record interesting things they see in the backyard (e.g., insects, birds, leaves, spider webs, etc.).
Have a sound-pollution free day at home and unplug! No radios, televisions, CDs, computer games, iPods, etc.
Plant a garden of flowers and/or vegetables in your yard together as a family.
Put up window bird feeders so you and your children can easily watch the variety of birds that will visit.
Take your kids on a field trip to the local nature center and participate in an environmental education program together.
Participate as a family in local clean-up projects, like Adopt-A-Highway, park, or stream cleaning.
Complain about the weather less; appreciate the outdoors more.
Put out weather instruments; thermometer, barometer, rain gauge, etc., in your yard and monitor them together as a family.
Catch run-off water from your roof in a rain barrel to water flowers in your garden, teaching your children the value of water conservation.
Put up signs to remind family members to turn off lights to conserve energy.