Three DIY Projects for Earth Day Learning

Founded in 1970, Earth Day is celebrated globally on April 22nd. Earth Day is an important day to practice treating our planet with respect and educating ourselves about environmental issues. Teaching kids how to take care of our Earth is especially important. To help make Earth Day fun, there are many DIY projects that kids will love, all while learning about our planet and how to protect it:

1. Discovery Bottles

This project is packed with science! You will need two or more plastic bottles, depending on how many you would like to make. Fill half of the first bottle with water and use blue food coloring to make it the color of the ocean. Then, add clear baby oil until the bottle is almost full, leaving some room at the top. For the second bottle, fill it with water and add metal paper clips. Using a magnet, you can move the paper clips around in the water. Discuss these experiments with your kids and ask them what they think about the planet. There are many varieties and different objects you can use to make these discovery bottles a unique and fun learning activity.

2. Pollution Jars

A great way to teach kids about how severely littering can pollute water is through litter pollution jars. All you need is a jar of any kind filled with water. Then, gather small pieces of trash and place them in the water-filled jar. You can use trash found around the house, or collect the debris of other litterbugs outdoors. Next, watch the water over several days to see how it begins to turn darker. This will help encourage your kids to think twice before deciding to litter.

3. “I Promise” Posters

“I promise” Earth Day posters are a great project for getting your kids to think about how they can help save our planet. First, start by having them paint a picture of our earth with their handprint in the center. Then, have them write on a piece of paper what they promise to do to keep our planet clean and attach it to the painting. By writing specifically what they are going to do, it will stick much longer!

Earth Day learning is sure to be a blast with these fun projects! Your kids will love seeing how the earth works, how litter affects our planet, and what they can do to help our planet.

Getting Your Kids Involved with Spring Cleaning

Introducing chores to your kids can be as much of a chore as doing the actual work, but involving your kids in housework and spring cleaning can benefit them greatly. Engaging in housework will teach your kids responsibility and contributing to chores will help your kids realize that they play an important role in running the household. Kids will also learn about organization and self-discipline, which are essential to many aspects of life.

When kids work on chores together - either with siblings or their parents - it helps them learn to compromise and collaborate on tasks. They can assign themselves different roles and it will help them learn to be flexible and take responsibility. Your kids will gain confidence and grow self-esteem from their ability to accomplish tasks around the house.

Tips for Spring Cleaning:

• Promote teamwork. On their own, chores can feel like a sentence, but working alongside you or a sibling, the teamwork and camaraderie can motivate them or make a chore more bearable.
• Don’t wait until they are done to praise or thank them. Encouraging your kids as they work on a task can build positive momentum and will boost their self-confidence.
• Don’t tie chores to money because it is important for kids to associate chores as a contribution to something bigger—helping the family run smoothly and responsibly. Instead, motivate your kids with a healthier experience, like going to their favorite restaurant, engaging in a fun family activity, or watching a new or favorite movie.
• Delegate chores on a list or divide jobs between “teams” to make them feel more independent and capable. Having a healthy competition to see who can accomplish their jobs the fastest can be a fun way to finish the chores.
• Make it fun. Make up your own games to complete chores, or play an audiobook or some upbeat music.

For more tips to make spring cleaning less of a chore, visit Spring Cleaning: 13 Fun Ways to Get Your Kids Involved.

Some chores need to be assigned based on your kids’ ages - not all chores are appropriate for every kid to be assigned. You’ll know best which chores your children are able to complete, but below is a guide to get you started:

Ages 2 to 3

Note: These tasks will require supervision.

• Put toys away
• Put clothes in hamper
• Dress self
• Help feed pets
• Help clean spills

Image by Donne Ray Jones via Flickr

Ages 4 to 5

Note: Kids can start following a chore wheel.

• Make their bed
• Help clear the table
• Water flowers
• Wipe baseboards
• Pull weeds and plant seeds
• Unload utensils
• Dust
• Empty wastebaskets
• Purge clothing and toys
• Strip the bed linens
• Wipe down walls and cupboard doors

Ages 6 to 7

• Sort laundry
• Clean kitchen counters
• Set and clear table
• Sweep kitchen floors
• Help pack lunch
• Keep room tidy

Image by David D via  Flickr

Chores for Ages 8 to 9

Note: Kids can start working independently with a chore chart.

• Make personal snacks
• Vacuum
• Put away groceries
• Load dishwasher
• Put away laundry
• Take pet for a walk
• Help make dinner

Ages 10 to 12

• Fold laundry
• Clean light fixtures
• Learn to use washer and dryer/ Do laundry
• Clean kitchen
• Help clean and vacuum car interior
• Reorganize books, movies, and video games
• Take care of houseplants
• Help maintain appliances like light bulbs, vacuum bag
• Mow the lawn

Chores for Ages 13 and Older

• Babysit
• Make meals
• Help paint
• Can supervise younger siblings
• Rearrange room
• Clean bathroom
• Sew/iron clothes
• Dog sit
• Shampoo the carpet
• Organize closets
• Deep clean appliances
• Responsible for maintaining own car

Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a bore. Engage in age-appropriate chores and encourage your kids to help out!

Celebrate and Educate Your Kids on Labor Day

You celebrate with trips to the lake, the last barbecues of the season, or family road trips, but do your kids know who you are honoring when you celebrate Labor Day? Share these facts with your kids to teach them the importance of working people and how to honor them year round.

Labor Day is an important holiday celebrating America’s hardest workers and the social and economic achievements they have contributed to our country. It honors the everyday working man. Our country wouldn’t thrive without the strength, perseverance, and dedication of hard workers every day.

Here are some quick facts to share with your young ones:

·         Labor Day was first proposed in 1882.

·         It became an official national holiday in 1894.

·         It’s celebrated on the first Monday of September.

·         In the 1800s, it was common for Americans to work 12-hour days, 7 days a week.

·         Children as young as 5 and 6 worked in factories and coal mines back then, too!

·         Labor Day was established by President Grover Cleveland.

·         The first Labor Day parade was in New York City.

·         Over 160 million individuals are employed in America.

People often mistakenly lump Labor Day with Memorial Day, which honors Americans who have died serving in our country’s armed forces. To help your kids really understand why we celebrate Labor Day, engage in these activities and games:  

·         Take your kids to work with you to expose them to various types of work and jobs. Let them talk to your coworkers and explain how each person contributes to the group.

·         Make a list of how your kids can engage in a work environment. Babysitting, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, washing cars, running errands for neighbors, and tutoring are all great ways to get started.

·         Visit a bookshop or library and read books about jobs and careers together.

·         Make a job collage and help your kids find more details on each job.

·         Create a piggy bank to help discuss the importance of earning and saving money.

·         Career Coloring Pages

·         Labor Day Quiz

No matter how you chose to spend Labor Day weekend with your family, make sure to honor the workers who have made our country what it is today.

Back-to-School Morning Routine Tips

*Beep beep beep* goes your alarm, and the chaos begins. Walk the dog, get ready for work, wake the kids up, get them dressed for school, fold the laundry, organize the backpacks, make the kids breakfast, (make yourself breakfast) out the door, off to school. Whew, a parent’s morning is stressful. Wouldn’t it be nice if the mornings were less chaotic? Here are some tips on how to make your morning routine a lot easier.

Organize Backpacks the Night Before

To save time, gather school supplies the night before and organize them in your child’s backpack. This will ensure that there will be no missing items and you will not have to spend your morning searching for lost supplies.

Turn On the Tunes

Listening to upbeat high-energy music in the morning will get you motivated and will get your children moving as well. Listen to music in the bathroom when getting ready and even dance around. This will add excitement and fun to your morning routine.

Provide Incentives

Motivate your children to wake up and get moving by offering small incentives that will be given throughout the morning- maybe a special cereal or breakfast food. You can even offer them a surprise treat in their lunch box.

Hair and Outfits

Picking out outfits the night before will save you lots of time. There will be no digging through closets or hurrying to find matching socks. Your child’s outfits will be prepared and ready to put on right as they wake up. If you have a little girl, consider doing her hair the night before as well. (There are a ton of quick hairstyle ideas on Pinterest.)

Create a Checklist

Create a morning to-do checklist for your children. Delegate different jobs to each and award them if they complete their checklist. This will keep them on track and will save you some time and energy as well.

Make Breakfast Easy

Make quick and easy breakfast meals that can be eaten on the run. If you plan ahead, you can prepare some of these the night before, too. Discover some healthy and quick breakfast meals here.

So make your mornings less stressful by following the tips above. Also, make sure to follow Paragon Promotions on Twitter and Facebook. Stay updated on our 2015 Fall Prize Program: Here Come the Minions! Have a wonderful and organized school year!

How to Get ALL Parents Involved in Fundraising

Family is an integral piece to a solid and successful fundraiser. As a family owned and operated business, we understand the support that family can provide when you are taking on a new endeavor - whether that be opening your own business or your child starting a new fundraiser with their school.

It is our prerogative to make every family feel involved in their school’s fundraiser. Schools in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse. While this provides children with great opportunities to learn about other cultures, it can be difficult for schools to get families of all cultures involved in fundraising because of language and cultural barriers.

Our dream is to make it easy for all parents to get involved with their child’s fundraiser.

To help reach this goal, we’ve hired José Lopez as a bilingual project consultant to bridge the gap. José’s roots in Mexico and US cities with cultural diversity aids in the fundraising process for families that are not native English speakers.

José pictured in the center with co-worker, Richie

José Lopez has been working with Paragon Promotions since July. Initially hired as a Spanish translator, José’s position quickly evolved into a bilingual project consultant. He works to get hispanic families, and families of all cultures, involved by reaching out and explaining the fundraising process on a more personal level. He loves “providing new and different perspectives” to Paragon’s methodology and “opening eyes to new initiatives.”

José has a passion for helping people and volunteering. He also works in the community to help people with immigration resources and has previously donated his time as a Spanish translator to low-income based clinics.

José is a long-time family friend of Tom and Diane Stone, Paragon’s founders. He works with the planning and execution of kick-off events and open houses, as well as sales. When asked what his favorite part about fundraising is, he said “going out and getting them excited!”

We are thrilled to have José on board. He brings positivity, fun, and most importantly, the kids love him!

José pictured left wearing the "Duck Dynasty" beard during our "Beard for a Day" fundraising contest.