These Earth Day Girls Make it Easy Being Green

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is the perfect chance to teach your kids about the importance of recycling, reusing, and being aware of the impact we have on the planet. This year consider sharing the tales of these three spunky adventurers to show your kids how easy it is to be green.

“Earth Day Girl” (WordGirl)

WordGirl is a high-flying hero on PBS Kids who uses her super-strength and super-vocabulary to defeat the bad guys who threaten her hometown.

In “Earth Day Girl,” WordGirl must use her wits to get through to a rampaging brat who is throwing tantrums and trees everywhere. The episode explains recycling, taking care of the Earth, and Earth Day in terms kids can understand. And like all WordGirl escapades, children will pick up on new words while following all the action of a superhero show.

“Earth Day Girl” is available on DVD, Netflix streaming, and Hulu, and is airing on PBS Kids today (check local listings).

Every Day is Earth Day (Fancy Nancy)

The Fancy Nancy series, written by Jane O’Connor with illustrations by Robin Preiss Glasser, has long been a favorite in our house.

Like WordGirl, Nancy is enamored with using big, “fancy” words in her everyday adventures. In Every Day is Earth Day, Nancy takes her lessons in being green to heart as she teaches her family to save power, walk instead of drive, and more.

Every Day is Earth Day features short, easy to remember rhymes to teach kids ways to be more eco-friendly. “Less than a mile, walk in style!” Nancy tells her dad. Nancy learns how to be practical when going green, though, balancing eco-friendliness with good sense.

Emeraldalicious (Pinkalicious)

Thanks to a tirade over vegetables in her first eponymous picture book, I am not crazy about the Pinkalicious book series. (I have a hard enough time as it is getting her to try new food, without one of her favorite books proclaiming green food yucky.) My four-year-old, however, gets a kick out of seeing a fellow pink fanatic use her imagination in the gorgeous artwork in the books.

Emeraldalicious, written and illustrated by Victoria Kann, features more of those charming illustrations showing the magic of turning trash to treasure. One thing I do appreciate about the series is seeing Pinkalicious and her brother Peter work through disagreements to have adventures together, and in Emeraldalicious they learn about the importance of keeping their favorite places clean and green.

All three stories are a great opportunity to talk to your kids about what it means to be “green” and celebrate the Earth every year.