In the true spirit of the day, I’m recycling a post! About Earth Day! Get it?

Check ‘em out!

Last year’s Earth Day Post was entitled, “1,056 Pages of Non-Stop Fun.”  It was about a fun way to use old phone books.  I mean, we can recycle them with our trash-service company, but we found an even better thing to do with them!  Go check it out!

And, this year’s Earth Day Post was actually posted a few days ago and was entitled, “Sid the Science Kid: The Dirt on Dirt.”

Edited to add: I just got word from The Jim Henson Company that the Sid Website is up and running for Earth Day!  Click here to check it out!

Today, Claire and I plan on going out and exploring and doing some Backyard Science of our own.

So, what fun things are you doing to celebrate Earth Day?

In honor of Earth Day, PBS will be showing a brand new episode of Sid the Science Kid entitled, The Dirt on Dirt.

Claire and I had the opportunity to check it out early!

To be honest, I wasn’t very familiar with Sid the Science Kid, but I knew that if it involved questions and answers and anything science-related, Claire would enjoy it. The odds of there being princesses and sparkly pink things in it were slim, but she’s usually pretty easy to please.

As soon as we got the DVD and watched it, I started seeing Sid everywhere! Isn’t that how it always goes?

“Look, Momma! Sid is at our library!” Even Claire recognized him on some worksheets in the children’s section.

So, what did we think of the episode?

Claire loved it. In fact, we’ve watched it more than once already. She loved it so much that we’ll need to find it in our satellite listings and add Sid the Science Kid to the queue with our collection of Sesame Street shows. (Check your local listings for Episode 128!)

So, what’s the dirt on The Dirt on Dirt? In this episode, Sid and his friends Gabriela, Gerald and May, along with their teacher, Susie, learn about Earth Day.

They all became dirt detectives and soil scientists in the Super Fab Lab, and they “Investigate! Explore! Discover!” all there is to know about the importance of dirt.

Claire loved the cartoon aspect of the show, and she liked the video footage of real kids doing their own investigating, exploring, and discovering in the dirt. She loved the different songs and interactions with the characters.

She could really relate to Sid, even though he didn’t have a shred of pink on him, and he’s not a princess. (Gabriela had on pink, though. Just so you know.) When Sid’s mom takes him to school, Claire got so excited and said, “He’s going to school like me!”

Even I enjoyed the episode! I love how current and up-to-date they are with the little things. In one scene, Sid’s mom goes over to the computer in the kitchen and researches some information for Sid. We do that all the time around here, too!

I actually laughed out loud when Sid asked, “Did you ever hear the one about the kid who wanted to know everything about everything?”  And, I thought to myself, “Yep, and she’s sitting right here beside me, Sid.”  Sid and Claire would get along fabulously, I think.

After watching it with Claire, I asked her what her favorite part was of Sid the Science Kid: The Dirt on Dirt.

She said she liked two things the best: The first was the part where Gerald pretended to be an elephant. Claire is 3-yrs old, so we do a lot of pretending around here. Her second favorite part was when the kids were looking at the worms in the dirt. She added, “If I found plastic trash in the dirt, Momma, I’d put it in the recycling bin!”

In true preschooler-style, we’ve talked about this episode long after I clicked off the television. We’ve had ongoing conversations about soil and bugs and nature and Earth Day. On Earth Day, if the weather cooperates, I’d love to take Claire outside and do some Backyard Science of our own. She’d totally dig it. (Get it? Ha!)

But, we don’t have to wait until Earth Day to discover the world around us. Like they pointed out in the episode, “You don’t have to wait until Earth Day to take care of the earth.”

So, if you’re looking for a fun way to get the conversation started in your house, I recommend you check out Sid the Science Kid: The Dirt on Dirt!

This is not a paid review, however, we did receive a free copy of this episode! All images are used with permission from The Jim Henson Company.

We’ve always recycled here. Yes, we pay for this service. Yes, it was very limited when we started. Yes, it’s hard to keep track of the every-other week schedule. Yes, it’s worth it. Honestly, green has never been a favorite color of mine, but something that helps the earth is a good thing, and we’re trying to do our part. I mean, come on…we live here.

A few months ago, our waste management company expanded their recycling program to include a lot more numbers of plastics, magazines and phone books, in addition to the typical glass, metal, paper and plastic! And? You don’t have to keep them separate anymore!! Yes!! And, as organized as I am, you’d think I’d have the “Recycling Weeks” memorized. I don’t. I missed the last one. It’s totally my fault. Granted, my hubby didn’t remember either, but his job is to go to a “real” job, and I’m supposed to remember what week is Recycling Week. So, now because we have so much recycling to go out on the curb, it’s threatening to take over the garage…and our lives!

(Picture that last part as being said in a loud, booming voice. Sorry to be so dramatic, but I don’t think you realize how much recycling we have. Missing a week with the new and expanded list of eligible items is a critical error. Excuse me while I put the Recycling Weeks into my computer calendar. Carry on.)

My hubby says the countdown when he leaves for the day. “T-minus Three Days!” he calls from the stairs. “Dude, I’m putting it out on Wednesday night!” is my answer…and it has been on my mind for the last two weeks. Forget trying to beat the truck on Thursday morning. It’s going to take me three days to haul it all to the curb.

So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, they’re finally taking phone books! We’ve been collecting them for ages, and to be honest, I don’t remember the last time I used a paper phone book. For real. It’s been years. We’re an online family, and with a 24/7 network, any phone number is a click away. Well, what would we do if the electricity went out? We’d have bigger problems than trying to find a number, that’s for sure. But, we’d manage without a paper phone book.

One day, Claire was begging for something new to do. I’d just tripped over the phone book that had mysteriously made it into my office, and I hadn’t taken it down to the green tub yet. I noticed that Claire’s colors were still sitting on my desk from when we made Thank You notes the other day. Suddenly, it hit me. I was just going to recycle this phone book anyway…why not let her color all over it?

“Here! Here is a really cool new coloring book! Look at all the pages! There are numbers! And letters! And funny pictures! And maps! Here are your colors; have at it.” She was thrilled.

We’d both discovered 1,056 pages of non-stop fun, and we found a way to enjoy something that was going to be recycled anyway.

So, it’s Earth Day! Find a way to reduce, reuse or recycle. Green isn’t such a bad color, after all.