Day 295: helping henry on earth day

I wanted us to do something special to celebrate Earth Day. Originally my plan was for us to explore a new natural area that I had discovered not too far from our house. But rain and cool temperatures did not make that idea sound very pleasant for the two girls and I.

SO instead I got to thinking what could we do from the comfort of our own home. We decided we wanted to help an animal. The Henry Vilas Zoo has a "Befriend an Animal" program where you can make a donation to a specific animal at the zoo to help with food, habitat and programming costs for that species. I showed her all the animals that they had listed as options and she picked Henry the Lion.

We filled out all the online forms and sent in our contribution to help Henry. Then I asked Sam if she wanted to send a thank you card to the person that takes care of Henry, his zookeeper. She asked what that meant, what did a zookeeper do. So, I explained that just like she had a mommy and a daddy that cooked for her, cleaned her room and helped her when she got hurt Henry had someone that took care of him too. Sam told me that this was a pretty important job!

I helped her with the writing and then she decorated it.

 
I showed her the picture that I took of her sign and she asked me where she went. She decided we needed to take another one.

 
She liked the second picture so much that she insisted that we send that too to the zookeeper.

We put them both in an envelope and mailed them off to the zoo. I put a little note in there explaining that she wanted to thank the staff member that took care of the animal she had just "Befriended". 

This was a great project for Sam today. The program that we donated to will send her a picture of the animal and a certificate in the mail. She is very excited for when that will come!

How did you celebrate Earth Day today?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Need some inspiration for celebaring Earth Day a bit more this weekend? Or just want to hear about what some other green folks are up to? Check out these posts!

Backyard Mama

Good Hiker

Go Explore Nature

C.R.A.F.T. - all green crafting ideas! Some great stuff here.

Who's Green?

Butterfly Wishes and Wonderland Dreams

Jodified

Lots of great ideas and good reading! Happy Earth Day.

Comments

[butterfly wishes and wonderland dreams]

thanks for linking to our animal collage they love it.

that is so fun you befriended an animal. I need to look into that!

My 2 girls want to be zoo keepers, my oldest has said that since she was like 3 or 4.

[Brenda]

This is a great idea, and a nice learning for your sweet children!
Good for you!!!
Cheers!
Brenda

[Jen]

I just saw this post this evening (catching up from over the weekend) and I had to tell you that it brought such a big smile to my face and a little tear. My sister used to be a zookeeper at Henry Vilas and raised Bullet and Torpedo the capybara's at the zoo. I know that a note like that would have made any zookeepers day. That is so thoughtful and special! I'm forwarding this post to her!!!