Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Guest Post-Teaching your kids about oil spills

Three Jewels In My Crown would like to welcome guest blogger Shannon from Welcome To Our Wonderland.  I was extremely excited about this post because it has such relevance to the Oil Spill that is being tackled in the Gulf of Mexico right now.  This particular oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may be history's worst ecological disaster.  However, as Shannon mentions below, oil spills occur almost daily around the world.  These oil spills threaten wildlife, sea creatures, fisheries and marshlands.  Today Shannon is presenting a fun way to teach your kids about these fragile ecosystems after an oil spill.
Welcome Shannon and take it away!!!


Hi my name is Shannon and I have a blog Welcome to our Wonderland where I love to share books and activities to go with the children's books. I taught Pre-K for 11 years and became a stay at home mom 10 years ago when my oldest was born. I've been blogging for a few years and besides writing on my blog, in the year 2009 I was a featured writer for Totally Tots having 2 weekly features: Now I Know My ABC's and Once Upon A Book.  I left at the beginning of this year since I no longer had tiny tots : I had a Preschooler. Now I'm a stay at home mom, teaching preschool to my 4 year old and blogging whenever books I can't wait to share come my way.

My girls, Gidget(4 years old)and Froggi(9 years old) love Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Manatees and other marine life so I thought this would be a gentle way to teach them what it means to have an oil spill and what can happen to all the sea animals they love.

Green Books:

Washing the Willow Tree Loon: A loon is rescued from an oil spill, cleaned and cared for before being returned to the wild. Includes information on cleaning birds.









Oil Spill: Did you know that an oil spill occurs somewhere in the world almost every day of the year?  Berger and Mirocha focus on one of the worst spills in history-the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill-to explain in simple terms and with bold, full color illustrations why oils spills happen, how experts clean up after them, and what effect spilled oil has on ocean plants and wildlife. "A good introduction to the subject."







We got out some of Gidget's animals (a seal) and we coated them with oil (mixed with black paint) and talked about as the animals swim in the ocean water that has Oil in it they get coated and dirty and need to be rescued and cleaned or they won't make it.








Then we took paintbrushes and little towels and washed off the oil coated baby seal with Dawn and he was all better and would survive.











Gidget did really well with this lesson and really understood what was happening to
the sea life. I was proud of her and LOVED this Everyday Is Earth Day lesson!

Green Step: We bought Dawn so we could activate our code and donate 1 dollar to the
"Save Wildlife Fund" they have.

Green Website: Dawn Saving Wildlife: for every bottle you buy 1 dollar goes to saving wildlife. For over 30 years Dawn has been used to clean wildlife after oil spills.
http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/home.do

For a Messy Outside Alternative: My girls got out all their marine mammal’s and they coated them in mud, then they took them to the cleaning station: one with clean water and one with a towel to house them after they are clean. They had their Dawn dish soap, Q-tips, soft wash clothes. This has been a huge hit and the girls have played it often!



13 comments:

Crystal said...

Thanks for this amazing post. My two brothers are fishermen in PEI. They will be directily effected bc The Gulf of Mexico is the spawning ground for the Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna and other fisheries. The Atlantic Tuna population has already dropped 90% since 1970 and is consider on the verge of extinction. This is a great way to raise awareness early on with our children.

Gidget Girl Reading said...

wow I didn't know you were affect too my stepmom and dad live on the florida panhandle and are affected too :( so sad the amount of people and marine life affected.

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Do you know a good place to find these books?

Arlene said...

earthscouts.blogspot.com has some great info on teaching kids about oil spills and how they effect animals.
Great post

Kendra said...

:) Good idea! How messy did the kids get? Not that this matters because typically a good sign of fun is messy kids

XiicepinkiX said...

Hello thank you for stopping by my page and following me! I have followed you back, I hope you enjoy my freebies!

Anonymous said...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36880053/ns/news-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1
slide show of the disaster in the Gulf Coast! so sad

Carol, The Answer Is Chocolate said...

Thanks for coming by my place and I am now following you too.

Hollywood Glamorous said...

Thanks for stopping by as a new follower. You asked where are we going and today it seems you picked a great day to take a trip straight to hell with me! I'll drive, or better yet I'll let my insurance company rent us a rickshaw LOL. I am so angry today it's been a horrid day for me with insurance problems. Ya think they would like terminally ill people more as they will soon stop having to pay out but nah they dont.

Amanda
http://hollywoodglamorous.blogspot.com

Angela @ Nine More Months said...

P.S. I am following you back from Social Parade Fridays!

Angela @ Nine More Months said...

Very cool! I was born and raised in the Florida Keys and am very sad about the whole situation and so scared about what is going to happen to the coral reefs. My kids, however, are clueless. This would be a great way to teach them and get them involved.

NorCalMom said...

Thanks for stopping by Lemons to Lemonade, I am now a follower.

Nick said...

I have an award for you here!
http://adaddystake.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-first-award.html

Have a good one!