Children can play games where the pieces are made out of recycled material or make a planter from recycled material.
Parents can snag a plant from a Purdue Extension plant sale or learn how they can conserve natural resources at home.
Earth Day is coming up and local libraries, Franklin Parks and Recreation, Johnson County solid waste district, Johnson County Purdue Extension and the Johnson County Soil and Water conservation district are teaming up to bring local families a festival that will allow them to understand why Earth Day is important and to give them ideas on how they conserve in their own household.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“(With this) we are able to bring the information into one place,” said Jessie Biggerman, director of the Johnson County Recycling District.
Environmental and educational programs are from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 21 at Province Park in Franklin.
The second annual Earth Day Festival is meant to bring the family together to see what everyone can do to conserve and to learn more about natural resources, Biggerman said.
Water testing demonstrations and rain barrel information, upcycling information, a plant sale and tree give aways will be part of the day. A mobile library also will be available for festival goers to snag books, Biggerman said.
Families will all get information on how they can continue conservation efforts at home and improve their gardens.
A common misconception is that helping the environment is too big of a project for one household to take on, Biggerman said.
Part of the goal of the festival is to bust that myth, she said.
“A lot of people think this is too difficult to do. We like to show them that this is something that they can do,” she said. “Small things can lead to big results.”
Students from Needham and Webb Elementary will work with master gardeners from Johnson County Purdue Extension master gardeners on how they can improve a garden they are restarting at their schools.
The goals are for students to help get it rebuilt and start a garden club and to have the garden flourish to the point where teachers can have classes in the garden or include the garden in the curriculum, parent volunteer Alicia Geesey said.
Getting other residents involved through events such as the Earth Day festival will help keep the garden going long after Geesey stops volunteering, she said.
“Building those types of community relationships is so important in kind of maintaining the growth and sustaining the garden,” Geesey said.
Local libraries are also planning activities for Earth Day that will teach families what they can do help preserve the environment.
Families can make terrariums together at the Clark-Pleasant library to celebrate Earth Day.
The idea is that parents and children can work together to create something green to celebrate the holiday. Children will also learn about the differences between types of rock and dirt, Anne Meuser, children’s librarian at the Clark-Pleasant Branch of the Johnson County Library said.
By Earth Day, families are begging for green and sunshine and building a terrarium together will help usher in spring and appreciating the green that comes with the season, Meuser said.
“I sometimes feel like Earth Day and exploring outside sometimes gets pushed to the side a little,” she said.
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Earth Day 2018 Festival
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 21
Where: Province Park, Franklin
What: Environmental and educational programs.
Earth Day Terrariums
When: 1 p.m. April 21
Where: Clark-Pleasant library, 530 Tracy Road, Whiteland
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