Children's Activities

Children's Art Contest for Grades 3-12

The 4th Green Living Expo on May 8th will feature a Children’s Art Contest. The contest is open to children in grades 3-12. Entries are due on Friday, April 23. The winning entries will be displayed at the Expo at Riversprings Middle School in Crawfordville on Saturday, May 8th.

Artwork should show: 1) a natural landscape, or 2) ways to help the environment. The choices of medium may include scratchboard, acrylic paint, watercolor, chalk, charcoal, crayon, graphite, color pencil, linoleum or wood block printing, or collage. Color is preferred. Photographs and computer-generated artwork will not be accepted.

Entries will be divided into three age groups for judging: Grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Only one entry per child will be accepted.

Three professional artists will judge the contest. The entered artwork will be judged on creativity, originality, and adherence to the contest rules. All contestants will receive a certificate of participation.

Three first place winners will win $10 in cash, their art will be displayed at the 2010 Green Living Expo, and photos of their winning entries will appear in The Wakulla News. The Green Living Expo will display the winners of the second place and honorable mention awards for each of the three age groups as well.

All entries must be 8.5" x 11", horizontal in format, not more than 1/4 inch in thickness, and without a mat, frame, cover sheet, or border. The contestant’s name, mailing address, phone number and/or e-mail address, name of the school they attend, and the title of the artwork should appear on the back of the entry. No lettering, signatures, or initials may appear on the front or the entry will be disqualified.

Mail entries to: Samiri Hernández-Hiraldo, 16 Cardinal Court, Crawfordville FL 32327. Entries must be postmarked by Friday, April 23. Entries may also be dropped off at the UF/IFAS Wakulla County Extension Office, 84 Cedar Avenue in Crawfordville, attention Shelley Swenson.

After May 8th, entries will be returned to those contestants who submitted a properly sized, stamped, self-addressed return envelope. Send a cushioned envelope if needed to protect the art.

Calling all EcoKids! It’s that time of year again!

Saturday, May 8th is the 4th annual Green Living Expo! Join us from 9-4 for tons of earth friendly kid’s activities!

When you arrive at the Expo, drop by the EcoKids Activity Center (designed for the younger set) and take a seat with the Wakulla Library staff for a few earth friendly stories (the EcoKids story times will take place throughout the day). If you aren’t ready to sit a spell, choose from a number of other activities such as learning about the water cycle and then creating a group mural or participate in a “Let’s Make It Rain” experiment.

If that doesn’t float your boat, join us for the Recycled Regatta and make your own boat out of recycled items. Other EcoArt activities include decorating an Inspiration Box (can be used to keep those unusual things you find now and then that might be useful in art and craft projects) or decorating an old cereal box to store magazines.

Let’s not forget Mom! Her special day is Sunday, May 9th. The EcoKids Activity Center is the perfect place to make her a recycled gift from the heart. Start with an egg carton flower bouquet and finish with a decoupage vase to place it in!

Other activities include a Recycle Sorting Game, EcoKids Circle Games, and the EcoKids Coloring Center! Don’t forget to keep your ears open for the sound of some kid-friendly entertainment, such as the popular one-man-band Safari Man Roger Tripp!

The Expo is a great place to teach our kids the importance of sustainability and earth friendly living! If we instill these values in this generation at a young age, green living will become a way of life instead of a change in life as it has been for many of us! Save the date and join the fun, Saturday, May 8th from 9-4!

We are still looking for volunteers to staff the EcoKids activity tables throughout the day. If you would be interested in signing-up for a time slot, please call Leilania Nichols at 926-8351.

What does it mean to be a Green Ambassador?

By Sherri Hood – Wakulla County 4-H Agent

In an effort to include more educational opportunities for young people at this year’s Green Living Expo, the Wakulla County 4-H Program has started the Green Ambassador’s Program. This program recruits interested middle school students from Riversprings and Wakulla Middle Schools to act as facilitators for the edu-Stations that will be found at the Green Expo this year. As children and their parents register for the event, children will be given an “Eco-Passport” to take to each edu-station and get it stamped once they complete the activity at the station. They will also be given a folder to keep up with the educational materials that they will receive at each station.

It is the goal of the Green Ambassador program to allow students to teach each other and younger students about environmental stewardship, sustainable lifestyle choices and green practices that they can do in their own lives. As each child participates in hands-on activities, they will hopefully choose to incorporate what they are learning into their everyday lives and encourage others to do the same. By signing a pledge and returning their passport for a certificate at the end of the day, we hope to inspire young people to believe that what they do, even in small ways can make a difference.

Edu-stations will be staffed from 9 a.m. until 12 noon and will incorporate original ideas from the Green Ambassadors themselves.

Recently, in preparation to host at the Green Expo on May 8th, the Green Ambassadors were invited to participate in a spring break camp to explore the natural beauty of Wakulla County and five of the eleven Ambassadors participated. We took two field trips to boat down the St. Mark’s River and to kayak down the Wakulla River as well as learned to pack a litterless lunch, identify common trees in North Florida, navigate using a county road map and throw a cast net. All participants wished that we had more time to explore and were inspired to think of creative ways to save their environment and teach others through this program.

The pledge of the Green Ambassadors is:

I am a concerned citizen of Wakulla County, the State of Florida, the United States and of the Planet Earth.

I choose to help educate myself and others about sustainable practices, environmentally-friendly activities and planet-saving solutions.

I lead by example in my home, my school and my community by doing my best to be a responsible citizen and environmental steward.

Green Ambassadors

Green Ambassadors

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with nondiscrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions, or affiliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A&M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating.

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