Category Archives: Reader Activities

Massage T-shirt Helps Dad Relax

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Dads work hard to care for their families. But sometimes they need a helping hand - a simple act of kindness or pat on the back. You can help your dad relax on his big day with this fun craft.

Make a Father’s Day Massage T-shirt.

Photo credit: thebluebasket.blogspot.com

Photo credit: thebluebasket.blogspot.com

What You Need:

  • White T-shirt
  • Printable Road Map (scroll down on site)
  • Clear Tape
  • Fabric Paint or Markers
  • Toy Cars

Follow These Steps:

  1. Print out the road map.
  2. Tape the four pieces of paper together.
  3. Slide the paper map between the front and back of the T-shirt.
  4. Trace the map onto the T-shirt using fabric paint or markers.
  5. Let dry.
  6. Present to Dad!
  7. Kids give massage as they play with the toy cars on the T-shirt.
Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Heifer International creates lasting change for fathers and their families. Your dad deserves a gift with purpose.

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‘Go Fishing’ for Marine Reserves

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. How we treat the Earth affects the oceans. Part of Heifer International’s mission is to improve the environment, which helps end hunger and poverty through increased resources. On June 8, celebrate World Oceans Day and discover how you can protect the wealth our oceans provide.

Greenpeace divers at a marine reserve near the Philippines. Photo credit: flickr.com Greenpeace USA

Greenpeace divers at a marine reserve near the Philippines. Photo credit: flickr.com Greenpeace USA

The sea acts as a life support system for Earth. It covers 72 percent of the planet and supplies half its oxygen. Marine reserves protect sea life, create jobs through tourism and help stabilize the fishing industry. Sadly, less than two percent of our oceans are protected this way, according to Enric Sala, a marine ecologist for National Geographic.

Help kids learn about ocean conservation with this fun fishing activity:

What You Need:

  • Large Cardboard Box
  • Construction Paper
  • 1-3 fishing poles
  • Fishing line
  • Clothespins
  • Random trash, like plastic bottles or a flip-flop
  • Candy or other small reward
  • Ocean Pollution and Marine Animal Facts (Find all kinds of facts on this website)
  • An adult volunteer

Follow These Steps:

  1. Unfold the large cardboard box and using the construction paper, decorate it like the beach or bottom of the ocean.
  2. Use fishing line to attach clothespins to the fishing poles as hooks.
  3. Cut out marine animals using the construction paper and write fun questions and/or riddles about the sea life on the cut-outs.
  4. Collect a small amount of random trash like plastic bottles, a flip-flop or baby diaper. Write ocean pollution facts on the trash.
  5. Place a volunteer behind the cardboard box with the sea life cut-outs and random trash.
  6. Divide the children up into teams.
  7. Have each team member take turns ”going fishing” over the top of the box. The volunteer will attach either a sea life cut-out or piece of trash to the clothes pin, then gently pull on the line to let the child know they have caught something.
  8. If the child catches a sea life cut-out, they can enlist the help of their teammates to answer the question or solve the riddle. Award points for correct answers.
  9. If the child catches trash, they read the pollution fact on the item and do not receive points.
  10. At the end of the game, tally points and award a prize like candy to the winning team.
  11. Don’t forget to recycle the random trash you collected!

Help others learn to care for the Earth

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Love Your Leftovers

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. World Environment Day 2013, which is June 5, focuses on reducing food waste and food loss. Every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted, while one in seven people in the world go hungry every day, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

A smallholder dairy farmer, 35-year-old Oloka John, his wife and three children, use every resource to improve their livelihoods. Photo by Dan Bazira, Senior IT Communications Coordinator, Heifer Uganda

A smallholder dairy farmer, 35-year-old Oloka John, his wife and three children, use every resource to improve their garden’s production. Photo by Dan Bazira, Senior IT Communications Coordinator, Heifer Uganda

Heifer International provides families around the globe with opportunities to boost their nutrition and live sustainable lives. Many families, like Ugandan dairy farmer Oloko John’s family, creatively use every resource available. They spread cow dung on their gardens and use an energy-saving stove.

World Environment Day’s theme, “Think. Eat. Save. Reduce Your Footprint” encourages the world to eat smart instead of wasting still edible food. There are a few ways to reduce your footprint and love your leftovers.

  1. Use your Freezer
    Freezing food will keep leftovers fresh until you have the taste for them again, or can use them in another recipe. Don’t forget you can do this with take-out or restaurant leftovers too.
  2. Begin Composting
    Food, although a benign substance, needs light and air to properly compost. Food is buried in landfills, which produces environmentally harmful methane gas.
  3. Leftover Recipe Night
    One night a week, gather all your leftovers and have fun creating new recipes. Get your kids involved in the process and hold a contest for best recipe. Cleaning your fridge will also save you time and money.

You can help families live healthier lives.

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Memorial Day Shoebox Parade Illustrates U.S. History

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This weekend families nationwide will celebrate Memorial Day with camping trips, backyard barbeques and water recreation. The meaning of this important holiday can get lost in the thrill of a fun day off from school and work, but it’s important to remember our past and the people who helped us achieve a better life.

Heifer International began a humble mission when founder Dan West’s idea of “not a cup, but a cow,” began changing lives. Now, Heifer has helped over 65 million impoverished people with the gift of livestock and education. The Beglaryan family of Armenia left their home in Shikahogh village because of war with a neighboring country. With Heifer Armenia’s help, their home was restored from its postwar conditions and they returned to their village with hope for a peaceful and successful future.

Help children understand the importance of honoring those who gave us a brighter future by holding a Memorial Day Shoebox Parade.

A young student takes part in his schools shoebox parade. Photo credit: stockdale.k12.tx.us

A young student takes part in his school’s homecoming shoebox parade. Photo credit: stockdale.k12.tx.us

What you need:

  • Shoebox
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • String or Yarn
  • Markers
  • Construction Paper
  • Plastic Wheels (optional)
  • U.S. History Timeline

Follow these steps:

  1. Customize a timeline of U.S wars and conflicts depending on what you want your students to learn about.
  2. Break students up into small groups, or have them work individually, and assign a war or conflict to each group or individual.
  3. Prepare descriptions of each timeline event, or give your students time to research.
  4. Tell students to use the shoebox to design mini parade floats depicting key elements of the group’s assigned war or conflict.
  5. When constructing the shoebox float, students should attach string to the front and a wheel system, in order to pull the float during the parade.
  6. Once students have researched and designed their float, line them up in historical order and have them give a short presentation on their assigned war or conflict as their turn comes around in the parade.

Help Heifer build peaceful livelihoods

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Five Days Below the Poverty Line

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. This week, we want to present you with the Live Below the Line challenge. Join others on World Hunger Day and support the campaign that fights poverty through the movement of enthusiastic people.

Photo credit: facebook.com/UNICEF-USA

Photo credit: facebook.com/UNICEF-USA

The Global Poverty Project initiated the campaign to educate and mobilize mission-minded people in the fight against hunger and poverty.

About 1.4 billion people worldwide live below the poverty line every day. Heifer International helps families and communities who live in extreme poverty.

Our long-term solutions distinguish Heifer from emergency relief aid organizations. We provide livestock along with training and education so people can lift themselves out  of poverty and lead sustainable lives.

Your goal is to experience a week in the lives of the world’s poorest people. In the U.S., living below the poverty line for five days means spending only $1.50 a day  on food and drink.

Help end hunger and poverty

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Don’t Be a Rat, Unpack!

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Today is National Pack Rat Day and like pack rats, some of us tend to collect more belongings than we really need. Here at Heifer International we encourage people to practice Sharing and Caring, one of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development. If you’ve got some things to unpack, here are a few options to lighten your load.

Pack Rat

Photo credit: oddlovescompany.com

  1. Hold a Clothing Swap
    Donating old clothing is helpful, but a swap can make a more direct impact in your neighborhood or organization. Ask participants to bring a few articles of clothing and then have fun haggling over the trades. A swap can also be done with shoes, toys and books.
  2. Upcycle With Style
    Old T-shirts for quilt squares, abandoned toys as planters and plastic grocery bags to make trash cans-Pinterest is filled with DIY instructions. Inventive minds are a powerful tool in caring for the earth. Before you recycle, try to find ways to upcycle the weary and worn things in your cluttered closets.
  3. Give Your Time
    If you have a “load” of time on your hands, why not use it to help others organize their abundant belongings? Or, use it in other meaningful ways like taking a meal to new parents, offering to walk your elderly neighbor’s dog or care for the Earth by picking up trash.

Through cooperation and friendship, there are many ways to share and care. Be creative and get involved in your community. Small acts of kindness will spread, building a large network of giving to Pass on the Gift® of hope, unity and friendship.

Learn how you can spend meaningful time at Heifer

 

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Watch Love Grow on Mother’s Day

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. The U.S. wears a mask of western wealth, but hunger and poverty are still a reality for many communities in the Arkansas Delta and Appalachia. Heifer International is making a difference in our own backyard with the Seeds of Change project.

On Mother’s Day, you can make a difference too. Heifer’s Gift Catalog offers ideas that will impact mothers worldwide and create positive, lasting change. And to present your mom with this alternative gift, make a Mother’s Day card that will let her watch love grow.

Flower Pot Card
Photo credit: karewares.blogspot.com

How to make a growing flower pot card.

What you need:

Follow these steps:

  1. Cut out the flower pot from the printable template.
  2. Once your seed paper is ready, cut out four flowers that are one inch smaller than the width of the flower pot.
  3. Write a message on the first three flowers like “I love you,” or “World’s Best Mom.” (One word on each flower.)
  4. Glue the photo to the fourth flower.
  5. Cut out grass to place at the top of the flower pot, or use the grass template.
  6. Cut a piece of yarn long enough to place all four flowers on its length.
  7. In order of your message, glue (tape or staple) the flowers to the yarn; leaving a small tab at the top to pull the flowers out of the pot when finished.
  8. Glue the bottom of the yarn to the inside bottom of the flower pot.
  9. Glue the flower pot template together, let dry.
  10. Write “Happy Mother’s Day” on the front of the flower pot.

Once you are done, insert the flowers and yarn into the flower pot. When you pull on the yarn tab, the flowers will come out revealing your message and lastly, your photo. Make sure Mom plants her seed paper flowers so she can watch love grow from her Mother’s Day card. Simply place the seed paper flowers into raked ground, cover with about half an inch of soil and keep moist. Germination should take about six to eight weeks.

Learn how Heifer is growing Seeds of Change.

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Mini Pinatas Burst With Fun on Cinco de Mayo

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. To date, Heifer Mexico has helped rural families in 23 states with over 3,000 farm animals, mainly pigs, sheep and dairy cattle.Over the weekend many families in Mexico will celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of one victorious battle in the fight for independence from the French. It is a festival of Mexican pride and heritage celebrated with parades, traditional food and of course, a party with family and friends.

Read about Heifer’s work in Mexico.

Mini Pinatas

Photo credit: onecharmingparty.com

Create your own mini pinatas

Paper mache pinatas can be time consuming and messy, but these mini pinatas are a simple, fun activity for kids at a Cinco de Mayo party. They can also be passed out as party favors!

What you need:

  • Paper Cone Cups
  • Colorful Ribbon
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Colorful Tissue Paper
  • Scissors
  • Candy, etc.

Follow these steps:

  1. Cut the tops off two paper cone cups
  2. Top cone: loop ribbon over and tie a knot, then push through the top hole.
  3. Bottom cone: knot two pieces of ribbon together and push the loose ends through the hole.
  4. Fill the cones with candy and other party favors.
  5. Hot glue the top and bottom cones together.
  6. Use scissors to make fringes with tissue paper.
  7. Decorate the pinata.

Mini Pinatas
Photo credit: onecharmingparty.com

Learn more about Cinco de Mayo

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Help End Hunger and Poverty, Improve the Environment

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Ending hunger and poverty can not be accomplished without also caring for the Earth, and Heifer International believes achieving environmental sustainability is key. In honor of Arbor Day, try this long bean tepee project in your own backyard. You can improve the environment, create a shady spot to rest and boost your family’s nutrition.

Arbor Day 2013

Photo credit: e-infopages.com


Materials:

  • 6-8 six foot branches or poles
  • Rope
  • Long Bean Seeds
  • Fertilizer

How to Build A Long Bean Tepee

  1. Stake the poles into the ground in a wide circle, leaving an open section for a door.
  2. Then, tie the tops of the poles together with rope.
  3. Plant your long bean seeds around the tepee’s frame.
  4. Water and fertilize the seeds.
  5. After several days, (7-14 to germinate) the seeds will sprout and need to be loosely tied to the poles until they begin to grow up the poles on their own.
  6. With proper watering, sprouts should reach the tepee’s top in about 7-8 weeks.
  7. Trim extra growth as needed and enjoy!

Learn about Heifer’s work toward reforestation

Help families build healthy, sustainable lives worldwide

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Earth Day Dinner With Mother Nature

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Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. Teaching kids to live healthy, sustainable lives can be a challenge. On April 22, celebrate Earth Day 2013 with an eco-friendly meal and invite Mother Nature to dine with your family.

Earth Day Meal

Photo credit: sheknows.com

How to Prepare an Earth Friendly Meal:

  1. Grow Your Own Food: If you don’t have a green thumb, a few easy-to-grow herbs can help you make tasty treats like mint tea or rosemary bread.
  2. Visit a Farmer’s Market: At your local market, you can find healthy, organic foods and also support local farmers.
  3. Shop Seasonal: If a farmer’s market is unavailable, explore the option of visiting a local farm to pick your own produce. During the trip, explain the planting and harvesting process to your kids.
  4. Reduce Packaging Waste: Foods packaged in plastic and boxes use a lot the Earth’s resources. Start with a simple switch and make your own bread. Artisanbreadinfive.com gives healthy, fast tips for fresh bread.
  5. Use Cloth Napkins: You can turn this step into a project all its own. White cotton napkins, or faded colored napkins, can be naturally dyed using tea. By upcycling old items, excess waste is reduced and creative expression flourishes.
  6. Create a Centerpiece: Pick up extra fruit and colorful vegetables at the farmer’s market to make a “green” centerpiece for your table; you can always eat it later. Rather have flowers? Keep an eye out for wild flowers growing on the roadside or make a bouquet from backyard trimmings.

Visit the Earth Day Network and learn about The Face of Climate Change

See how Heifer cares for the Earth in its projects around the world.

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