I wanted to give you a little heads up that this Friday, May 17th, 2013 is the eighth annual Endangered Species Day! Started by the United States Senate in 2006, Endangered Species Day is observed annually on the third Friday in May.
There are over 150 events being held from coast to coast in the USA through the end of the month. Every year, thousands of people throughout the country celebrate Endangered Species Day at parks, wildlife refuges, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, libraries, schools and community centers. You can participate in festivals, field trips, park tours, community clean-ups, film showings, classroom presentations, and many other fun and educational activities. Check out this page on the Stop Extinction website to see if there is an event near you.
Endangered Species Day is a unique opportunity to both celebrate the successes we’ve had in protecting and recovering threatened and endangered species, and to learn about everyday steps we can take to protect at risk plants, fish, and wildlife, and especially to educate our children about this.
Great blogs for kids to learn about endangered species and conversation:
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website has a Kids’ Corner
The Bright Hub has an endangered species section
Finally, do a search for endangered species and conservation here on Miss Marple’s Musings and you will come up with many books, facts and poems about endangered species.
What to do with your kids on Friday to celebrate.
Step 1: Research
- EndangeredSpecies.com: Spend time learning about endangered animals with your child, then follow one of their great suggested activities.
- World Wildlife Fund: Research specific species and discover how you can help protect them.
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Look locally for endangered species in your own state with this interactive map.
Step 2: Take Action
- Discovere endangered animals native to your own state.
- Create and Endangered Species artwork, drawing a picture of child’s selected animal as well as its primary threat.
- Send your drawings along with letters to local and state representatives.
Step 3: Field Trip!
Is there a zoo, safari park, conservation project you can visit in your area?.
Step 4: Locally grown meal
During your research it will become clear that habitat loss is the leading threat to most endangered species. And habitat is being cleared at a dizzying pace in order to feed the world’s growing population. Buy locally grown and produced food. Buy organic food when available. Eat seasonal products. Eat lower on the food chain (e.g. reduce the consumption of meat and fish) including meat. This will all help the environment and the earth’s species. Plan a meal, or week of meals, with your kids with this in mind. Vegetable lasagne with local, seasonal veggies is one of my favorites!
110 Success Stories for Endangered Species Day 2012
Thank you for posting this ahead of time. What a great opportunity for kids and their families to focus on endangered species. Like the blogs you shared just for kids and all the activities that families can do together. There are a lot of kids taking action and I love their compassion at such a young age. Great post!
Thanks, Pat. Schools and kids are far more aware and involved than ever I was as a child. It’s great.
Great post to bring awareness and encourage the young and everyone to participate. Here is something from NZ, I thought you would like to know which coincides with May 17. http://www.stopextinction.org/esd/194-esd-art.html
Thanks Joanna.
Thanks for posting the New Zealand link, Diane. 🙂
Great post, Joanna! So much wonderful info! Thanks for the heads up – I didn’t know it was Friday.
Yes, I wanted to give people a little heads-up un advance!
I didn’t know this was coming up on Friday either, so thanks! One of the PB mss I’ve been working on is about an endangered bird. We donate to a lot of environmental causes and I’d like to add this one to the list. 🙂
I can’t wait to read your picture book about an endangered bird, Teresa. I am working on a whole PB series about endangered animals.
I was just talking about endangered animals with Matthew so he’ll get a lot out of those links. Thanks, Joanna. It’s so sad to think an animal will no longer have a place in the world.
I do hope Matthew enjoys some of these sites, Catherine!
This is a great post Ms Marple! Looking out for our wildlife friends is such an important issue. You’ve got some great links and activities. In my town of Glen Rose, we have a wildlife conservation place called Fossil Rim. It’s a drive thru wild animal park that is involved in breeding and studying and preserving endangered species. Like our native Attwater’s Prairie Chicken. Thanks for bringing this big day to our attention!
Fossil Rim sounds wonderful, Rhythm, I am so glad your area understands how important these conservation projects are.
Thanks for alerting me of this! 😀
You are welcome, Erik.