A Forest Fiesta? What on earth could that mean?

But wait, first things first. (smiles!)

June 5 is World Environment Day (WED) and its exciting as well as humbling to know that this year, my country – India, is the global host of this United Nations event that's considered a landmark day toward earth-wide environment protection and conservation efforts. 

The theme for this year's WED is Forests. Through this theme, the focus is on making nations and common people realize the singular importance of saving our forests. 

Fusion of of Art and Environment!

Initially, to celebrate this day, my idea was to do nature activities and art with Pari and help create eco-consciousess in her and in our family.

But then, I thought, what a fantastic opportunity this could be to have not just Pari but also the kids of my readers and blogger friends from across the world to connect, share and know each other by participating in a 'Forest themed'  art/painting/craft festival, right here on Mommy Labs.

Friends, I am really excited about collaborating with you all to bring art and environment together and celebrate this special day.

Hosting this art event on my blog means a lot to me due to another special reason!

Delhi, my home city – besides Mumbai – is the venue chosen by the UN for the observance of World Environment Day 2011. Many events, nature walks, exhibitions and competitions will be organized across these cities to mark this day.

So, here are more details about Mommy Lab's first ever worldwide art/craft+nature event called Forest Fiesta:

When:

The event starts tomorrow – June 3 and will go LIVE with all the artwork and craft entries from you all – on June 15, Wednesday.

The Go-live will be observed with an exclusive gallery-walk-style post from me here and from many participating bloggers across the world – on their blogs, with artwork of their kids. It will also include entries on Mommy Labs Facebook page from all you readers who do not blog.

What and How:

1. Between this time, you can have your kid draw, paint or create one or more forest scene/s by using any kind of material – colours (water colours, poster paint, crayons etc), recycleable finds (discarded pens, sketch pens, disposable glass, cardboard, newspaper, plastic junk, straws, drain pipe) or even dried leaves, branched, twigs, pebbles etc. 
    
2. Your kidoo can use any medium – clay, play-dough, aluminium foil, papier mache, sand, salt etc. 
    
3. It can be a general forest scene, it can include wildlife, river, water fall etc or for somewhat older kids – it can be a specific forest - like the rainforests or Coniferous forests or Mediterranean forests or Himalayan Forests. You can browse this site and many others to show your kid the type of forests.
    
4. It can be a painting, collage, T Shirt print, calendar, poster, 3-dimensional artwork, diorama, glass mosaic, sun catcher or what ever else that's unique, arty and fun for the kid.
    
5. It can be small, medium or even really giant size!
    
6. Have your kid go wild with the shades of green, blue, brown – the colours of our mother Earth. But, of course, the kidoo can use any colour of his/her wish.

    

7. This is open for toddlers/kids/teenagers of any age between 2 and 18.

Things to ponder:

1. Let the process be child-driven. Allow your kid to draw upon his own imagination and creativity rather than you telling or showing precisely what and how to do. Provide the raw material and let him take centre stage. 
    
2. Before the child sets upon the process, you can share facts, stories and trivia about forests, their usefulness, why they are important, how they serve the living beings and the eco system etc. You can also emphasize how wildlife depends on forests and what are the hazards of deforestation and degradation. 
    
3. Infact, you can go on a nature walk to a near-by forest area, study leaves, or even do some neighbourhood clean-up.

How to submit:

1. If you are a blogger – please do a blog post about your kid's art/creation and publish on June 15, Wednesday at 6:30 PM IST (that's 9:30 AM in New York, 2:00 PM in London or, you can refer to this time zone clock. You can link back to my blog post at this particular URL: http://www.mommy-labs.com/?p=1671&preview=true
    
2. For my readers who do not blog, please don't worry. I would really like you to participate. 
   • You can post one or many pictures of your kid's artwork/craft on the Mommy Labs Facebook page on the wall. You can post anytime between June 3 and June 15, Wednesday. Make sure you mention your kid's name and age on his/her work. I will link to the FB album over here.

So, that was all about the Forest Fiesta.

If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, please feel absolutely free to let me know in the comments section below.

Also, please let me know below if you are participating in the event with your kid's art/craft work. 

This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to connect, share, bond and in turn – make our kid appreciate the beauty and relevance of our environment.

So, I highly encourage you to participate and make the World Environment Day celebrations precious and memorable!

Feel free to share this post link with your friends and family so that many more kids can participate.

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