Celebrate Earth Day in a GIANT Way
Every year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day as a day of showing love to our planet Earth. Earth Day is the day of action - actions to increase awareness about climate change, actions to change human behavior that harms our environment, actions to invent for nature, actions to help our planet heal from pollution, actions that create global, national, and local policy changes.
When it comes to dreaming big and building the world they want to live in, GIANT Kids constantly reflect on environmental issues, get inspirations from nature, and invent for a happier planet. To celebrate Earth Day in a GIANT way, check out these amazing creative STEM prompts that encourage your family to upcycle, recycle, invent for a more sustainable future, and more…
Use trash to build incredible things
Get creative by learning about Caitlin Mueller, an architect and engineer, who is studying how we can upcycle chopped tree forks for structural engineering; use trash to engineer incredible buildings inspired by the work of Arthur Huang, an architect, engineer, and trash and recycling expert; learn about Nicole McLaughlin, a designer passionate about changing the perception around waste, and design sustainable fashion; or make the silliest puppets out of recycled materials impaired by the work of interdisciplinary artist, Lexy Ho-Tai!
Become aware of environmental issues and invent for nature
Get creative by learning about indigenous farmer and agricultural lawyer A-dae Romero-Briones and different indigenous farming techniques that promote sustainable practices, and design your own sustainable garden; learn about Christian Günther-Hanssen, who is trying to improve Sweden's pollution problems by working with crows; think about how to design buildings when you put nature first; build cities resilient against climate change by multisolving, an idea and technique that Elizabeth Sawin developed to fight climate change; learn about the impact that cars and trucks have on our community and invent a vehicle that doesn’t create pollution; learn about designers working to eliminate single-use plastics and design earth-friendly packaging for everyday objects; or save coral reefs like Ruth Gates!
Get inspirations from nature as you create
Engineers, scientists, artists, designers, and inventors constantly get inspirations from nature in their work. Get creative by learning about mechanical engineer and roboticist Dr. Zeynep Temel and how she gets inspired by bugs; take a look at the vision of different animals and make a pair of glasses that allow you to see the world from any animal's perspective; learn about Adrem Patapoutian, a Nobel Prize winning molecular biologist who is studying venus fly traps to learn more about humans; illustrate a tree comic inspired by the work of Suzanne Simard, who studies forest ecology; design jewelries inspired by nature like Cindy Chao; learn how spiders “hear” and invent a hearing aid device using spider webs; go outside, take photos and learn about the secrets of biology like Anand Varma.
Learn about animals and invent for them!
Love for animals makes us closer to nature and helps us to be more mindful of the planet we share with them. Have your kids learn about fascinating world of animals and work on creative STEM projects inspired by them. Here are a number of ideas we love: write a dictionary of animal languages, learn about sharks and design an epic game of sharks vs. pray; learn about the adorable underwater creature, Grimpoteuthis or the Dumbo Octopus, and construct an octopus friend; invent to save the albatrosses birds; learn fascinating facts about penguins and make a penguin stuffy; learn about an amazing wildlife bridge that can save an isolated population of mountain lions from extinction, and invent to help a animal thrive in human cities; learn about a super fascinating, deep sea creature — the Siphonophore, and make a super long creature at home; learn about funny and quirky bugs called Phasmids and make one as your sidekick; get creative with scorpion expert, Dr. Lauren Esposito who discovered over 50 new scorpion species; or learn fun facts about turkeys and design your own turkey self portraits!
Join our online creative program to receive daily creative prompts your kids can work on at home or engage live online with GIANT instructors to create together. These creative prompts are designed to spark your child’s interest in a new topic and have them get inspired by diverse group of engineers, coders, designers, artists, writers, and activists. As members, they can also join weekly clubs to dive deeper in a particular topic the like, such as coding, comics, electronics, machines, lego, and more.
Happy Earth Day to our GIANT community!