TUCSON, Ariz. — George Pfiffner has written four books in his Earth-Friendly series. Here, I review two: “Earth-Friendly Outdoor Fun: How to Make Fabulous Games, Gardens, and Other Projects from Reusable Objects” and “Earth-Friendly Holidays: How to Make Fabulous Gifts and Decorations from Reusable Objects.”

In "Earth-Friendly Outdoor Fun", Pfiffner recognizes the importance of having adult supervision, going so far as to have a symbol to indicate to children when they need to get help, like when using a wood saw to make a scarecrow. For the most part, however, the projects require little more than scissors that may cause concern for parents.

The book has a handy three-tree rating system to indicate the level of difficulty (one tree is easy, two is medium and three is challenging), though it would be better if ages or grade levels were used alongside this.

One really nice feature in both books is that recycling facts and tips are scattered throughout, instead of on one easy to ignore page. One fact points out that, in 1996, when the book was published, more than 13 million tons of glass is made in the United States every year. Underneath that, children can learn how much energy can be saved by recycling one 1-liter glass bottle.

One of the last pages offers a list of organizations that can provide more information about how to stay Earth-friendly.

While not all of the projects are efficient (“Bug Trap”), they are fun and teach children to be mindful of the other uses objects have, beyond their original incarnations.

“Earth Friendly Holidays” is published in the same format: projects for children, three-tree rating system and eco-tips scattered throughout the pages.

What’s different is that it concentrates on holidays and the objects typically used during their observances. The book covers Jewish, Christian and cultural holidays.

The Christian world just celebrated Easter, which generates a load of waste in the form of chocolate bunny boxes and wrappers and gobs of plastic eggs that hide little surprises for the kiddies. One of the projects in this book shows how to make a woven basket out of two plastic grocery bags, a plastic berry basket and some double-sided tape. The photos in the book are black and white, so it’s difficult to see how the final product might appear.

Passover is coming up in a few weeks and one of the projects shows children how to make a greeting card with a six-sided star for the holiday out of blue construction paper, a gold-foiled candy wrapper, an old card and some glue.

For Halloween, the book has a project that produces a skull garland reusing white bleach or laundry detergent bottles to create skull faces. The book warns children to have an adult help clean the bottles out for them before cutting the skulls.

These projects let children have all the fun they would have with store-bought objects and have the satisfaction of helping Mother Earth in the process.

Again, parents should use caution when allowing younger children to do these projects.



Importantly, these books "walk the walk:" Both are printed on recycled paper. These books show how children can live an earth-friendly life and still have fun and share fun with others.







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