Earth Day April 22

Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles concerning how St. Louis area kids can take part in the 2001 Earth Day activities. Additional articles will be in the March and April editions of Young Saint Louis.com.

One of the highlights for kids of the 2001 Earth Day program will be building model boats from recycled material. 

Then, they can take part on Sunday, April 22 in a mass launching of the boats at Forest Park in the city of St. Louis. The event will be from 1 to 2 p.m. 

The event is called the Earth Day “Our Rivers Our Water” Mini-Boat Regatta. 

Kids of all ages will be able to get up to five pounds of recycled material for building their boats. The kids supply the imagination on how to build the boat. 

Prizes will be awarded for (1.) best use of scientific thinking, (2) most interesting use of recycled materials, (3) most artistic boat, (4) silliest boat and (5) tallest boat. 

A six-member judging panel will chose the winners. The panel includes celebrity judge Tony Twist. He is a former “tough guy” player for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. 

Invitations to participate in the boat building have been mailed to area public and private schools as well as scout troops and other organizations. 

Recycled materials are available from four Recycle Centers, where you pick up material. Addresses and telephone numbers for the four centers are:
 

Lisa Henry is with the Educational Materials Resource Center at University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is coordinating the boat regatta. She said each entrant in the regatta can get free recyclable material for the boat building. 

But, she said, “It’s up to you to use your creativity to decide how you want your boat to look. But, regardless what the boat looks like, make sure it floats.

“We think the regatta is a good way to get kids to think about use of recyclable materials.” 

Entry forms should be completed by April 1. You should complete the form as soon as possible and pick up your recyclable materials early. If you wait too long, there is liable to be a long line to pick up materials at the cyclable materials centers. 

Be sure to follow the regatta guidelines which come with the entry form.

The UMSL Educational Materials and Resource Center is an unusual community resource. There are four recycling centers in the metro area. St. Louis area teachers, youth leaders and even individual parents can get teaching materials for a low registration fee. 

Some of the materials are books, theme packets and parenting magazines. But, there also are a wide variety of products which can be used in class experiments or lessons. 

Sue Blandford runs the largest recycling center located in South County. She said the center gets unused materials from 50 companies and organizations. If the materials weren’t donated, most would end up in landfill dumps. 

Asked about planning a boat project, Blandford suggested, “Write everything you know about boats. For instance, you know a boat has to float. Ask others, also. Then, get a pile of recyclable stuff and see which materials might help in constructing a boat.”

For further information, have your teacher or parent call Lisa Henry at the UMSL Resource Center at (314) 516-6826. The Recycle Centers website is at  www.stlouisteachersrecycle.homestead.com.