Yep, salt. She had me mix 1/4 cup of warm water, 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of baking soda. I dissolved them together and “inhaled” the water. Okay, I felt like I was drowning and it did sting a bit, but two “applications” and 4 hours later, I feel better now than I have in days. And when you get a sore throat – gargle with the mixture. It does wonders for killing germs in your mouth and throat.

I need to start using some of her other tricks, too. She uses a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to clean her bathrooms, or baking soda and salt mixed to a paste if you need some abrasive action. She uses vinegar and water to clean her windows.

According to my Mom, baking soda dissolved in water works well as an antacid, it works as an anti-itch solution, and deodorant. if you go to the Arm & Hammer web site, you will see many of these tricks featured. Who knew? I did, but I continue to get caught up in the marketing schemes of companies trying to get me to purchase their chemicals.

I think it is time to start looking to the past for solutions to our daily challenges – and Keep It Super Simple. It will be better for our families, our health and our environment.

• Earth Day Drop Quote puzzle
• Earth Day word search
• Earth Day coloring page
• FreeStuff for Kids has an Earth Day coloring and fact page
• More Earth Day activities
• Family Fun has a big selection of crafts and printables for Earth Day
• Also check out Sparkplugging’s Kids Activities
• Kaboose has crafts, projects, printables, makeables and more on a variety of eco-friendly topics
• ActivityTv has video instructions on how to make a bug bottle puppet – too cute!
• Perfect for the classroom, Free Kids Crafts has an Earth Day Helping Hands Project
• More great ideas at Weary Parent and Earth Day Fun for Tweens and Teens

Since you may need some paper and supplies for these activities, don’t miss the sale at The Green Office this month on their eco-friendly papers and supplies.

Since children are our future, how can we educate and spark their interests in their environment? After all, these are the minds that will have some of the hardest solutions to come up with in the near future as more and more of our natural resources are used up.

The number 1 way to educate and inspire kids is by setting an example ourselves. By making conservation and environmental issues part of our daily lives, kids will naturally learn. However, there are plenty of great resources on the web to help make this process even more fun!

• Going Green: A Kid’s Handbook to Saving the Planet – Geared towards kids in grades 4-8, it is a guide to saving the environment, including explanations of ecological issues and projects.
• Go Green with your Kids – a guide to incorporating green habits for each stage of childhood
• Teaching Kids to Go Green – How about Green Schools? Here’s another one on environmentally friendly schools.
• EarthdayNetwork has a very colorful interactive site for helping kids calculate their ecological footprint with Bobby Bigfoot.
• The EPA has a kids club web site with information and activities on a full range of topics. Visit the EPA Air Now site for kids activities on air quality. Or visit another part of their site to learn about household chemicals.
• The American Museum of Natural History features Ology – a kid friendly trek into biodiversity – way cool!
• EcoKids is another site full of games, activities, homework helpers, and ideas for getting kids involved in their environment.
• Save the oceans with the National Resource Defense Councils Make Waves site – plenty of kid friendly fun.
• The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has a site called EEK – environmental education for kids – another fun, interactive, educational site.
• The Department of Energy has teamed up with Disney and their movie Ratatouille on their kids page about energy conservation.
• BrainPOP.com features animated videos on a variety of topics from air quality to the oceans and everything in between. It is a subscription site, but my  kids have been using it in school and love it!! Perfect for homeschoolers.
• The National Wildlife Federation has a variety of eco-friendly magazines for kids of all ages – Ranger Rick and Your Big Back Yard are the most popular.
• NIEHS has coloring pages, games, activities, jokes, and stories for helping kids get the message about the environment.
• How about an Earth Day word search, coloring page, and more Earth Day activities at Printables4Kids?
• Family Fun has crafts, projects, printables, makeables and more on a variety of eco-friendly topics.
• William the Garbage Truck is a friendly new book aimed at getting younger kids interested in their environment.

There are so many other ways to get kids involved, but setting the example yourselves and being involved with your kids are the two easiest!

Blog Action Day has already got over 12,000 blogs registered to participate giving the project the opportunity to reach more than 11,000,000 readers. That is amazing!!

Get involved – read posts made by the participants (this blog will be one of them), write about the issues on your site, or donate to an environmental cause. We all have to live on this planet and the greener we can make it, the healthier we will all be and longer Mother Earth and Mother Nature can exist.

A few resources to get you in the mood:

• Healthy Home – 3 Essential Ingredients for Cleaning Green
• We Can Live Green Family Resources
• The Thrive Diet
• Zero Footprint Calculator