Animal Encounter Story Contest

Hey you! Yes, YOU! We want to hear from our amazing Earth Ranger families: we’re looking for your animal encounter stories! Do you or someone you know have an interesting story about an encounter with an animal?

Plus, your message could be featured on the Earth Ranger Podcast! And that right there is some SERIOUS Earth Rangers bragging rights in itself!

Want to help make the Earth Rangers podcast the most awesome podcast ever? We want to hear your thoughts! Listen to an episode and let us know what you liked or didn’t like about it. Do you want to hear more of one thing and less of another? Is there a specific animal or topic you’d like us to explore? Let us know! Check out this example and send in your message here.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Today’s Eco Activity: Sea Lion Origami

Origami is the Japanese art of paper-folding. Have you ever wanted to try your hand at folding your way to some awesome artwork? How about creating a Patagonian sea lion? Well, today you can do BOTH!

Plus, if you use scrap paper from around the house, you can upcycle something that would otherwise end up in the recycling bin! Do your best not to use any “new” paper products for this project. Canada is lucky enough to have some of the world’s healthiest and most beautiful forests. Let’s help keep it that way by reducing and reusing paper products!

Take a look around your house to see if there is anything you can use: old grocery lists, used notepad pages, flyers… your least-impressive school report card… really any sturdy paper product should word! Bonus points if that paper has already been recycled once!

Wanna lend a helping fin to some sea lions in need? You can help support important research to protect this unique species by purchasing a sea lion Wildlife Adoption kit!

Plushie adoption kits are only $40 and include a certificate and a poster, and when you make your purchase through the Earth Rangers App your child will also earn points to help them level up on their Earth Rangers journey—plus a set of virtual rewards they can show off!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Tree Bucket Buddy

Trees need water just like we do in order to stay hydrated and healthy! Growing new leaves and roots, transporting nutrients, and completing photosynthesis all require water. It can even help trees manage pests and disease!

Young trees that have just been planted (maybe you’ve recently completed our Just 1 Tree Mission!) especially need help getting enough water. But all trees can benefit from a good drink! Since they take in water slowly, it can be hard to hydrate without waste! Standing around with the hose pointed at your tree trunk usually just ends up with water bubbling up and spilling around the lawn, before the roots have barely sucked any up.

Earth Rangers is here to help you with a little DIY fun to make your very own tree watering system: A Bucket Buddy!! All you need is a big ol’ pail (we recommend a five-gallon one) and something to carefully puncture holes in the bottom. A drill or a hammer and nail will do just fine, but make sure that you get an adult’s help to do it safely!

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Make a half-inch hole near the outer edge of the bottom of your bucket.
2. Fill your bucket all the way to the top with water.
3. Find the area directly under your tree’s “drip line”—that’s the area right under the canopy’s furthest reach. Place your full bucket here!

Remember to always ask for an adult’s help when using power tools!

1. After the water has slowly drained into the tree’s soil, move the bucket to the opposite side of the tree to give the roots on the other side a good slurp! Alternatively, you could use two buckets in step 3: one on either side!
2. Repeat 2-3 times per week in the hot summer months so your tree can drink up 20-30 gallons of water! It’s a well-deserved treat for providing us with clean air all season long!

Pro tip: When it’s raining, pull your buckets out from under the trees so that you can collect rainwater to use! It’s a great way to save water! Just make sure that you temporarily plug the holes while you’re collecting it so you can use it later to help out thirsty trees.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Today’s Eco Activity: Build a Marine Mammal

Today is World Oceans Day! Celebrate by designing and drawing your very own unique marine mammal!

All mammals—including marine mammals—have hair or fur, breathe air, are warm-blooded (or endothermic), and nurse their young. But the ocean habitat of marine mammals is extremely unique, and has resulted in some truly amazing adaptations in this group of animals. Marine mammals evolved from their land-dwelling ancestors over time by developing adaptations to survive and thrive in the ocean, including fins and/or flippers for swimming, blowholes or nostrils high on their head for breathing, and “rounder” bodies with blubber or very thick fur for keeping warm.

Scientists believe that “pinnipeds”, like the Patagonian Sea Lion, may have evolved from a bear-like creature 30 million years ago that became more adapted to life in the water. And by looking at a Patagonian Sea Lion and a modern-day grizzly bear, you can definitely see a family resemblance!

Your challenge is to create your own marine mammal!

1. Choose any mammal. Giraffe, squirrel, wolf, lemur, even your own housecat!
2. Imagine what it would look like if that species one day adapted to living in the ocean. What would it look like? How would get it around? Would it have flippers like a seal? Would it have a tail like a dolphin? How would it catch food? How would it stay warm?
3. Draw it and share it! Be creative!

Take a look at these examples, expertly imagined by Earth Ranger Chris’ family:

Share your amazing animal creations on social media by tagging Earth Rangers and #WorldOceansDay! Let’s see how many fun new marine mammals we can find breaching the waves of the internet!

Want to help protect ocean habitat and awesome animals like the Patagonian sea lion? You can jump head-first into the waters of a conservation initiative by accepting one of these Missions designed to help sustain aquatic animals everywhere. Take a look at Shoreline Saver and More Plastic More Problems! Accept these Missions to get a fin up on keeping amazing aquatic habitats healthy and clean!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Flick Off the Lights & Flick on a Film

Today is world Environment Day! Climate change is one of the environmental biggest threats facing our planet today, and one of the ways you can help fight against it is by cutting back on the amount of electricity you use. Climate change refers to the changes in our planet’s weather patterns over a long period of time. When we burn coal, oil or other fossil fuels to make things like electricity, we impact how quickly our climate is changing. That’s because fossil fuels release greenhouse gases when they’re burned, which then build up in the Earth’s atmosphere and cause the planet to warm faster than it has in the past. That’s why it’s so important that we save electricity!

How many times have you forgotten to turn off the lights when you leave a room? Or maybe you turn on all the lights when just one would be enough? These bad habits are real energy-wasters, and it’s time for you to take charge! It’s your duty to be on light patrol in your home and make sure everyone turns the lights off when they aren’t using them.

Curious about climate change? Looking for a Friday flick? We’ve got you covered! After you’ve dimmed the lights this evening, your family can stream this awesome new film, 2040! What better way to celebrate World Environment Day as a family?

Check out the trailer here.

Earth Rangers is proud to present this special online event, available to you and your family on demand! Plus, 20% of all downloads and rentals generated by clicking on this link will be donated to Earth Rangers, to go toward our awesome animal-saving protects!

Get the details here.

About 2040:

Award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream.

Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentary with dramatized sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board of how these solutions could regenerate the world for future generations.

For more information about 2040 and the #JoinTheRegeneration movement click here.

June 5th is World Environment Day! Thanks to our friends at Environment and Climate Change Canada, you can get this SPECIAL GIFT avatar item to celebrate your love for the environment right in the Earth Rangers App!

Environment and Climate Change Canada is working with partners to protect 25% of Canada’s lands, inland waters and oceans by 2025. People across the country are working hard to help conserve nature in their communities. You can see some new projects that are helping nature on their new online map launching today!

As Canada re-opens and Canadians seek out #OurNature more than ever, let’s take this opportunity to celebrate nature and remember the importance of protecting it for the future.

Thanks for doing your part for nature!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!