2024 Special Programming and Educational Activities
New in 2024!
Climate Action Zone!
Education Tent
West side of the Muny
Sponsored by SmartHouse. Have you ever wondered what’s really driving the Climate Crisis? Do you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? How are colonialism, white supremacy, and individualism connected to the Climate Crisis? How do you find out local actions to take and how to plug into the Climate Movement? The Education Tent will have all of this information and more with docents to guide you. Take a Climate Pledge, earn your badge, and take a photo at our selfie station!
Perennial's Repair Demo
in the middle of the
Sustainable Marketplace
Join the creative crew at Perennial’s Repair Circle for hands-on repair demonstrations and activities all weekend long! Try your hand at simple fixes from mending clothing and DIY reupholstery to drywall and wooden furniture repairs. Throughout the weekend, the Perennial team will be sharing easy ways to bring items back to life, and to avoid tossing repairable items in the landfill. Find Perennial’s Repair Demo in the center of the Sustainable Marketplace + come give it a try!
***Please leave your DIY projects at home. Perennial does not have capacity onsite to repair your items.
Free Yoga
Peace Garden
Join The Collective STL for complimentary yoga in the Peace Garden. Classes are appropriate for all levels including beginners. Each day will consist of 3 classes each day held at 11:00, 1:00, and 3:00.
Free Rock Climbing
Pagoda Circle near Transportation Area
Try your climbing skills at the Upper Limits 24′ rock climbing wall. Beginners and pros alike are welcome to take the challenge to reach the top.
Car Show
Transportation & Alternative Fuels Area
and Sponsor Row
Check out the latest fuel-efficient vehicles, including electric cars and both personal and commercial vehicles that run on alternative fuels. Owners/drivers will be on hand to answer questions.
Peace Garden
east side of Theater Dr. across from the food trucks
The Peace Garden is a peaceful place to come to for quiet peaceful activities to incorporate into our daily lives or to just relax and breathe. Newly located off of Theater Dr. across from the food cafe and food trucks.
Saturday, April 20th
11:00 – Mother Earth Morning Flow Yoga – The Collective
12:00 – Drum Circle – Jabula
1:00 – Offspring of Mother Earth – Yoga for Youth – The Collective
2:00 – Nature Scavenger Hunt – Create Play Grow
3:00 – Power of the Earth Yoga – The Collective
4:00 – Nature Weaving Loom – Create Play Grow
Sunday, April 21st
11:00 – Mother Earth Morning Flow Yoga – The Collective
12:00 – Reconnect with Nature Through Forest Bathing – Urban Forest Therapy
- If interested in participating in forest bathing, please fill out this waiver
1:00 – Offspring of Mother Earth – Yoga for Youth – The Collective
2:00 – Nature as a Refuge: Managing Climate Anxiety – Urban Forest Therapy
3:00 – Power of the Earth Yoga – The Collective
4:00 – Earth Day Song Song Circle – Sophia Rising
Aerial Performances
In Center Circle across from MUNY Box Office (marked on the map)
We will have aerial performers each day demonstrating their skills. On Sunday, you can have an opportunity to try your hand at hula hooping, juggling, and other interactive ground skills.
Sun Woman Cirque Art & Specialty Entertainment with HiNRG Gymnastix performers
Saturday
1-3:00 Baton Twirling: Learn and Play
3:00 HiNRG Aerial Performance
4-5:00 Juggling: Learn and Play
Sunday
1-3:00 Hula Hoop: Learn and Play
3:00 – HiNRG Aerial Performance
4-5:00 Juggling: Learn & Play
Educational Activities
Environmental education and hands-on learning are key components of the Festival.
Many of the hands-on environmental education activity booths are clustered in the Youth Corner, but can also be found throughout the Festival. In the program booth listing, look for the yellow smiley face stamp to easily find kid-friendly activities.
Organization | Activity Title | Activity Description | Booth # |
A Red Circle | Rain Gardens and Native Flowers | Come construct a mini rain garden onsite and see an artistic display of what a rain garden is and how we will use one at our site in North County. | CZ-5 |
Alpacas of Troy | Live Alpacas and Goats! | Come feel for yourself just how soft alpaca fur is and why it makes such warm yarn. | D-3,4 |
Big Muddy Adventures | Paddle a handmade, 30′ wooden voyager canoe! | Come experience our signature, handmade, 30′ voyager canoe “Junebug.” Participants of all ages are invited to sit in and paddle. Although we won’t actually be on the water, you will learn proper paddling technique and hear what it is like to paddle this canoe on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers! RIVER TIME is the best time! | N-4,5,6 |
Black Girls Do STEM | Let’s Recycle: DIY Tote Bags and Jump Rumps | We will use old t-shirts to make designer tote bags for shopping and plastic bags to make jump ropes to show how to recycle and be sustainable. | F-15 |
Citizens’ Climate Lobby | Take Action on Climate Now! | Take Climate Action by learning to write to your Members of Congress about why climate change matters to you, what you are particularly concerned about, and what actions you request the Member take.
Children can also take Climate Action drawing pictures to add to the walls of our booth that show people having fun celebrating moving into a community with solar and wind turbines on the rooftops, greenhouses and lots of play space. We will send digital copies of the artwork to our Members of Congress. |
CZ-13 |
Climate Reality | Debris Disposal Maze; Where Should You Toss It? | Debris Disposal Maze is an activity from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address marine debris and pollution around the globe.
Take Climate Action by completing an energy efficiency at home activity sheet to learn ways your home could improve. |
CZ-11 |
Create Play Grow Therapy Services | Zentangles! | Learn how to make zentangles and do art journaling using altered books and junk mail. A perfect upcycling craft! | W-12 |
Endangered Wolf Center | Keystone Creation | Wolves are connected to their entire environment, in more ways than you might think! Create a pyramid or an arch, with wolves at the top, and see how the entire system is effected if they aren’t part of it. | N-21 |
Forest ReLeaf of Missouri | Wish Tree | Come add to our “Wish Tree” with your wishes for a greener world. | CZ-8,9 |
Little Leaders Academy | Environmental Education in the Mud Kitchen | Mud kitchens are rich learning spaces where children – forage, gather, make, share, and celebrate with each other and the beauty of nature. Children are very interested in the elements of the earth: how materials behave and what they do. Children will develop the scientific process by making connections through discovering and investigating cause and effect. Our learning space will provide children access to active play in nature with kitchen items and connecting to the earth with mud and other natural elements. | Y-8 |
Metropolitan Congregations United | What’s That Smell? | Put your nose to the test and take our challenge – is it a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) or a natural scent? | CZ-4 |
Missouri Botanical Garden | What Can the Planet Eat? | Discover how plastic never really goes away with this interactive activity based on “Marina: A Story About Plastic and the Planet.” Discover what the planet can’t “eat” as you sort items and learn about sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. Uncover answers to questions about plastic’s impact on the environment, differences between compostable and biodegradable, and more. | Y-2 |
Missouri Department of Natural Resources | Take an Environmental Quiz | Take an environmental awareness quiz to win wildflower seeds or tree saplings. We also have coloring books and recycled crayons for kids. | N-15 |
Missouri Gateway Green Building Council | Show-Me Green Schools! | Spin the Green Living Wheel to prompt discussion about green schools and actions you and/or your school can take to be greener and healthier. Explore new ideas for no- and low-cost sustainability projects. Learn how you can participate in the Green Schools Quest. | Y-3 |
National Great Rivers Research and Education Center | What’s Living in Forest Park | Become a community ecologist, herpetologist, or community scientist, and use tools of those trades to gather data and better understand wildlife, frogs, and water quality. | N-16 |
New Earth Farm | Play in the Compost Sandbox! | Explore our wonderful compost sandbox or try turning a compost tumbler so you can sift your own compost. | R-8 |
St. Louis BWorks | Balance-Bike Safety Course and Wheel Game | St. Louis BWorks is eager to bring bike-powered fun to everyone at this year’s festival — and especially kids. Youngsters can try our balance-bike course where they can take turns gaining confidence on two wheels even before they worry about those pesky pedals.
Or take a turn at our spinning bicycle wheel game to win a prize! |
T-1 |
St. Louis Public Library | Upcycled Book Crafts + Puppet Free Play | Libraries are an excellent way to take Climate Action by borrowing books and other items instead of buying them. Make a button from discarded books to display your love of books and sustainability! Grab a puppet and put on a show. You’ll have a great time, but more important, you’ll learn about the Library’s sustainable offerings through books and beyond! | H-10 |
Saint Louis Science Center | Exploring Earth: Temperature mapping | This activity models the way Landsat satellites use a thermal infrared sensor to measure land surface temperatures. IR technology, like the IR thermometer in this activity, uses the infrared light emitted by an object to measure its temperature remotely (without having to touch it!) By taking a series of measurements over an area, a scientist can create a visual representation of the surface temperatures (like a weather map for surface temperatures rather than air temperatures.) | CZ-7 |
St. Louis Teachers Recycle Center, Inc. | Bridges of Hope | Using rulers and corks design a Bridge to state what you Hope for the world or what you Hope to do for the Earth in 2024. Pick out a free book! | S-12 |
Saint Louis Zoo | Helping Animals on their Migration Journeys | Identify animals that migrate in our region. Learn about what types of lights are optimal at reducing impacts on wildlife. Describe what cities are doing to turn Lights Out during the key months of migration. Learn about bird safe glass and decorate a bird to hang out and learn other facts about animal migrations. |
Y-5 |
STL Neighborhood Foresters | Tackling Tree Care | Play our games to learn how to prune, mulch, water, and spot issues on trees. Learn the importance of ongoing tree care to keep trees healthy and how to intervene/report it when they see a tree in trouble, so that our tree canopy will be healthier over time. | CZ-10 |
Stream Teams United | Water Quality Monitoring with Stream Teams | We will provide hands on demonstration about Stream Team methods for water quality monitoring, including both water chemistry and macro-invertebrate monitoring. | N-8 |
The College School (Saturday only) |
Wildflower Seed Balls | Help local pollinators by creating a wildflower seed ball with clay to take home and plant in your garden! | Y-6 |
The Waldorf School of St. Louis | Handmade Jump Ropes | This is a fun and simple craft. The finished yarn rope can be used for all types of creative fabric projects and fun. Plus, you make it yourself!! | Y-7 |
Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at UMSL | Take A Closer Look at UMSL’s Conservation and Sustainable Shopping | Come chat with students, faculty, and staff of UMSL’s Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center and the Green Team! Explore the world of conservation biology and the Whitney R. Harris Center by talking with graduate students and faculty conducting cool research all over the world while taking a closer look at biology through a microscope!
Play a fun matching game, teaching consumers of all ages what important labels to look for to help make the best, safest, and most sustainable choices for your family and your planet. |
M-2,3 |
Wild Tykes Forest School | MO Native Sensory Bins | Explore sensory bins representing Missouri’s native forest habitats and the animals who live there. Children will be encouraged to explore the creek, forest floor, understory and canopy. Field guides will also be available for children to research their own answers to questions. | Y-8 |