Grade 2 Gets Artistic with Earth Day Project

Invest in Our Planet is the theme of Earth Day 2022, and second-graders invested their time and artistic skills in continuing a longtime Hamden Hall tradition: the Earth Day Groceries Project. In this project, Grade 2 teamed up once again with Hamden’s Whitneyville Food Market to donate colorful decorated bags for shoppers to use.

“The Earth Day Groceries Project is an easy, cost-free, environmental awareness project that teams up youth and grocers to protect our planet,” said Lower School Art teacher Sue Bennett 1973. “This hands-on classroom project is designed to enhance students’ environmental knowledge along with skills in art. It also generates interest in reuse, recycling, and forestry.”

Students were given large brown paper bags during art class to decorate with an assortment of designs, images, and expressions. Using an assortment of markers and crayons, students colorfully designed each bag with positive messages including “Save the Earth,” “Happy Earth Day,” and “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.” They also drew images of planet Earth, trees, leaves, and other nature-related pictures. Students even drew hearts and outlines of their hands onto the bags.

Once all the bags were decorated, Mrs. Bennett gathered them together and scheduled a visit to the food market for them to be delivered on April 22. The customers will receive their groceries in the bags with artistic images and special messages about the environment all designed by the students. Parents are welcome to shop at the market and use their child’s bag to bring home groceries.

Mrs. Bennett noted that the project is not only a school tradition, but a nation-wide environmental awareness initiative. The project originated in Seattle, Wash., by a third-grade teacher and has grown exponentially with thousands of students participating each day.

“Being a part of a national program is exciting on many levels, and being a part of our smaller Hamden community makes it even more meaningful to the second-grader artists,” further noted Mrs. Bennett.