Wood County Park District will hold two Earth Day upcycling contests, one for children ages 5 to 12 and one for those 12 years of age and older.

The contest for younger children requires them to upcycle household items that would normally be thrown away into something new. A juice glass could be upcycled into a vase, for example, or a bowl into a terrarium.

The contest for older children requires participants to upcycle an item from their own home, maybe an old piece of furniture, for example, or a garden tool. They may also create a new piece of clothing from an older one, said Alyssa Garland, historic farm interpretive assistant at Carter Historic Farm.

“During the Great Depression, nothing went to waste, said Mrs. Garland. “If families needed something, they would either make it, fix it or make do. Participants can connect to the past and evoke the spirit of the Great Depression through this activity.”

Participants must register at wcparks.org by April 1. They will then receive instructions on where to send photos of the initial item and the upcycled creation; the deadline is April 15.

Photos will be uploaded to Facebook for voting, and winners will receive a prize. The three in each age group with the most likes will win a Wood County Park District Earth Day 2021 t-shirt.

The winners of the contest will get their t-shirts for free, but t-shirt also may be purchased though the Wood County Park District’s Earth Day fundraiser through the month of April.

For additional Go Green activities, find the Go Green Passport on the Wood County Park District website. The Go Green Passport encourages the community to participate in at-home go green action activities such as upcycling, recycling, reusing, reducing, and visiting parks in order to earn a set of bamboo utensils.