June 3rd

Ali Tomlinson reads winning essay to classmatesTurfMutt’s “Be a Backyard Superhero” contest wrapped up this week, with the presentation of the grand prize checks to two lucky students – Kashvi Ramani of Virginia and Ali Tomlinson from California.

Ali is the grade K-2 grand prize winner for the contest, which was hosted by Scholastic. Thanks to Ali’s creativity, Playa Vista Elementary in California received a $5,000 grant to improve its outdoor area.

Ali Tomlinson awarded check

Ali won with an original story about TurfMutt and the Outdoor Powers and their work to take care of our green spaces. At a special school assembly for the check presentation, Ali read his story to his classmates.

Ali and Kashvi competed with hundreds of other students throughout the country for the annual contest. Fifty runners-up in each grade category (K-2 and 3-5) will each receive a book from Scholastic.

The contest is held every spring. Keep an eye out here on the blog and on TurfMutt’s Facebook page for the 2017 contest details.

In the meantime, parents can help their kids hone their backyard superhero skills by checking out all of the free environmental education resources at TurfMutt.com. There are digital story books, games, activity sheets and more.

TurfMutt’s activities are great to use throughout the summer to help your kids retain their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning. Check it out at TurfMutt.com.