Wondering what to do with your spare change? How about save some animals.

Before I was a Mom, what seems like a lifetime ago (oh, a whole four years back), I worked for the Audubon Society. It was thrilling to be involved in a community that was so passionate about conservation and protecting the wildlife we share the planet with and now I'm devoted to passing those values onto my own kids..

I'm pleased to hear that there's a great new program to help kids get involved with national conservation in a very easy way.  Pennies for the Planet, created by The National Audubon Society in alliance with Toyota, is a program that empowers kids to help environment simply by collecting pennies and donating them. Who doesn't have a few pennies lying around? Or a few thousand thousand, if you're me. Grab them and put them to use protecting river rest stops for Nebraska's cranes and soft-shell turtles, protect butterfly habitats in Arizona, or save Gulf Coast birds, something we're all aware of these days.

I'm going to talk to my daughter's preschool class about Pennies for the Planet and see how many pennies we can collect. I'm feeling greener already just thinking about it. -Elizabeth

To get started, visit Pennies for the Planet at togethergreen.com and download the free starter kit.