WHIZ KIDS: Joppa View Students Color Grocery Bags for Earth Day

There's something different about the paper bags at the end of checkout lines at the .

"The children see them first—they're immediately drawn to them," said store cashier Eileen Frey. 

In celebration of , students at nearby transformed stacks of paper bags into crayon-colored portraits of the planet. 

Store manager Gregory Harper said the school approached him about the project weeks ago. "We were glad that we could help out," Harper said.

The store donated about 600 paper bags to the school—all of which were returned last week, covered in reminders to recycle, declarations of love for the Earth and other symbols of the natural world. 

"The customers love it," Harper said.

The bags encourage customers to choose paper over plastic and to reuse or recycle their grocery bags, instead of throwing them away. 

Frey said the bags are also an enjoyable diversion while working behind the register. "I like to look through them. The children probably draw better than I do," she said.