5 tips for going green with your kids

Teach your little ones about being environmentally friendly with these fun and ‘green’ project ideas from the Kiddiewinkie Schoolhouse teaching team!

1) Get crafty with upcycling

Upcycling reduces our footprint by repurposing things and transforming them into something practical, valuable and artistic. For example, glass or plastic bottles can be painted and used as flower vases.

Here’s another example of upcycling: Principal Mrs Sree Rai from Kiddiwinkie Schoolhouse @ Newton came up with a creative way for K2 students to start learning about money in preparation for primary school, where they usually start purchasing things with their allowances. Stiffer, heavier types of paper like cardboard are cut into the shapes of coins, painted, valued and then used to ‘buy’ their meals during lunchtime.

2) Make recycling fun

Place bins for materials like paper, cardboard boxes, glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans and newspapers at home. You could decorate the bins with your little ones, giving each bin a name, and assigning kids the responsibility to ‘feed’ them regularly.

Encourage them to recycle by putting a reward system in place, with a set goal of how many items should be recycled weekly. You can set up a chart with stickers or get creative and make something out of recyclable materials.

For example, cut the shape of a flower stem and several petals out of colourful scrap paper. Then, affix the flower to a wall and add a new petal to the flower for every item your child recycles.

3) Evoke compassion for nature and the environment

Teach your child to see the earth as a living breathing thing that needs care too. Draw examples that will elicit empathy in your child.

While talking about the environment, you can sometimes anthropomorphize objects that are recyclable, i.e. portray them as people who would be sad if they were tossed away without a second thought.

4) Avoid ‘environmentally unfriendly’ products

Kids might be too young to understand the greenhouse effect or sustainable fishing, but they are more likely to participate when the eco lessons are woven into stories they love.

For instance, telling them an animated and adrenaline-filled story about how a dolphin escapes a net meant for catching tuna will have them rooting for the dolphin’s safety.

To follow up on that, you can try making the kids feel like eco-heroes by letting them know every little action they do makes a difference in saving the planet and its innocent inhabitants.

If you’re consistent with this, it probably won’t be long until your kids start insisting on buying only dolphin-safe tuna, the price of which is only marginally higher than regularly-caught tuna.

5) Learn to love pre-loved

Vintage is in with pretty pastels, florals and lace, and more mummies are trawling flea markets for pre-loved items. As you lead by example, this is the perfect opportunity for kids to learn that old isn’t always bad, and new sometimes means unnecessary environmental repercussions.

To help your child learn to love buying pre-loved items, host toy exchange programmes, encourage them to give away old toys or have worn out parts replaced instead of throwing them out.

Written by

Roshni Mahtani

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