Environmental Education For Children

From identifying the components of the environment to knowing how to recycle materials, anything you can teach your child about environmental awareness will help. We will present some activities to get you started on this journey.

We all live in this world and therefore it is our duty to know how to take care of it.

In this sense, environmental education for children plays a fundamental role: children must be taught to respect, value and protect everything around us.

Childhood is an extremely fertile stage for sowing constructive ideas in children.

This is because they are discovering the world, they are not prejudiced and they are open to incorporating all the ideas we present.

Of course, just talking is not enough. You must lead by example!

In each of the teachings you want to convey, you must be the first to fulfill them.

In this way, the child will imitate your behavior and will feel proud to please Mom.

In this sense, environmental education for children is not left out of any of these considerations.

This knowledge is increasingly needed as the situation on our planet is becoming increasingly negative.

Below, we will detail some activities to do with children to teach them to love and care for the environment.

Environmental education activities for children

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published almost two decades ago some activities that can be developed to transmit this type of education to young children.

They arouse the interest of the little ones and, certainly, they have not lost their validity.

Here, we will list the most important ones so that you can practice with your children in your free time.

1. Windmill

An excellent first approach to alternative energy sources for young children might be to build a windmill. It’s extremely simple and completely graphic.

Thanks to this experience, we can explain to children how elements (such as wind or water) have the power to generate electrical energy.

The steps to create it are:

1. Take a 10 centimeter thin cardstock.
2. Draw 2 diagonal lines that meet in the center of the square. Also drill five pin holes, one at each end and one in the center.
3. Cut over the diagonals until you get almost to the center
4. Fold the corners to the center and then pass a pin through the five holes, which should be joined together.
5. Glue this structure to a wooden stick.

2. Learn to recycle

If we want to promote environmental education for children, recycling is an issue that we cannot ignore.

For this reason, performing the following activity can be very helpful.

Here are the instructions for making recycled paper:

1. Tear up any paper that is no longer used and throw it into a bucket of water. Let it sit all night.
2. Drain excess water with a wooden spoon so that only the pulp of the paper remains. If you want to make colored paper, add dyes now.
3. Put the pulp in a container and add the same volume of water.
4. Cut a wire or plastic mold that fits the container and is compatible with the paper size.
5. Slide the mold into the container and lift it covered with paper pulp.
6. Place a piece of paper on a clean surface. Also, put absorbent material on it.
7. Place the mold on the absorbent material, with the paper pulp between the two.
8. Press the mold down and then carefully separate it from the pulp. Afterwards, add another piece of absorbent fabric on top.
9. Repeat steps 6, 7, and 8 until all the pulp is used up.
10. Once finished, place a layer of newspaper with a weight on top of all the sheets.
11. As a final step, break up the ‘cake’ after a few hours of drying.

3. The water cycles

Certainly, this is an ideal exercise for children to understand the dimension of the importance of water.

At a time when there is a lot of talk about global warming, it would be good if children first understood the natural cycle of water without human intervention.

To perform this task, it is necessary to follow this procedure:

1. Pour very hot (almost boiling) water into a container so everyone can see the steam coming out. Be very careful that no children get burned.
2. Add a lot of salt to represent the state of water in the oceans.
3. Place an empty glass bottle in the middle of the container. On top of that, pass a clear plastic bag to cover the entire surface of the container. Put a wire mesh over it.
4. Just above the bottle, place another one with ice cubes inside.

After completing this last step, you will see that water will condense on the plastic. Ice from the other bottle, in turn, will speed up the process.

Then you can explain to children how clouds are formed. Finally, the water that falls into the empty bottle will be rain.

Use this exercise to talk to children about the effects of pollution on this process globally.

There are many more, explore!

In addition to those mentioned here, there are many other activities you can do to promote environmental awareness in children.

For example, building a greenhouse, examining contaminants in a river or stream, or even planting trees.

The most important thing is to give environmental education for children the prominent place it deserves.

With this, without a doubt, we will be training responsible people and with a feeling of belonging to the world in which they live.