Activities for children that will teach them to be environment-conscious.

We take nature and natural resources for granted. It’s high time we conserve, preserve and utlise them properly. For future generations to come it’s our duty to teach our kids now so they grow up to become an environment-conscious kids. Our casual attitude has already done damage to the environment. Global warming, reduced green cover, unexpected earthquakes, and floods are already alarming. On World Nature Conservation Day, let us re-think our outlook on the environment and come up with activities and ideas that will help nature thrive. Let’s teach our children how to care for the environment.

Here are 11 easy doable activities for children that will make environment-conscious kids. These activities you can engage in with your family to help conserve nature. Take that one step to raise an environment-conscious kid:

Spend more outdoor time

Nature heals and it’s scientifically proved. It helps mentally, physically as well as emotionally when a human spends more time with and around nature. A small change in our routine to step outside with nature can make us and our kids healthier, happier, and even more creative. In recent times, kids spend more and more of their time indoors because of addiction to their cell phones, video games, and television which gets them nomophobia.

We need to make a deeper and stronger connection for kids with nature and mother Earth. Once kids develop a love for the outdoors and all things around them, they will start their journey of being eco-conscious. Just don’t stay inside, walk out, visit parks, or simple bicycle ride. Plan treks, camps, and hikes with kids. Once we start educating and teaching them about the importance of nature, and its conservation, then it will be easy for children to develop and adopt these habits at an early age.

Encourage children to use environmentally friendly means of transport

I grew up traveling by public transport and it was not a shame back then. Lately traveling by public transport is a status issue. We as parents also try and pamper kids by using a personal vehicle for even the shortest of distances. We need to understand that we don’t have to use the car every time for even the shortest distance. We are responsible for their laziness indirectly. We need to explain to them the importance of air pollution and energy consumption.

Teach children to walk to the nearest distances, or choose a cycle if the distance is not far. At least we should teach them carpool, and how single-ride vehicles can lead to more emissions of harmful gases. We need to tell them ways to save/ preserve fuel in order to make environment-conscious kids

. Ensure children understand the harmful effects of air pollution. It’s always good to choose walking, running or cycling as an excellent choice for the environment.

Gardening

A great way to raise an environment-conscious kid is to teach them sustainable gardening. As parents, we can encourage both education and be environmentally conscious too. In preschool lately, I heard the importance of playing in sand or soil. It’s a great way to teach a child to appreciate and connect with nature. Along with playing in soil, gardening and learning about growing plants and trees is another great lesson to help make kids environment-conscious. This is the best way to teach children about cultivation and plantation.

Children learn to appreciate the beauty of nature by planting trees, preparing pots, and nurturing flowers and leaves. We can even teach them to create manure with recycled waste in compost pits or pots. This will also teach them about recycling and its benefits along with gardening.

Composting

Gardening is the best time to teach children about composting. By making your own compost, kids can learn about organic manure and its benefits to the plants. Composting is a great way of preserving our nature and adding one more step to your green bag by teaching eco-living to kids. Organic manure helps to reduce the need for chemical fertilizers that contributes to methane gas emissions.
Best time to tell children that food scraps, shaving, peels, and yard waste are not useless or toxic. We can decompose this solid waste and make our own compost. A small step where we can involve kids in improving the environment. Gardening and composting sure help to make kids environment-conscious.

Conserve water and food

Teaching children how to preserve food and beverages in the fridge or freezer is a great way to avoid throwing away huge amounts of food leftovers. Kids leave leftovers in plates that go to the trash. It’s a waste of resources to find out that your kids left milk or juice in glass is left to spoil. In the first place, as a parent, we need to teach children not to waste or leave food or drinks. Tell them to take only that much portion that they can consume so it leads to no wastage. One should fill the plate only till the requirement and not extra. In spite of this if food is left don’t throw it in the trash.

Teaching your kids to turn off the tap when they are done with one task is not so hard. Turn the tap off between brushing your teeth, washing hands, washing out the shampoo, and applying conditioner to the hair while showering. Another great way to conserve water is by installing low-flow faucets or low-flow aerators on your taps. Also, you can collect the shower water and it can be later used for watering the plants.

Love for animals

Involve the children in activities with the family pet such as taking them for walks and feeding them. You can also take them to the zoo where they will see lots of other animals. Then explain to them how important it is to keep the environment clean as waste harms animals and makes it unsafe for them to live in their habitats. Give examples such as waste in waterways that harm fish. When you instill this knowledge in your children at an early age, it will help them to grow up to be responsible citizens aware of how they treat their surroundings. Animals are affected by pollution in a big way, and you need to explain this to your children. The best way to raise an eco-conscious kid that loves animals is to take them to places with animals from a tender age. Start by having a pet when they are children such as a bird, fish, hamster, cat, or even a family dog.

Tree planting

It’s important to instill the love of trees in your children from an early age. Trees are great for the environment, and your eco-conscious child needs to know this fact. A fun way to do this is to plant a tree for every one of their birthdays. Also take them along for tree planting exercises set up by different organizations, especially during days such as Earth Day. In the process teach them how trees work well for the environment and why it is important not to cut them down. You can also have an art project where you cut out pictures of different types of trees found in your area and explain to them a few characteristics about them. In this way, you will also build their knowledge of their environment.

DIY projects

You need to adopt a lot of DIY projects that involve recycling or reusing things such as cardboard boxes, toilet rolls, plastic bottles, and even glass ones. It’s a fun way to keep them busy and also show them that trash can become art or turn into something useful. There are lots of projects online that you can use to teach your children this lesson. The idea is to show them that not everything goes in the trash and to find ways to reuse something before throwing it away always. Bringing up environment-conscious kids is not that difficult task, and once we inculcate this habit in the early years it will help them in the future too. 

Homemade cleaning products and solutions

Choose to use homemade cleaning products in your house instead of using chemicals. Make sure your children see you doing this and emulate your style. Instill in them the love of natural products as opposed to those with chemicals. Start a simple thing such as using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to scrub bathroom tiles and tubs. Use tea tree oil in coconut oil or olive oil for their hair to keep away lice instead of an over-the-counter medicine or hair products. In this way, your children will know that nature provides most of what we need for our day-to-day lives.

Teach your children to pick after themselves and deposit waste responsibly. Have you seen adults that throw trash around in public? These are probably individuals that were not taught the importance of proper waste disposal in their childhood. Your child should always know that littering is wrong. They should know how to clean after themselves and take each item of litter to its appropriate disposal point.

Community efforts and projects

Involve other parents in activities that help to save the environment. You can organize carpools to minimize the use of cars. You can arrange tree planting or gardening exercises where you bring your children together and teach them about the importance of plant life. You can even organize play dates where you make objects or use toys made from recycled materials such as cardboard boxes and bottles.

Also, involve the children in activities such as repurposing furniture that will show them the importance of re-using items. Make sure that you use such opportunities to teach them some hard truths about the effects of waste and pollution on the environment. Their brains will assimilate information faster especially during fun activities.

Watching cartoons and movies on saving the environment

Use your child’s TV time to teach them something. There are lots of videos or cartoons for kids that show the importance of preserving the environment. Make sure your child watches these kinds of entertainment so that they can learn something even as they get entertained. Also, purchase comic books and storybooks that teach them how to preserve the environment as well. It will help them understand what it means to respect the environment and how to do it.

These are a few ways to grow up environment-conscious kids. It’s a great way to nurture an informed child that cares about his/her surroundings. There are other great ways you can train your child to love and take care of the environment online, just take your time to do some research, and you will have solutions at hand. The critical thing to focus on is to teach your child life lessons on preserving the environment in a fun way. You can be sure they will never forget and will grow up loving and taking care of the environment the best way they can.

To sum up, This is my conscious lifestyle post to spread more awareness about sustainable living, and join me for more such ways and tips and become part of my Conscious and sustainable living journey. Keep visiting my blog to make yourself eco-friendly, aware of conscious and sustainable choices and be more concerned for our environment, and alter your lifestyle.

Being Eco-Friendly is not a choice, make it a habit.

To add on, read and listen to my Green talks series and check out interviews with Eco-conscious people who are trying their bit towards conscious and sustainable living practices. There is so much to learn and explore from all of them I had interacted with, do listen and drop in your views in the comments. Check here to know more about all the Eco-Friendly dates