Lately I’ve been thinking about how to teach my kiddos about environmental responsibility. For a four year old its such an abstract concept but one that is important for them to understand even at a young age.
I remember growing up we were taught not ti litter and got paid money for recycling cans but the environmentalist movement was just starting to take place. It wasn’t till I read Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang that I started to think about the footprint that humans have on the earth.
Here are some activities I’ve been doing with my little girls to teach them to be environmentally friendly:
- Plant a garden. The girls got a kick out of playing in the dirt and picking some fruits and veggies to grow. Everyday they love to go take a look at the garden grow.
- Before bed time, tell stories by candlelight. Explain to them that you are trying to conserve energy for mother earth. The idea is pretty abstract for them but it gets them thinking about conservation.
- Assign somebody to be the “green monitor” and make sure that lights are turned off in rooms that nobody is in.
- We don’t live far from the grocery store and school so when possible I like to encourage them to walk places.
- We set up some recycle bins in the kitchen and have been working to help them understand which items go in the recycle bin and which go in the trash.
- Whenever possible we try to buy produce from the farmers market. In doing so I hope to encourage them to buy local.
If you’ve got some tips/tricks for teaching kids to be green, please drop them in the comments below.