How to bet your kids excited about sustainability?
Photo by Akil Mazumder from Pexels
Never has it been more important to protect the environment and preserve it for future generations. Ensuring our children are educated on the importance of living sustainably is pivotal so that the mistakes of our own generations aren’t repeated. It might seem a daunting task, but getting your kids excited about sustainability may actually be more interesting than you think!
Get gardening
There isn’t much that is more joyful than planting a seed and watching it grow into something that you can eat and this is something you can get your kids involved in too. Growing their own food will help your kids to learn about where the meals on their table come from and begin to learn about the environmental impact of the food supply chain. Not everyone has the luxury of a garden to play with, but there are plenty of veggies that can be grown on windowsills such as tomatoes, cucumbers, chillis, and herbs.
Draw on their love of animals
It isn’t unusual for children to be keen on animals, whether it’s a pet dog or cat or animals that you get to see when out and about in the local area. Drawing on this interest is a great way of engaging them in the impact of pollution, deforestation, and global warming on wildlife. Spend some time together researching what wildlife is under threat and what you can do to campaign for their welfare and do something as a family to help. This could be committing as a family to reduce your use of single-use plastic or taking part in a litter pick.
Make saving energy a competition
We’re all guilty of using more energy than we should and there are lots of things we can do to reduce our energy usage in the home. Kids love a bit of competition so a great way to get them excited about saving energy is to make it competitive. Take this opportunity to explain why it is important to not waste energy and about alternative renewable energy sources. You can then draw up a chart of all the things you can do to conserve energy such as taking shorter showers, switching lights off when not in the room, and screen-free evenings. Whoever succeeds in having the quickest showers etc. could get a prize at the end of the month!
Try some DIY science experiments at home
There are plenty of science experiments you can do with your kids that can be done using items that you probably usually have in the house. Exciting experiments are a great way to keep kids engaged and provide the perfect opportunity to teach them about sustainability at the same time. Here are a few ideas:
Air pollution experiment
The concept of air pollution can be a tricky one to teach your kids about as it isn’t possible to see it with the naked eye. With this simple experiment, you can teach them about the importance of clean air. All you need is a piece of plastic, a sheet of white paper, a rock, and some petroleum jelly. Simply smear the petroleum jelly onto your piece of plastic and then weigh it down somewhere outside with your rock. Leave for a day or so and then place your piece of paper behind your sheet of plastic to see all of the particles that have been collected in the jelly. Simple yet effective!
Water usage experiment
If you want to teach your kids about their water consumption and the importance of not wasting water then this simple experiment is for you. Start by talking about the quantity of water that is used when taking a shower or when the tap is left running unnecessarily. Next, gather together some buckets in the garden and monitor how much water is collected over the month. This will help kids to visualize where water comes from and how precious a resource this is.
Once you get started teaching your kids about sustainability, you will soon find that the possibilities for exciting activities are endless. You will never again be short of rainy day activities and we’re sure that you will have a lot of fun along the way. Teaching your family about the importance of sustainability and protecting the planet can never start too soon, and the impact of getting this message across early can’t be overstated.