Fun Child Games

It is difficult to catch up the newspaper or listen to the radio without hearing about the significance of recycling, conserving energy, and employing measures to save fuel. From Presidential debates to the nightly newscast, everyone is chatting about the need to “go green.” Although many parents thrash about with the proper way to teach children about the environment, experts agree that a good blend of creative and concrete methods for exposing children to environmental awareness is most useful.

Today, kids living in urban areas, or even suburbs, are often disconnected from nature. There are quite a lot of fun activities you can do with kids while you reconnect with nature and our environment. Here are a few environmental education activities for kids:

Adopt a Tree

While taking a walk or hiking, have your child pick out a favorite tree in a park or forest and ‘adopt’ it. Essentially, your child will take on the role of being the tree’s caretaker. Do bark rubbings with crayons and paper; leaf collection and pressing in the fall; and look for flowers and fruit in the summer. Each year, take pictures of you child standing beside the tree. You can even bring along a measuring tape to track the tree’s growth. Kids can also research the tree on the internet: where the tree is commonly found, usual life span, height, etc (Browning, 2009).

Clean Up the Earth

A good way to teach our children about taking care of our planet, and get some exercise at the same time, is to take bags with you when you go for a walk. While doing so, “clean up” along the way. You can pick up stray bottles, newspapers and discarded food containers. You can organize an “Environment Club” in the neighborhood or through your child’s school. Make it a contest to see who can get the most items. Choose different paths on different days to clean up a wide area. Use the time to talk to your children about recycling and reducing waste.  (Kids can wear rubber gloves or bring a pointed stick if they don’t want to touch any garbage (Browning, 2009).

Talk about Conservation

The first step to any good plan is a solid explanation of why conservation helps people and the planet. Many parents skip this step because they don’t think that kids will understand. Some parents are concerned of the effects of their children not feeling secure about their environment; however, there are some very good children’s books and coloring books about helping the environment that will give simple, non-threatening details (Grinshpan, 2009).

Group Planning

By involving your children in your plans to recycle, reuse, and “go green,” everything from planting a garden to turning off electricity can become a family activity. With input from every member of the family, children get buy in for the method and ownership of the results. As an extra step, assigning children to certain tasks as part of their chores or their responsibilities to the earth might help to elevate participation in “going green.” (Grinshpan, 2009).

By taking the opportunity to give children an understanding of the importance of the environment and steps that they can take to help save energy, recycle, and create a green environment, parents get the chance to build consciousness and awareness of surroundings in children of all ages. Environmental education for kids is more important than ever. Teaching your kids to care for the planet will bring you closer together and will give them life skills they can pass on to others.