Tag Archives: child eco warrior

Sustainable Living ideas

How to Encourage Kids to Care about the Environment

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Encouraging children to care about the environment, for me, is crucial. From a young age, we notice how naturally curious children are and their eagerness to explore the environment around them. Ever remember when your little one tried to crawl up the stairs completely oblivious to the dangers or trying to take a sip of your wine?

Encouraging them to use that curiosity to care for the environment and natural world around them requires a little support from us and it’s something we can do as a family.

In a survey conducted in 2021, “Nearly 8 in 10 8-15 year-olds (78%) agreed that looking after the environment was important to them, and more than 8 in 10 (81%) said they wanted to do more to look after the environment“. As time goes on, I wouldn’t be surprised if this increases.

Children learn a lot from their parents and when they see us doing something, positive or negative, they tend to adopt that. In order for them to care about the environment, we need to show them how to do it – after all, they’re going to inherit the planet from us.

Here are some things that work for me

Spend time outside

This is always the best place to start. I remember why my little one was at nursery, she loved getting her hands dirty in the mud and it never bothered me when I picked her up covered in mud. She enjoyed it.

Looking for wriggly worms, spotting birds, watching a cheeky squirrel try to eat food from a bird feeder or even getting them to run around on the grass barefoot is a great way to connect with nature (plus, it’s free to do!) – We’ve got a free scavenger hunt download in the shop you can use.

Allowing them to love and care about the environment around them and having those memories will encourage them to protect it as they get older.

A great way to get kids involved is to take part in Community Garden Week which is usually around April time in the UK.

Alternatively, You could also bring in the outdoors indoors (I’m not talking about muddy shoes) by looking at the types of leaves they’ve collected, looking at the different colours, shapes and sizes. Encourage them to ask questions and if you don’t know the answer, look online.

Check out this fabulous blog for some other things you can do for a great day out in the park

Get them involved in recycling

My little one enjoyed getting involved in putting recycling in the correct bin that now she does it automatically.

Children naturally want to be helpful so if there’s something to do, they are keen to get involved. Teaching them which bin an item goes into is so important because as they see us recycle, they will adopt that as the norm and more likely to continue doing that as they get older.

Coincidentally, This was where I got the idea to create the Sort the Recycling Waste print at home game.

We laminated our one so my little one can play it over and over and it keeps her busy while I’m trying to do something (another plus).

Rather than waiting for it to arrive, it can be downloaded and printed at home. Great if you need to come up with something quickly to occupy them.

Another great tip is to get them to apply for their very own Green Blue Peter Badge. My daughter got one for eco efforts and she’s really proud of it.

Growing food

It’s important for them to know where food comes from, how it’s grown and how much work is needed to grow it.

I always think back about the time when my ex-husband’s nephew was asked where eggs came from. His reply was Tesco. Everyone else found it funny but I found it a little sad. Surely he should have be corrected – he was six.

Pick something easy and doesn’t take up a lot of space (especially if you’re limited on garden space). Strawberries are great to start with. My little one and I grew strawberries and she loved it (here’s my blog about it). In addition, she regularly checked to see if it needed watering and remembered me telling her that the evening is the best time to water them. It felt like her own little project and she enjoyed the fruits of her labour.

We’ve grown potatoes, carrots, strawberries and spring onions (the onions didn’t go well). I would highly recommend growing something your little ones will eat. They (and you) will get such a sense of achievement by eating something you’ve grown yourself – trust me!

Plants

Insects pollinate the food we eat so they are crucial to our survival and biodiversity. A great way to help our pollinating friends are planting flowers.

Sunflowers are a favourite in this household. Plus, we make it a bit of a game. We have a competition to see who’s sunflower is the tallest. My daughter has won every time and I’m hoping to win this year. Start off them inside as seedlings. Once the frost is over, get them used to being outside and then plant them permanently outside.

Insects love colours so there are so many flowers you could plant – go nuts!

You could attempt to build a bug hotel from things you find in the garden. Or buy a bird house and encourage nature to come into your garden. Just watch your kids fascinated with them and learn to care for the environment.

Why not try a game that teaches children to sort animals into their habitats? It’s print at home so you can get started straight away!

Eco dates

There are a number of dates throughout the year celebrating the environment. A household favourite for us is Earth Day which is celebrated on the 22nd April every year.

Many schools get involved with environmental issues and can be continued at home. My little one loves doing puzzles and activities which led me to create some digital downloads. This has encouraged her to learn more about the environment and ask questions. I’ve created some free ones too.

National Children’s Gardening Week is a great one to get involved with as a family – its usually at the end of May.

Keep talking

It’s important to keep having conversations about the environment. If they find a bug when you’re out and about, encourage to think about what that bug was up to, where they’ve been, where it lives.

Think about toys and games they ask for. My daughter was invited to a birthday party and one of the pass the parcel games was a bee jigsaw – which she won. We learned so much about bees and she’s still got it.

Bees Jigsaw box care environment

Museums (and there are some free ones) tend to have great installations about the environment and are usually over the half-term period. Check them out.

Recently my daughter said something that really made me smile. We were on the way back from school and it started raining heavily. Us Brits usually like complaining about the rain (or the weather in general) and I complained about not bringing an umbrella. She said “The rain is fine, the trees and plants get to have a drink”. I still smile about it now.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

If you want to adopt more sustainable living practices into your home, check out the 30-Day Eco Swap Challenge – it’s only £7

Sustainable Living ideas

Explaining Climate Change to Children

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As a parent, I want my child to have a care-free childhood but also teach her about the dangers that can be found in the world without scaring her.

She’s 7 and she learnt about Stranger Danger quite early on in her school life; she knows what to look out for and we talked out it quite a bit. Thankfully, it didn’t appear to scare her and she seemed to be happy being armed with this information.

But there are other dangers, one of which is climate change.

Let’s be honest, having children doesn’t come with a manual. I, for one, try to learn from other parents and think about what I say and how I act because they are sponges when they are young. We’re all just trying our best and hope we don’t screw them up!

As an eco-blogger (and an imperfect environmentalist), I’m well aware of how the planet is changing and studying towards a degree in Environmental Science has given me an insight into the science of climate change and it’s contributing factors; looking at articles, questioning sources and the ability to determine whether the author of the article has an agenda. Some of it is a little scary, even for me.

So how do I explain climate change to my child? After all, her generation are going to inherit the planet from us.

Climate change refers to the changes in temperatures and weather patterns around our planet and one of the main causes of this is human activity and this what we talk about; human activity.

I talk to her about the smaller stuff like litter-picking and reducing plastic. We go litter-picking and she knows about turning the lights off when they aren’t needed. She enjoys watching Blue Peter who talk about climate activism in a really thoughtful and sensitive way. She’s even got a green Blue Peter badge (something I told everyone who would listen!).

A while back, she heard someone said that they hated the rain – it wasn’t even heavy rain. She later said to me “the rain helps the environment, it’s just nature doing its thing”. I have to say, that really made me smile because that’s exactly what it’s doing.

The rain helps the environment, it’s just nature doing it’s thing

When I talk to her about what’s happening to the environment, I tell her bits of what’s going on but I offer solutions too.

We’ve taught her about recycling and she knows which bin to use for an item and why recycling is important, turning off the tap when she’s not using the water and the issues of wasting it, she has no problem wearing second-hand clothing, and we go litter-picking too.

Recently, the final episode of Frozen Planet II aired on the BBC and I noticed quite a few posts on Twitter where people thought it was terrifying and questioned whether it’s something young children should be watching. Some said kids should know about it and others thought it’s best to shield them from it. I haven’t let my daughter watch it, as a parent, we should do what we think is best for our own children.

I recently wrote a post about coping with eco-anxiety and I do adopt some of these practices when talking to her about the environment.

I think the key is helping them to find solutions and being able to action them. Even as adults we can sometimes feel quite powerless but, in my opinion, doing something is always better than not doing anything at all.

Ultimately, I want to be able to look her in the eye and tell her that I tried my best with what I had.

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Sustainable Living ideas

Green Blue Peter Badge

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I recently had a major proud parent moment.

As a child, I absolutely loved watching Blue Peter. I will never forget the best make of all by Anthea Turner, Thunderbirds’ Tracey Island. I must admit, I wasn’t a fan of Thunderbirds but even I found it awesome watching this creation unfold on TV. We talked about it in school, watched other people fall over themselves trying to get hold of the instructions. It was HUGE! 

As a parent, watching my 6-year-old daughter watch Blue Peter is a real joy and reminds me of my childhood. After all, it is the longest-running children’s tv show on TV and inspires young viewers to go the extra effort to make things better. 

She mentioned a while back about wanting to do something to get a Blue Peter Green Badge so I looked online to see what she would need to do for a Green Blue Peter badge.

As an environmentalist, I make an effort to adapt my habits with the environment in mind and it turns out she’s been watching me and picked up a few habits. This badge centres around an environmental theme

She asked again if she could apply for one so I looked online to see the requirements.

The Pledges

Named Climate Heroes, there were three pledges she needed to do for at least a month; Power, Plastic and Plants.

Power – this one was to encourage children to save power; my daughter would always turn her nightlight off at the wall in the morning.

Plastic – reducing one piece of plastic from your lunch box. She has school dinners and takes a piece of fruit for a snack everyday.

Plant – planting something in the garden. As we are moving, I purposely haven’t planted anything this year as it could get damaged during the move so we sent in pictures of us litter picking (she asks to go litter picking!)

I filled in the online application, attached pictures and waited.

It was about four weeks later and this turned up in the post.

I can’t tell you who was more excited; me or my daughter. A major proud parent moment that I told anyone who would listen!

I think deep down inside, I had always wanted a Blue Peter badge but I was never encouraged to apply for one and watching her earn one for herself, I felt like she had achieved a dream of mine, as well as her own.

I strongly believe the key to slowing down climate change is education and one of the best places to start is with young people. After all, they are inheriting the planet from us.

What other badges are there?

Apart from celebrating your little one’s outstanding achievements, the other benefit of having a Blue Peter badge is that they get free entry to various venues around the country. 

There are other badges our little ones can apply for: the Blue badge, the Book badge, The Silver badge, Purple Fan Club badge, Music badge, Sports badge, Orange Badge, and the Gold Badge. What do you need to do to become one of many blue badge holders? Keep reading

Blue Badge – The Blue badge is the most iconic badge in the UK! We can’t be entirely sure how many have been awarded since launching in 1963, but we reckon the number is in the millions. All you need to do is send in an interesting letter or artwork, a poem, story, suggestion for the show. Just use your imagination. These will sometimes appear on the big badge wall on the show.

The new Book Badge – To apply for a Book Badge encourage your little to write in about a book they read; what they thought about it, their favourite characters, and maybe include a picture too. You can grab an application form from their website. 

The Silver badge – This very special badge is all about showing kindness to someone else, it could be a sick family member or someone in the community. 

The Purple Fan Club badges – This is for anyone who is a fan of the show, you can grab your purple badge form and apply for a badge

The Music badge – To get this badge, you need to tell Blue Peter about your love of music; if you play a musical instrument, how long you’ve played it for, and why you love it. Or even if you’ve just started to play a new instrument. 

The Sports Badge – Try a new sport for the first time, tell us about your experience and answer our sporty questions. Then send a photo, video or some artwork showing us how you got involved with your new sport and apply for your awesome new sport badge.

The Orange Badge – The orange badge is given to competition winners. if you’d like a change to get an Orange badge, check out the competition page. 

The Gold badge – this is a very special badge indeed. Gold Blue Peter badges is Blue Peter’s highest award and are awarded in exceptional circumstances; for unique bravery, courage or saving someone’s life. 

In October 2023, Prince William, Prince of Wales, was awarded a Green Badge in recognition of his work on The Earthshot Prize. This was to celebrate Blue Peter’s 65th Birthday 

Unlike when I was a child, we can now catch any missed episodes on BBC iPlayer and keep an eye out for a Blue Peter Competition and watch their favourite Blue Peter presenters. A few of their recent and former presenters have been Matt Baker, Abby Cook, Lindsey Russell, Henry, Radzi Chinyanganya and Joel Mawhinney

If you’re looking to start reducing your household waste, check out my free download

Updated November 2023