How to teach your child about sustainability

• Posted on 26 March 2021
• By Josephine Walbank
• Posted in childrens garden furniture, eco-conscious, garden, outdoor, outdoor play area, recycle, reduce, reuse, sustainable
• 0

Children across Europe are remarkably eco-conscious. As parents we want to promote this eco-consciousness and enthusiasm for protecting the world around them, without making our child fearful of big topics as climate change and polution.

Without a doubt, sustainability is one of the most important topics of our generation, and indeed the next. 

Thankfully, our children don’t need any convincing. Children across Europe are already remarkably eco-conscious. We’ve already spoken about how this environmental ethos is widely held in children, and they are taking it upon themselves to think about how they can protect the planet, and encourage their families to do so, too.

Children of an older age are pretty well read-up on these topics. They understand the complexity of current environmental concerns, and why it is so important. But, what about children of a younger age? 

The full weight of the matter of sustainability can, understandably, be a little daunting for a child to take on. 

As parents, of course we want to promote this love of nature and enthusiasm for protecting the world around them. But, we want to promote these principles without making our child fearful of these big topics. 

Thankfully, environmental charities have developed a number of brilliant resources, to help parents teach their child about sustainability in a way which achieves this balance. 

Below, we’ve provided links to a few of these resources, and then listed a few of our top tips to use when explaining these topics to your child; in a way that encourages positivity rather than fear. 

The UN’s Student Resources

This is a fantastic wealth of resources for parents. The UN’s Student Resources web page is filled with information packs, PDFs and teaching aids for parents to read through alongside their children. These include everything from free children’s books, to educational online games, and even adorable panda stickers that you can use in your family Whatsapp chat. 

One of our favourite materials on this website is the ‘170 daily actions’ PDF. On each page of this document, you can see one big global goal - for example, page 15 is dedicated to ‘affordable and clean energy’. Then, around this big goal, there are 10 daily suggestions that you and your child can do together to, on a small scale, do your bit towards achieving this. This is a great way to promote positive actions and eco-consciousness in your child.

The MSC Website

On its website, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has provided some wonderful online information packs and educational resources. These are all designed to help parents teach child about ocean sustainability accurately, without leaving the child feeling scared or overwhelmed. 

There are loads of educational aids to choose from, including films, worksheets and online games. 

This is a particularly tricky topic for parents, as it can easily leave a young child feeling distressed or daunted, so we would highly recommend that you make the most out of these child-friendly educational aids.

The WWF’s Wild Classroom

In this brilliant wealth of online learning resources, the guys at The WWF have managed to cover a vast range of environmental topics which span the entire globe. The WWF’s Wild Classroom is a hub of tool kits, in a jam-packed lesson library. You can find educational aids for any age group, as well as videos, activity packs and even environmentally focused arts and crafts. 

These resources are a wonderful way to get your child enthused about doing their bit to protect the natural world.  

So, with these great resources in mind, we wanted to round things up by providing you with our five top takeaway tips for teaching your child about sustainability: 

1. Cook together using seasonal and local ingredients. 
2. When not in use, remind them to turn off the taps and switch off the lights. 
3. Teach them about recycling, and get them to help you out with the recycling at home. 
4. Use eco-conscious children’s books and recommended online aids to help you cover trickier topics. 
5. Encourage outdoor play. 

For the last point, although it might seem like a small step, actually getting your child to connect with nature and interact with it on a personal level is a great way to help them understand more about how the natural world works. Through this type of play, they can develop a knowledge of the environment, and this will also make them far more likely to want to protect it as they get older.  

At Mini beee, we create children’s outdoor furnishings that promote independent and imaginative play within the natural world. So, if you want to encourage your child to spend more time outside in nature, our full range of furniture is available to browse via the Mini beee online shop.