SUSTAINABLE(ISH) HOME SCHOOLING(ISH) THINGS TO DO WITH THE KIDS #1
I've got one word for you all. Cornoavirus.
We're living though strange, scary, anxiety and stress inducing times. I'm not sure what I can share that will help/be of value, but I'm going to give it a go by sharing some topics/things to do around being more planet friendly with the kids. This is not to make you feel bad or to give you yet another thing to add to your 'things to do with the kids to #makememories' - more like it's here if you need it/when you're tearing your hair out by 10am as they seem to have managed to fit a whole day's school work AND Joe Wicks PE into less than an hour (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything).
It's here if you want it, I've added ideas to drag it out for longer if you need them! If not please obviously feel free to ignore!
#1 DO A PLASTIC AUDIT
- Get the kids together and have a chat about doing this. Ask them what their thoughts are about single use plastic, what they already know about it etc etc.
- Grab a box, or a spare bin, or even a bin bag if you've nothing else to hand.
Get the kids to make a sign for it, colour it in etc etc
- In here goes all your single use plastic from the week
- During the week whilst you're collecting it, in an age appropriate way, help them to do some research into:
* different types of plastic
* is all plastic bad plastic?
* when is plastic actually beneficial (eg in reducing weight for transport, in hospitals etc)
* how plastic ends up in the oceans
* different ways it harms wildlife
* people and organisations doing good stuff to help wildlife and reduce plastic pollution
* the most common types of plastic washed up on beaches/found on beach cleans
- At the end of the week, tip out the box of plastic and turn your kids into rubbish detectives (possibly in every sense of the word depending on how enthusiastic they are...)
* count how many items there are
* split them into recyclable (kerbside), recyclable at the tip, terracycle (check on the terracycle website for collection points and schemes near you), and non recyclable
* If you're feeling keen you could create bar charts/pie charts of the above
* what's the most commonly occurring item?
* make a top 10 - again you could do a bar chart of how many items of each etc
* which brand is most commonly represented eg walkers crisps, coke bottles etc etc
* double check what you can recycle kerbside and locally on recyclenow.com
* are there things in there that you can recycle that you didn't know you could? Can you come up with a plan to make sure that those items are now actually recycled?
- Together, pick THREE items you want to work on reducing/refusing/swapping out.
Then pick your first item and come up with ideas - get the kids to join in with this and you're way more likely to get buy in from them. Eg. if it's something like fruit shoot bottles (which are really difficult to recycle due to the different types/colours of plastic), what could you swap them out for? Or could you say you only have them at weekends? Or on special occasions?
- Get letter writing
* help the kids to write a letter to some of the brands you've found in your recycling pile. Maybe send a picture of your pile and their items/your bar charts etc. Explain why you're concerned about single use plastic - include some of the facts you've found out. Ask them what their plans are to help them planet when it comes to plastic pollution from their products.
- Share your plastic audit on social media including a pic if you want to
* tag in the brands
* invite your friends to do their own audit
* if you're very keen, do a 'rubbish flatlay' to share on IG using the #rubbishflatlay hashtag
- Create a poster about plastic pollution
* share it on social media
USEFUL BOOKS/WEBSITES
- Wild Tribe Heroes have some lovely books for pre-school/KS1
- Dougie Poynter of McFly fame has written 'Plastic Sucks' which has lots of info and also interviews with people around the world doing good stuff
- "This book is not rubbish" by Isabel Thomas
- "What a Waste" by Jess French
- Kids Against Plastic have a great 'learn' section on their website: https://www.kidsagainstplastic.co.uk/learn/
- The Plastic Pollution Coalition have this article about how to talk to your kids about plastic pollution:
-National Geographic Kids have some resources including some crafty type activities
- Recycle Now lets you check what you can recycle locally to you
- Terracycle - look to see what schemes you have locally for hard to recycle things
- Books for super-hero kids who want to save the world (blog post)
- [030] - Sisters Against Plastic (podcast)
FYI - my kids are currently running around the garden like lunatics and have already sent at least one ball flying over the fence, and I can hear one of them saying 'sorry' meaning that one of them has probably just hurt the other one, just in case you're feeling the pressure of all the amazing 'first day of home schooling pics' being shared.
Phew!
What a mega post.
Please do let me know if this is helpful, or if there's any additional info that would be useful, or if you've got any ideas for 'add on activities' for this!
Also, if you find it helpful, please do share with friends, and do post pics of your audits/flatlays/posters etc etc - I'd love to see them
