ACTIVITY CORNER
In our hands
Melanie Pilcher, quality and standards manager at the Alliance, shares ideas for celebrating World Environment Day this month
Melanie is responsible for resources that support best practice in all matters relating to the EYFS.
As educators, we understand that what we do in the early years has a huge impact on a child’s future success. Through our educational programmes we nurture children’s learning and development and aim to ignite a passion for learning that will stay with them for life.
Our success is evident as we prepare children for the next stage in their education, happy, confident and curious about the world around them. It is hard to comprehend that the world our children will inherit is in jeopardy, and the time in which we can make the biggest difference is rapidly slipping away from us.
There have been some positive changes in the way adults use plastic, but there is still a long way to go; it’s not easy to break the habits of a lifetime. The habits and behaviours we encourage in our youngest children will ensure that they themselves will become environmentally-conscious individuals with a deep respect for the planet that will be second nature to them.
Monday 5 June 2023 is World Environment Day – a global initiative established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. This year’s event will focus on one of the biggest threats to our planet, plastic pollution. With this year being the event’s 50th anniversary, it’s a good time to find out more.
While the government has taken steps to reduce plastic in our everyday lives, changing the habits and attitudes of a lifetime is hard. We will never get rid of plastic completely – it has many valuable uses – but if we can instil habits in our youngest children that encourage a different attitude to plastic and waste, we can make a difference.
Instil the right behaviours and attitudes
There is a lot of emphasis on being kind to each other. We want children to be kind to the planet, so helping them to socialise with nature, share their environment and encourage wildlife, and empathise with the natural world forms the basis of the activities and behaviours we want to encourage.
Inspire children
Encourage children to take care of their immediate environment – litter pickers are cheap to purchase and fun for young children to use as they pick up litter safely. Talk about what has been collected and why it has been thrown away. Ask older children to consider the impact of litter on wildlife and the environment, discuss what could have been re-used and think about how litter can be disposed of safely.
Explore plastic bags with older children: talk about how they feel and smell, how durable they are and how many times they are used. Ask children to suggest other ways they can carry things around, experiment with biodegradable alternatives and see how long they take to break down in a tray full of soil compared to a plastic bag.
Lead by example
If you have not done so already, use our Plastic not so Fantastic plastic usage audit form to consider the level of plastic used in your setting. Consider the changes you can make and plan for those you will need time to introduce. Your aim is for plastic to become the exception, not the rule, so that children are immersed in a sustainable environment from the outset.
Make a pledge to reduce plastic and gain an award for your efforts – for example the Eco-Schools programme offers a seven-step framework towards making a difference in the setting and beyond.
The facts and figures
- More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year worldwide, of which more than half is designed to be used just once – less than 10% of this is recycled.
- An estimated 19-23 million tonnes of plastic end up in rivers, lakes and seas across the world every year.
- Tiny plastic particles known as microplastics can find their way into food, water and even the air.
- The estimated 11 million metric tonnes of plastic entering our oceans annually is predicted to triple in the next three years.