Environmentally Friendly Activity List
by Wayne D. Eastman

1. Responsibility Straws: (Source: The Instant Curriculum, by P. Schiller, Mount Rainier, Maryland: Gryphon House, 1990). Label empty juice cans with a list of chores and place them in a box called the "chore box." Create flags by glueing pieces of paper to the tops of straws. Write each child's name on a flag. At the beginning of the day, children can select their own chores by placing their flags in the appropriate cans.

2. Responsibility Roster: (Source: Schiller). Attach several rows of glue-on picture hanger hooks to a posterboard. List a number of different chores, such as picking paper off the floor, on a series of file cards. Punch two holes in the top of each card and thread them with yarn to create individual hangers. Hang up each chore card on the poster board and allow the children to select their duties for the day or week.

3. Litter Brigade: (Source: Schiller). Use a cereal box and cord to make litter collectors for each child to hang over his/her shoulder.

4. Use and Re-Use: (Source: Schiller). To help children understand that items can be used in many different ways, send each child home with a grocery sack and a note asking parents to help children collect re-usable items such as egg cartons or corks.

5. Sandbox Tools: (Source: Schiller). Use empty, clean bleach bottles to make buckets, sand scoops and funnels.

6. Corkers: Re-use corks collected by children for floating in water, counting and making collages.

7. Bits and Pieces: To help children learn how to save materials, keep a container on the art shelf for bits of leftover paper.

8. Making Soil: (Source: The Everything Book, by V. Indenbaum and M. Shapiro, Mount Rainier, Maryland: Gryphon House, 1985) Teach children how to make soil by having them rub some small rocks together over an empty coffee can. The rubbing action will cause a sand-like material to fall off the rocks, thereby forming a base for a soil mixture. Next, add pieces of decaying leaves and dead insects to increase the richness of the soil.

9. Compost: (Source: I Am I Can, by G. Mitchell, Marshfield, Mass.: Teleshare Publications, 1987). Use plastic compost bins that are suitabe for small yards. Place several inches of soil in the composter and add selective items such as ground-up food waste, small sticks, leaves and eggshells. Then, wait for the decomposition process to begin.

10. Seed Germination: (Source: G.W. Maxim, The Sourcebook, Toronto: Merrill, 1990). Place a damp paper towel, cotton wad or sponge in the bottom of a clear jar or dish. Sprinkle some lawn seed on the pad. Keep the pad moist and watch the seeds germinate.

11. May I Have a Drink Please?: (Source: Maxim). Stir some food colouring into a glass of water. Slice a piece of celery across the bottom. Let the celery stand in the tinted water for about one hour. The celery stalk will change color as the water travels upward, thereby demonstrating the effects of pollutants on plant life.

12. Bark Rubbings: (Source: M.J. Puckett Cliatt, Helping Children Explore Science, New York: Merrill, 1992). Distribute plain paper and old crayons. Show children how to make bark rubbings by placing a piece of paper on the bark of a tree and rubbing it with the flat side of a crayon. Encourage them to make and compare several rubbings of different kinds of bark.

13. Using Fabric Scraps and Worn Clothing Creatively: (Source: Besse-Gene Holt, Science with Young Children, Washington: NAEYC, 1989). Use old pieces of fabric to create items such as collages and patchwork bags.

14. Care of Earthworms: (Source: J. Harlem, Science Experiences for the Early Childhood Years, Toronto: Merrill, 1992). Spread a thin layer of sand on the bottom of a shoe box. Cover the sand with eight centimetres of mixed soil. Next, sprinkle bone meal or coffee grounds on top and scratch the surface with a stick. Add the earthworms. Remember to keep the soil damp because earthworms will not survive very long in a dry environment. Mix in a spoonful of dry food every week (such as ground up food peelings) and add bits of grass and leaves. Cover the top of the shoe box with a net and fasten with a large rubber band.

Actions and Results Areas

To share the environmental education approach and make child care centres environmentally friendly, caregivers need to develop a mechanism for incorporating tangible experiences into the early childhood program. This goal can be accomplished by using the chart method for promoting environmental awareness. The following tables are examples of a chart curriculum, as well as actions and goals centres can use to promote an environmentally friendly setting. The chart concept can also be used by caregivers as a weekly, monthly or yearly program plan. Particular actions and results areas can also be selected and developed as themes or units in a preschool curriculum.

The following tables were adapted from Environment Canada's (1993) A Primer on Environmental Citizenship. Canada promoted the Environmental Citizenship Initiative to help provide Canadians with the means to make environmentally responsible decisions. Even though this series was generic in scope, its basic tenets can be used successfully in an early childhood setting to foster environmental awareness.

TABLE OF ACTIONS AND RESULTS AREAS ACTIONS GOALS In the Program/Centre Protecting the Atmosphere/ Environment Using Water Wisely Protecting Natural Heritage Reducing Waste Protecting Wildlife 1. Using a Recycling Program X 2. Keeping a Bottle of Drinking Water in the Fridge X 3. Cleaning Fruits and Vegetables X 4. Steaming Vegetables X 5. Not Using the Toilet as a Garbage Can X 6. Turning Lights Off X 7. Reusing Play Materials X 8. Reusing or Recycling Christmas Trees X 9. Composting Food X 10. Donating Unwanted Goods X 11. Reusing Containers, Packaging X 12. Not Killing Wildlife (e.g. spiders) X 13. Planting Trees X 14. Catching Rainwater X 15. Using Only What is Needed -- Activity Materials X X 16. Buying EcoLogo Products X X 17. Using Recycled Materials X X 18. Using Water-Based Paints X X 19. Avoiding Six-Pack Rings X 20. Taking Walking Fieldtrips X 21. Taking the Bus Fieldtrips X 22. Using Fully Loaded Washing Machines X 23. Using Fluorescent Lighting X

This article first appeared in Interaction published by the Canadian Child Care Federation, Winter, 1995.

Posted by: the Canadian Child Care Federation, September 1996.

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