Eco-conscious, sustainable, carbon footprint. You can’t go a day without hearing or reading those words, and so we should. It’s very important to look after our world and make sure we leave something lovely for future generations. 

Definition of eco-conscious: marked by or showing concern for the environment eco-conscious consumers.

When it comes to climate change otherwise recognised as global warming there is a lot of the blame game going on with each generation blaming the next and the previous, but we believe that pointing fingers doesn’t do anyone any good, and the best thing to do is lead by example. 

If you’ve ever been around kids, you’d know that the saying they learn like sponges isn’t far from the truth. You’re probably thinking back to the time you stubbed your toe and said something a little too cheeky only to turn around and pray the little one didn’t catch that. Which is why we came up with 3 cool things you can do with kids to help them learn and become more eco-conscious, and absorb all you have to teach in a fun way whilst bonding.

Spend time in nature

One of the best ways to give your child a reason to care is to teach them to fall in love with the outdoors. Being indoors all the time doesn’t only get a little boring, it doesn’t help open their eyes to nature. 

There are tonnes of places you could take little ones to, from a quick bike ride in a park to longer trails or even camping. It’s always good to point out the flowers, and trees growing, and also any animals that you see, and explain that nature is their home.

A big part of nature is those wild animals and showing them is a great start, but we also find that pets can also help children develop a love and a caring side towards animals. Dogs and cats are great, but we know that’s not always an easy mission, so hamsters and fish can be a good way to start (and even help your child learn to take on small responsibility such as feeding and cleaning). 

Hobbies are also a great way to get your child outdoors and also get some exercise. There are easy choices, like football, tennis, even running on grass, but for teach to be eco a spot of gardening is great! You could even teach them to create manure using their recycled waste, and how it helps feed their growing plants. 

Save water and lower carbon footprint

Okay so really this is two tips, but if it’s fun who cares.  Buying your child, a re-useable bottle that they chose can be really fun as it’s a present they’ll love and make them more inclined to use it. One way you can make saving water fun is starting to teach them with a story. Let the story involve their favourite characters from TV or books, maybe it can be a superhero but they don’t just save people they save the animals and the plants, the possibilities are endless, and it gives you the chance to bond with your child through storytelling. 

To reduce carbon footprints, it’s quite simple, walk more, but this isn’t just any old walking. We have some games for you to play: 

 - Try the classic iSpy. 

 - Car game – different types of cars have different points, when you see a car with points you have to say “*CAR NAME* no return* whoever has the most points by the time you reach your location wins!  

E.g. Points: Truck:10 points | Police car: 5 | Pink Car: 15 | Mini: 15 | Bus: 1 (Feel free to make up your point system according to the common-ish cars around your area. You can even make up fun rules like a yellow car means first one to point their finger on their nose gets DOUBLE points. 

There are loads of other games you can find if you google and walking is a great time to explain how cars and buses cause air pollution. 

Recycle

Recycling is so important! It cuts down a huge amount of waste when we all recycle. What’s great is that it can be a fun creative time to spend with children. So we have the very basic which is sorting the recycling which isn’t the worlds most entertaining task, but what you can do is pick out all the boxes, and buttons, and make something crafty, like perhaps a robot, out of cereal boxes? Or cut an empty bottle and make a rocket. The possibilities are endless, and it gives children a chance to exercise their mind whilst also understanding that ‘rubbish’ can be made into something fun and beautiful, and not always end up in the bin. 

Let us know how you get on, and if you do any crafty, DIY projects with recycled materials show us through our social media, we love to connect with our community!