lil kind life: 10 ways to help your kids go green
Your child is never too young to do their part in helping the environment, so it's important to teach your little ones to go green from the start.
1. Teach him/her to turn off the lights.
2. Remind little ones to turn off the water when brushing their teeth.
3. Spend time with your children playing outside and away from electronic devices that use/waste energy.
4. Buy eco-friendly toys and products for your children.
5. Buy in bulk. Instead of buying snack packs buy in bulk and then divide into individual servings using reusable containers.
6. Recycle toys and electronics. Show your children how to properly recycle batteries and electronics so that they don't end up in landfills.
7. Teach your children how to cook and where food comes from.
8. Carpool to school.
9. Let the kids sort the recycling.
9. Donate gently used toys and clothing to others who can use them instead of throwing them away.
What are some other fun, energy-efficient activities you can do with your little ones?
Read more about raising kind kids on my guest blog for AllParenting.com.
For more eco tips...
Lil Kind Life: Last Night I Swam with a Mermaid
Kind Classics: Easy Ways to Conserve Water
Kind Classics: Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
Kind Classics: Electronic Waste Recycling
Photo Credit: Kids Gone Raw
9 comments
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Biking!!! We love to bike and hike in our family. Our nine year old loves spending time outside on her scooter and playing. She also adores all animals and is into water conservation. If you live near a park reserve it's a wonderful place for your kids to learn about ways to take care of our planet and the beautiful creatures that we share it with. Also, having your child help you with planting your garden. Kids love to get their hands dirty and they think it's pretty cool when they can eat something they planted! It's always fun to share the veggies of your labor with friends and family, too!
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A few weekends ago I asked my daughter what she wanted to do and she responded that she wanted to go to the beach with me and pick-up trash...how could I refuse??? We had such a great time together combing the beach for trash (so much styrofoam!!!).
Great tips Alicia!
Gretchen
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I don't have kids but when I used to cut hair I would give the kids thier hair in a little baggie and tell them to put it outside so the birds can build their nests. It is great because it is better than throwing it away and it a great bonding experience!
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This is SO important and a great idea. No kids yet for me- but my darling niece already has a budding (get it? get it?) curiousity for all things enviro and nurturing her interest, I believe, is key for her adult appreciation of the planet.
Thanks for sharing these helpful tips! -
Find a non profit in your area that does habitat restoration, and take your children on a weekend morning volunteer project. They will get a hands on and fun lesson in bio diversity in your area.
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My 5 year old daughter now asks me, "Is this garbage or for composting?" My girls love to add to the composting bin and we have an Envirocycle that has to be turned so my 7 year old loves to turn it. My girls love gardening in our organic garden each year (we're on Long Island so it's only a few months out of the year). Since they'll little we call everything we do "Saving the Earth" so they are always finding ways to help and proud when they can invent new uses out of things.
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Along the lines of #7, plant a garden or a window box and discuss the relationships between plants, nutrients, water, sun, and creatures including the gardeners :)
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When I was a child, every year my mother would bring me to the store and spend hundreds of dollars on me for new clothing and the latest fashions. Now that I have children, we find it much more thrilling to spend the summer "hunting" for clothes that are INTERESTING or FLATTER us, rather than the latest fashion, by going to yard sales, consignment shops, and Goodwill. Then we consign and donate whatever we've outgrown, and recently have started to alter clothing into new items. This is a really exciting practice to my 9yr old, and she always has the most unique things. I think it's really special to be able to teach your children that something doesn't have to be "new" to be special, in fact, quite the contrary :)
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