ENVIRONMENT

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Acknowledgement Liz Hodgman

The Every Child Matters Outcome, Making a Positive Contribution, states
'Children and Young People engage in decision making and support the community and environment.'
What better way to fulfil this aim than to make your Childminding setting
an environmentally friendly one?
       On this page we aim to bring you some ideas on how to reduce the amount of energy your setting uses, ways to involve the children and have fun.

What do you do with your minded children to help the environment?
Send us your ideas so we can share them with other Childminders contact us

Talk to the children about environmental issues
Even very young children can grasp the basic concepts and school aged children are used to the environment being discussed regularly at school and on the television in programmes such as Newsround and Blue Peter. EYFS encourages practitioners to 'pose carefully framed open-ended questions, such as "How can we....?" or "What would happen if......?" '

Involve the children in recycling
Explain to the children what you can recycle at home, paper, cardboard, glass, plastic bottles and tins. If the children are with you when you are recycling ask them if the items are recyclable, which boxes they should go in etc. The children might like to make posters for your recycling boxes explaining why it is necessary and what is allowed to go in the box. They might like to make more to take home for their families. Give them praise when they suggest that something can be recycled without prompting. Older children might like to help you work out how much of your rubbish you are recycling each week.

Children can learn more about recycling and play some interactive on line games:

www.actionfornature.org/games.html

Craft Activities
When doing craft activities think about using recycled materials rather than purchasing new. Not only will it save you money it will help the environment. Children love to make models from household junk, such as kitchen roll tubes, cereal boxes, bottle and jar lids, yoghurt pots etc. This will enable them to develop their creativity. EYFS 'provide resources for joining things together and combining materials, demonstrating where appropriate'

Cut up into small pieces any unwanted scraps of paper or materials and keep in an ice cream container. These can then be used for collage and make a quickly organised craft activity for all ages, great for a rainy school holiday activity.

Involve parents by asking them to contribute to your arts and crafts resources, maybe they have a lot of scrap paper at work that they can give you, washed yoghurt pots are great for glue or paint pots, used wrapping paper and greeting cards are great for cutting and sticking activities along with scraps of ribbons etc.

Wormeries
Children will be fascinated with a wormery, watching them digest and break down kitchen waste into rich compost. It need not be an expensive project, you can even make your wormery from a bin. The following link explains how they work and how to make your own.

www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/Features/Compost_Heap/DIYwormery.asp

Don't forget to make a photographic record of the wormery at the different stages, noting down the children's comments. Involve parents by asking them to bring their kitchen waste and by providing them with compost.

Walking
Walk as much as you can rather than using the car. The children will enjoy walking to school, pre-school, shops etc far more than being strapped into a car seat. They will enjoy the opportunity of having your attention, you will be able to point out things to them, extending all areas of their learning and development. If your minded children attend a Bromley School they may well be involved in the WOW scheme (Walk on Wednesdays) You might also thin about joining up with other local Childminders to form your own walking bus.

Water
Encourage the children to save water where possible, turning off the tap when cleaning teeth, ensuring taps are fully off after handwashing etc. You might consider introducing a water butt to recycle rain water for your garden. The children will love to help you fill watering cans and water the plants. Ensure that the water butt lid is secured in order to avoid any drowning risks.

Learning and Development (Early Years Foundation Stage)
Knowledge and Understanding of the World. 'plan activities based on first hand experiences that encourage exploration, experimentation, observation, problem solving, prediction, critical thinking, decision making and discussion.' 'Create a stimulating environment that offers a range of activities which will encourage children's interest and curiosity, both indoors and outdoors'

See our EYFS pages