How To Make Your Classroom Green

With World Environment Day approaching there is no better time to bring eco-friendly ideas into the classroom. The theme for 2013 is eat, think, save, and encourages us to think about the amount of food we waste, and the effects that wastage can have on our environment. Here are some fun ideas to teach children about going green.

Encourage Recycling

Recycling is one of the best ways to take care of the environment. An interesting way to introduce the idea of recycling to children is a classroom composting experiment. The aim of the experiment is to explain why worms are known as ‘nature’s recyclers.’ Granted, the idea of having worms in your classroom might not be thrilling, but watching the worms turn rubbish into something useful should be engaging. If you wanted to take the experiment further you could set up composting bins for your class to use.

Make Sure That Things Are Switched Off

Forgetting to switch things off can waste a huge amount of energy. Encouraging children to do this at school will make your class room greener, and is a good way to get them into the habit of doing it at home.

A fun idea is to make a checklist of good energy saving habits such as, ‘turning off lights when you leave the room’. The children can tick things off the list as they get into the habit of doing them, and then be rewarded when they finish the checklist. Get creative and make posters to remind people to turn off lights. Kids Energy zone has some fun energy saving resources.

Make Lunch From Locally Sourced Produce

Locally sourced food has a number of benefits for the environment. Eating foods that are produced and sold locally, avoids the harmful effects that transporting and food packaging can have. Small, traditional farms also tend to have a much smaller harmful output than industrial agricultural facilities.

Visiting a local produce shop, and making lunch with your purchases is an interactive way to teach children about the benefits of local produce. You could also incorporate cooking and healthy eating skills to make the day more comprehensive.

Encourage Your Class To Walk To School

Your class can do their bit for the environment by walking to school. Walking to school cuts down on car emissions, and is great for keeping fit and healthy. This one isn’t for everyone, but if your class is old enough, and the walk to school is reasonably quick and safe, it could be a success.

Creating certificates to reward children who frequently walk to school is a good motivator. You could also create targets for children to aim for such as silver, bronze and gold certificates. The British Heart Foundation has a useful guide about walking to school.

So there you have it, taking care of the environment can be fun! Take a look at the School Stickers Summer Calendar to find out more about events you can get involved with this summer.

For more tips on lesson planning, check out this resource.

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