With ocean levels rising and weather patterns shifting all over the world, the environment has never been more important to the next generation. As a family, it can be helpful to discuss the issues and lead by example and you’ll find a handy guide to global warming for kids at Persil.
Another helpful tip is to use games and creative ideas to help explain this topic to youngsters. Here are some simple ideas you can try at home.
Start Local
When you’re trying to teach complex concepts like global warming for kids, it helps to start with your local environment or a smaller space that they can understand. Games like being blindfolded and guessing what a leaf or flower is by smell alone teach an awareness and appreciation of the environment. Kids will also love getting to stay up later than usual to go for a night walk around your local park. You’ll be amazed at the different animals you can see and hear!
Get Creative
A simple way to carry on learning about the environment while indoors is to collect items to draw, sculpt or make into a collage during a nature walk. Another creative idea is to raid the recycling box the day before collection and see what creations they can make with ‘junk’. As they’re creating, draw attention to where each item came from – was it originally food packaging, a newspaper or junk mail? At the end of the project, you might both find yourselves shocked by the amount of packaging used for every item, and be thinking of ways to reduce waste.
Play Games
This is an easy way to get kids discussing environmental issues with one another. A simple way to learn about resources with a group is to fill a bowl with sweets and pass it round, telling them to take as many as they like. The last to get to the bowl are likely to have far fewer sweets. Ask how they feel about this, leading to a discussion about the unequal distribution of resources. There are also plenty of online options available that can challenge older kids, teaching everything from climate change to all about the air quality index.
Let Them Discover
Once you’ve fostered an interest in the environment, kids can try self-directed play and pursue their own particular interests. You might want to suggest a project to complete, like a book identifying types of tree. Fun books like The Little Boy with His Head in the Clouds can also cover the topic of global warming for kids in an accessible way. After reading, ask them what they thought and whether they want to do some more research or come up with a creative response to what they’ve read. As well as learning about global warming, they’ll also be learning simple analysis skills.
Product Design
This is connected to kids’ own research and involves designing a product that solves a particular environmental issue they’re concerned with. They can sketch out their designs, making them as imaginative as possible, and even create miniature models of what their idea would look like. Kids might also enjoy creating an advert, video or article explaining their product. It’ll tech them to think of positive solutions to future problems and even equip them with some basic skills which will stand them in good stead at school.