A genuine civil society consists of people with a sense of responsibility to each other, with a conscious attitude to life and caring for nature. If adults really need to conduct environmental educational program, then children are connected with nature initially. They climb trees, run through the fields, play with animals, marvel at the waves on the sea and the water surface of the lake, catch snowflakes in their mouths and splash merrily through the puddles. Children like no other understand the true value of nature. In our age of spiritual plague, it is worth paying attention to children who need to study nature and ecology.
Protecting nature is important!
In the 21st century, a smoking factory and scattered rubbish everywhere do not surprise anyone. We are accustomed to the sickening smell and the fact that tap water should not be drunk under any circumstances. We eat fruits and vegetables grown in greenhouses and not having any taste and nutritional value. At the moment there is at least such an opportunity. So what is next?
Man depletes natural resources, cuts down forests, pollutes the atmosphere. Because of this, the ozone layer is destroyed and the climate is changing. Man kills animals, many species are lost forever. At the current rate of destruction of natural ecosystems by 2030, they will not remain at all. A society of growing consumption leads to catastrophic changes in nature that affect humanity as well.
If nobody is afraid of the widespread increase in poverty and hunger, very high child mortality, the lack of clean drinking water in 2/3 of the world's settlements, the growth of allergies, the HIV and AIDS epidemic, then we can not give a damn about the environment and continue in the same vein. But the planet must breathe, like humans, and therefore it is time to listen to its needs.
Environmental Education for Children
What is ecology like in the eyes of children? Environmental responsibility needs to be developed from a very young age. Having just stood on his feet, a person must realize that picking a flower, he hurts him, and throwing garbage in the street, he clogs his house. Children from parents and from teachers in schools should hear that environmental management is not a whim, but a necessity. We can take from nature, but only as much as we need, helping and replenishing the natural balance.
Children understand and play the form of play and creativity. Of course, boring lectures and notations can cause aversion to the topic. But all kinds of contests of drawings, crafts, song competitions, quizzes, environmental trips - is another matter entirely. They will interest both a five-year-old baby and a teenager.
Environmental Drawing Competition
Children's drawing competition is one of the best ways to have fun and usefully. Boys and girls will draw with pleasure global environmental problems, beautiful landscapes, and harmony between man and nature. The competition can be held not only at home, but also at school and kindergarten. The kids will be offered a choice of gouache, watercolor, crayons, pencils, mascara, and even a ballpoint pen. The main thing is that students can express their thoughts and feelings by translating them on paper. What is ecology through the eyes of children? Their vision of nature and attitudes towards it are presented in many colorful creative works.
Children's drawing contest will help combine needlework for girls, boys and their parents. It is wonderful when families come together on such important occasions. For example, mothers and fathers can prepare coloring books on the theme “ecology through the eyes of children”. So you can draw the attention of young citizens to important problems in nature, in the relationship between man and nature. The guys, coloring the drawings, will fantasize and think about the important.
DIY and app contest
Kids and schoolchildren, like many adults, love to create something with their own hands. So why not arrange a competition of crafts "Ecology through the eyes of children"? In autumn, this is a great occasion to collect acorns and chestnuts, fallen colored leaves, twigs and pebbles, and then build from all these finds a beast or a house. In summer, you can paint sea pebbles and make a herbarium of flowers found in the field, signing each and indicating interesting information about it. For older children and adolescents, you can make your own small terrarium in a bottle.
The competition of applications “Ecology through the eyes of children” will also help to attract children to the problem of protecting nature. A good modern idea of scrapbooking: you can make environmental cards and posters. The application of multi-colored buttons and twigs in the form of autumn foliage will delight both small and adult.
Quiz "Ecology through the eyes of children"
This quiz for the smallest can be held in the form of an interactive theater. Children play a performance or read poetry about nature. For such an event (as a script for presentations), the works of the following authors are suitable: Paustovsky, Barto, Zhitkov, Bianchi and Kipling. Children can choose verses from those proposed by the teacher or write them themselves. The contest "Ecology through the eyes of children" for senior school age can be held in the form of the game "What? Where? When?" or “Own game”, where the guys will be able to improve their knowledge of ecology, the relationships in the natural world and the harmony of man and the environment.
Hiking and eco-tourism
The project “Ecology through the eyes of children” does not have to be confined to science or creativity. It can be a sporting event or a trip to the nearest forest (park). What to organize for middle and high school students? You can conduct orienteering. An interesting idea will be a quest with hints and tasks in certain places. This will delight not only children, but also their parents. For the smallest, you can also find tasks: to consider cones, foliage, feed squirrels, study the bark of trees.
There is one more option. Children with parents go out of town with an overnight stay in tents. A task for children can be a fire (under the watchful eye of adults) and archery. Rest in the country usually involves fishing. Horse riding is also possible.
Along the way, teachers should talk about nature, terrain, the importance of preserving all this for themselves and their descendants.
Separate garbage collection
In Russia, a catastrophic situation with separate collection of garbage. Forcing our population to engage in this useless, in the opinion of many, is practically impossible. Why not start with small citizens? Within the framework of the event “Ecology through the eyes of children”, an open lesson can be held for schoolchildren and their parents. The teacher will tell you in detail about the problem of landfills in the world, clearly show how to sort garbage, indicate garbage collection points on the map, play a game with separate students to collect garbage and give homework. Thus, not only the children's part of the population is covered, but also adults. After all, one cannot deny a child the opportunity to develop and comprehend the world.
Growing plants
In biology and botany classes, teachers talk about plants, the stages of their growth and development. Be sure to arrange practically classes for children. To add a playful moment, educators can themselves distribute seeds in white unlabelled sachets to students, explaining the basic rules of care. Girls and boys will need to record and photograph all stages of growth of their pet. And in the end, try to guess what their plant is called. The one who will cope with this the first time, automatically gets a five in a quarter.
Such a game will help children understand how difficult it is to grow at least one plant, and foster in them a careful attitude to nature.
