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MAKING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

FUN, CREATIVE AND MEMORABLE

ENVIRONMENTAL

EDUCATIONAL GAMES, and

ACTIVITIES for School and

Holiday/Camp Programmes, and

parents in the education for

sustainability (EfS) process.

PPT 1.

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ECOLOGICALLY INSPIRED GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

FOR 4 TO 8 YEAR OLDS:

Inspiring change through COMPETITION, CREATIVITY and FUN.

Through the use of -

(a) Creativity (b) Observation (c) Active Engagement

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Play Therapy for the Land

and Trees

All Creatures Underfoot

and in the Seas

And so saeth all the environmental play advocates.

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OUTLETS FOR EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

Eco-Calendars Quizzes

Mazes Mock Interviews

Sand play Kids Being Teacher

Posters and Infographics Treasure hunts

Quirky Research Projects

Sculpture/Art

Puzzles/Word Games Eco-debating

Green Drama Show and Tell Games in Nature

Throughout the education process

Aim to keep learning on an intuitive/heartfelt level

LESS concerned with attributing blame –

You should do X because ….

• By engaging in a creative activity, children have the environmental activity and content imprinted in their sub-conscious minds.

Green Spin (Or) Promoting the Green Message (2013) – Nicolle Kuna

PEER EDUCATION = KIDS BEING TEACHER

Benefits of Peer Education –

Older children can help younger children with their Projects and

Research (instilling peer-learned responsibility)

Pupils are navigating their own futures …

Keeps the learning on a more playful, intuitive and engaging level

Humour and fun makes learning more memorable

In this presentation we will focus on Waste & Recycling

This takes the form of pupils –

(1) Interviewing the class - eg how to reduce waste at beach or at the park

(or dress-ups - Mermaids running Workshops on location.)

(2) Conducting “TV/radio broadcasts” on direct action

Breaking News – Joey is on Litter Duty at the boathouse placing Smiley Face Stickers on all the rubbish bins …

(3) Dramas/plays written by and performed by students

KIDS BEING TEACHER

‘Mermaids’ run Workshops about ways we can keep plastic waste out of the ocean.

Students hold Recycled Fashion Parade using items from Op Shops (AKA Bargain

or Thrift Shops)

KIDS BEING TEACHER

(4) Show and Tell time – children share items found in nature and what inspires

them (Alternately, they bring in toys and speak about them in relation to their

environment).

(5) Infographics and Posters creatively demonstrating what happens to Recycled

Objects, when recycled or upcycled.

(6) Word games, quizzes, cross word or jigsaw puzzles building in recycling or

habitat info. and other conservation topics.

(7) Games out in school ground or in nature with eco themes.

Eco Jigsaw Puzzle containing recycled materials

Be A- Mazed

Create An Eco Maze – Draw in the items to be recycled (or cut & paste pics from magazines) at top of maze –

• At bottom, add in the Recycling bins

• Aim – to get aluminium cans etc thru maze to Recycling bin.

• Alternately use PET bottles and refillable steel bottle and draw in water fountain as desired destination.

Another A-maze-ing idea

• Help the Worm find its way through the MAZE, & unearth the buried glass bottles or plastic bottles.

• Then help the worm navigate its way to the Vegie Garden. Add in a Recycling bin for the worm to leave the bottles in.

• After you’ve completed this task, research the value worms have in the garden, and how gardens benefit our world, as a whole (oxygen, shade, biodiversity, co2 sink).

Let’s Get Recycled

• Projects specialising in REUSE of fabrics, packaging and other

household materials destined for the bin

• Reusing of cardboard/paper to MAKE Greeting Cards, Eco

Calendars, reuseable Shopping Bags, Bookmarks, Kites or Signs

with eco slogans or environmental themes.

• REPURPOSING household items to make fun sculptures or useful

items such as clear PET bottles cut out and used as planters and

strung up as ‘mobiles’ outside.

School project (Mermaid

from waste which washed up

on the shore - Diog, Wales) –

Source, Wikimedia Commons

Rubbish Tiggy

• Game with similar principle as “Tiggy” ….

• Person is nominated ‘IT’ and the 10-15 runners are given an area

to avoid being tagged. Game needs to be played near a notional

‘Bin’ though not one that can be tripped over or banged in to.

• Scatter rubbish around. Aim of the game is to pick up rubbish

without being tagged by ‘IT’ and extra points scored for getting

litter in ‘Bin’.

Blindfold recycling game

• Kids love anything done ‘in the dark’.

• Large sheet of cardboard is used and hoisted up on. Cut out holes in the cardboard in the shape of commonly recycled materials.

• The object of the game is to pick up items of recyclable rubbish -PET bottles, milk cartons, tin cans and whilst wearing a blind-fold fit the items through the appropriate holes in the board.

• Follows same principle as Pin the Tail on the Donkey, without pins.

Other Recycling themed

activities

• Dramatise the idea of recycling & incorporate in to a class play (Green Drama)

• Research throughout history how packaging and recycling has changed

• (Do teachers recall refillable milk bottles and going for rides on the milk truck?)

• Research: Geographic differences in how waste and recycling is handled.

For more environmental education inspiration, go to our Educators

page -

http://www.converseconserve.com

• Recycled materials were used

in the making of this

presentation and all printing

was done on paper made from

industrial waste.

Andrew Ioannidis – Bug painting

Acknowledgements :

• Baz Catlin for his Pencil Drawing on cover

• Wikimedia Commons and its artists – for sharing their wonderful images – including the Mermaid painting by Georg Shobel, and Recycled Mermaid – Diog, Wales

• Andrew Ioannidis – Bug Painting

• Nicolle Kuna – Content - Creator of www.converseconserve.com

Park Play House made from reclaimed

chimney and timber materials –

Castlemaine Botanic Gardens.