5 Fun Green Activities for Kids whilst Social Distancing
Here’s a special opportunity to keep your children occupied at home and learn valuable lessons in conserving the environment.
The outbreak-turned- pandemic, Covid-19 is causing countless corporations, educational institutions and businesses to experience temporary shutdown to inhibit the spread of this infectious disease.
Those affected by shutdowns may find it difficult to occupy their time, particularly children, who are actively seeking for something interesting and entertaining since schools would be closed and they would be away from their friends.
Yet, there are many green activities you as a parent, guardian or sibling can do with the kids. Here are 5 of our favourite green activities that will excite your kids while maintaining social distancing!
1. Make Your Own Terrarium
Terrariums are not only eye-catching, they can also be a great oxygen booster.
Crafting own terrariums allows kids to learn caring for living plants-plus, kids can reuse their miniature toys and decorations to give it a personal touch!
A terrarium is in fact a self-supporting ecosystem, in which you can bring it to life by using mini-sized plants like cacti and succulents. You’ll need a transparent glass container (to allow sunlight exposure), soil, some plants and some easy-to-find supplies from your local stores before the kids could get their hands on this mini Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project.
Your kids would love watching their terrarium thrive through the season.
Check out this guide to build terrariums.
2. Collect Rain Water & Cooking Wash Overs
One of the exciting ways you can explore is utilising rainwater and cooking wash overs.
Place a container outside and teach your kids to store rainwater. A quick tip is to use a large container to maximize storage capabilities. The captured water can be used to wash your car with your kids and teach them to not waste water with a running tap.
Other than that, water used to wash veggies for cooking can also be saved. Collect the water in a large basin and get your kids to help you wash your veggies. The stored water can be used for gardening or to flush clogged drains.
P/s: You can save money with your water bill too.
3) Set up Home Recycling Bins
Now is the time to move away from a one-for-all trash can system to a progressive three trash-can system (glass, plastic and paper) to help separate waste for recycling. Inculcate this habit from young; label the three cans accordingly in the presence of the little ones. During the process, educate the kids on ways to segregate between recyclable and non-recyclable trash. When the trash piles up, send it to a recycling centre or check your local waste collection service for recycle waste pick up days.
Should your children get some cash in return for their collection, it will encourage them to actively collect recyclable materials.
Cultivating recycling habits induces a sense of responsibility among kids and easily reduce the amount of waste produced.
Here’s a perfect guide to finding your way to recycle.
4. Make a Compost Bin
DIY fertilizers are an engaging hands-on project to get kids interested in re-purposing perishable waste. Most compostable items are organic materials that decompose readily and therefore easy to source for this project.
It is an alternative to dumping kitchen scraps into garbage bins when it can be transform scraps into an effective fertiliser. Just toss in the ingredients into a covered pot or bottle, add dead leaves and plants into the mixture, and add a little water to it every few weeks. Just like that you can enjoy your DIY fertiliser.
Although this may seem like a small project, it can significantly reduce a huge amount of waste produced if done consistently and collectively.
Click here for more composting ideas.
5) Grow A Veggie Patch
Teaching kids to garden and grow their food is a great way to teach them on the hardship behind the production of food sources. It can be a valuable experience for the little ones.
It can also act as a medium to teach the kids on the importance of self-values such as patience, hard-work and develop an appreciation towards the mother earth.
There are myriads of vegetables, fruits or herbs that you can consider for your garden but make sure you do your research on what plant is best and thrives in your environment and climate. You don't have to go our and seek seeds! Just collect some from vegetables that are prepped for cooking.
Here’s a guide for this fun-filled activity.
Any day is a good day to teach kids about the environment. The current season of social-distancing and schools shut due to government restrictions becomes extra special to teach kids and keep them busy at home. What are some of your ideas for your children this season?
On behalf of The Last Straw News, we hope everyone stays safe and practice appropriate hygiene as per guideline provided by the authorities. In addition, avoid going to crowded places and stay at home as much as possible.
This article was contributed by Then Moliy Virappan.
