Earth Day April 22nd

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd every year by more than 175 countries, since 2009 when the United Nations designated this day as International Mother Earth Day, which is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment.

Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, which promotes activities such as greening schools, promoting green economic policies and  informing and motivating people to secure a healthy future for themselves and their children, by protecting and caring for their environment.

Greening your preschool

What does ‘going green’ mean for children and for childcare services? In simple terms it means becoming aware -aware of our actions, the effects they have on us and our environment, and becoming aware of our responsibility to those who will live in the environment we are creating, in the future. 

Environmental education based on life experiences should begin during the very earliest years of life. Such experiences play a critical role in shaping life-long attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior toward natural environments
(Tilbury, 1994; Wilson, 1994)

Small steps go a long way towards creating a healthier environment:
Do the children and staff in your service recycle?
Do you incorporate Environmental Education into your curriculum?
Does your service grow and/or serve fresh vegetables?
Do you conserve water ?
Have a composting system?
How are the children, parents and wider community involved in the nurturing and preservation of your local environment?

One way of supporting environmental initiatives in your service is to participate in the :

Green Schools Programme

This programme is primarily aimed at primary and secondary schools, but it can be successfully adapted for early childcare and education services, and the  Green-Schools Office of An Tasice is in the process of reviewing the initiative for this purpose.

There are seven steps involved in the Green Schools programme, which aims to make environmental awareness and action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of a school or service.

1. Green-Schools Committee                          
2. Environmental Review         
3. Action Plan                                               
4. Monitoring and Evaluation                           
5. Curriculum Work                                        
6. Informing and Involving                                 
7. Green Code

Examples of Early Childhood Ireland’s members involvement in the Green Schools Programme

Úlla Beag in Ogonnelloe, Killaloe,Co Clare is an Early Childhood Ireland member who has recently been through the Green Schools Programme, and they received their Green Flag in 2012.

‘The work we did under the Green Flag program was over one year  focusing on Recycling – such as using glass bottles and jars to paint in the classroom and make lovely vases from
them to take home,’  said Denise Sheridan from  Úlla Beag.

 “Being part of the Green Flag program has many benefits:

• It encourages outdoor activity for children, reinforcing all the benefits this brings;
• It actively supports the learning objectives of  the  Siolta and Aistear frameworks;
• Each  childs individual interest’s and needs can be supported and extended  through gardening and in working with nature;
• Children learn about seasons, colours, shapes, counting, and healthy lifestyle choices through managing recycling, food waste and growing their own food.
• The green flag program is also an active program within national schools so by adopting a green flag program at preschool levels it further facilitates an easier transition to national schools for preschool children.’

Another Early Childhood Ireland member, Knollcrest Nursery in Moycullen, participated in and successfully completed the Green Schools Programme and was awarded the Green Flag in 2010. Find out more about Knollcrest’s journey in attaining their Green Flag!

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

It is never too early for children to learn to care for the Earth and about environmentally friendly activities such as recycling. Recycling is the process where recyclable materials like paper, plastic, glass, metal, are reconstituted into new products or materials. We have some fabulous examples from some of our member’s services on how to incorporate recycling into your service and curriculum.

There are also various recycling schemes around Ireland which you can contribute to, such as the Early Childhood Ireland and ERP battery recycling initiative.The aim of this scheme is for children and parents to bring their old used batteries into early childhood care and education services for recycling, because if batteries are sent to landfills they leak harmful heavy metals into the environment.

For more information and ideas to help you introduce recycling into your service see our Top Tips for involving children, staff and parents.

Why not go exploring patterns in the outdoors for earth day and use recycled materials to recreate what you saw!