Earth Day: Nurturing Eco-Emotions Through Outdoor Play

By Lorraine Diggins and Megan McCarthy 
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Every year, Earth Day invites us to pause and reflect on our relationship with the world around us. In early childhood, this pause is not about grand gestures or complex concepts. It is about small, meaningful moments. Moments of noticing, connection and being.

At Early Childhood Ireland, our work through Eco-Emotions and Eco-Learn reminds us that caring for the Earth begins with caring for ourselves and for the emotional worlds of babies, toddlers and young children.

 Outdoor Play as a Hopeful Experience

Time spent outdoors, engaged in unhurried exploration and play, offers a deeply hopeful experience for young children. It is here, on the grass, under the sky or beside a tree, that children begin to make sense of themselves and their place in the world. Eco-Emotions highlights that being outdoors is not just beneficial. It is essential for emotional wellbeing. When children connect with nature, they experience a sense of calm, develop feelings of belonging and are supported to regulate emotions in a natural, embodied way. These experiences are not separate from sustainability. They are its foundation.

As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu reminds us,

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Small Moments, Big Meaning

For babies, toddlers and young children, connection with nature does not require elaborate planning. It begins with simple, sensory encounters such as feeling grass under their feet, listening to birds or watching leaves move in the wind. These everyday moments build emotional security, curiosity and a sense of wonder. As highlighted in your Earth Day resource, slowing down is key. When educators follow children’s lead, whether they are digging in one spot, sitting quietly or observing stones, they are supporting agency and emotional security. Taking slow walks, allowing time to stop and notice, and sitting together in stillness all contribute to children feeling calm, grounded and safe. Even wondering aloud, without needing answers, creates shared moments of connection and discovery, and these experiences can be further supported through the use of self-regulation cards available in the Early Childhood Ireland shop here, offering gentle, practical prompts to help children recognise and manage their emotions.

Sustainability as Kindness

We often speak about sustainability in terms of responsibility. In early childhood, it begins with relationship. Sustainability can be understood as an act of kindness. Kindness to the Earth, to living things and to ourselves. When children experience the Earth as something they are connected to, rather than separate from, care emerges naturally. This thinking aligns with Aistear, which places relationships, wellbeing and belonging at the centre of children’s learning. Through Education for Sustainable Development, children develop dispositions of care, empathy and respect through lived, meaningful experiences rather than instruction alone.

Protecting the Earth Means Protecting Ourselves

There is a simple but powerful truth at the heart of this work. When we care for the Earth, we are also caring for our emotional and physical wellbeing. Outdoor play supports children to regulate emotions, reduce stress, process sensory experiences and build social connections. In this way, Eco-Emotions reframes sustainability as something deeply personal and relational. Being kind to the Earth is being kind to ourselves.

 Looking Ahead to this year

This Earth Day blog reflects our ongoing work exploring how babies, toddlers and young children learn with and through nature. In the coming months, we will continue to build on this through Eco-Learn, a new eLearning programme on the Nurturing Skills Learning Hub, and through the continued development of Eco-Emotions resources and supports. Together, these initiatives position outdoor play not as an optional extra, but as central to quality early childhood practice.

A Final Thought

Earth Day does not ask us to do more.
It asks us to slow down.

To notice.
To be present.
To reconnect.

Because in early childhood, it is through these small, shared moments that children begin to understand what it means to care for themselves, for others and for the Earth.

And that is where real sustainability begins.