CHECK OUT ALL THE FANTASTIC WAYS OUR 2019 KINDY KIDS ARE ACTIVELY CARING FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT AND ENGAGING WITH SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES EACH AND EVERY DAY….
At Kindy we love to:
o Feed the composting worms our fruit and vege scraps (you can also bring teabags, egg shells and hair from your hair brush from home if you like because these are their favourite things to eat). We then use the worm wee from our worm farm as fertilizer for our children’s garden – our plants love it.
o Place paper and cardboard in our recycling bin inside.
o Place excess fruit and vege scraps, leaf litter, shredded paper in our big blue compost bin. We regularly collect the compost and sprinkle it on the children’s garden as food for our plants.
o Look after our flower and vege gardens
o Care for our Kindy pets
o We only turn on the air conditioners on when we are working inside (if required).
o We turn our lights off inside when we are playing outside
o We have a bin to collect food scraps for Mrs. Louise’s pet chickens.
o We have a bin to place yogurt containers in which Mrs. Leisha and Mrs. Nicole washes up for our creation station or to place paint and glue in.
o We have a bin specifically for food packaging items that can be recycled…children are taught about the recycling symbol to look for on packaging and then place it in our special recycle bin that the children have made.
o All the above-mentioned strategies ensure that are significantly reducing the amount of non-biodegradable or non-recyclable products and therefore reducing our environment footprint.
A few simple things you can do at home to extend this learning…
- Talk with children about which items/packaging can be recycled. Show them where to locate the recycle symbol. Provide an in house recycle bin where children can place recyclable items.
- Collect tea bags and egg shells and hair from your hair brush for our Kindy worm farm. They love them!!!
- Pack lunch boxes that are either waste free and/or contain limited waste packaging. Check out http://www.terracycle.com.au
TerraCycle is a highly-awarded, international upcycling and recycling company that collects difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurposes the material into affordable, innovative products. TerraCycle is widely considered the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable, post-consumer waste. - Check out http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/recycling.html
This website has a great range of recycling activities for a range of ages.
Tips for Waste-Free Lunches
Waste-free lunches contain only items that are eaten, composted or recycled. They don’t contain wrappers or packaging that will be thrown in the rubbish bin.
Reusable containers – Using reusable containers is the cornerstone of a waste-free lunch! Suitably-sized containers will keep sandwiches intact and make little treats easy to pack. Although reusable containers may have a higher upfront cost than a roll of plastic wrap, they are durable, they will save you money in the longer term and they will help to reduce waste.
Buying in bulk – Buying items such as juice, yoghurt, crackers, biscuits and cheese in bulk quantities or containers, rather than in individual servings, will probably save you money as well as reduce waste. It also allows your child to drink or eat only as much as they want at one time, and then they can reseal the container.
Recyclable packaging – We understand that some children’s lunches may need to contain packaged food items for dietary, religious or other reasons. Check which types of packaging can be recycled at home, by visiting RecyclingNearYou.com.au and searching under your council area.
Check out this Earth Hour Website with some great ideas for children to increase their understanding of why it is so important to care for our environment. www. 
earthhour.org.au/kids/
