At Play Kids: Leave the fretting over fumes to grownups
By Joe Orso

Sitting down to calculate your household’s contribution to global warming is going to feel an awful lot like math class to the kids.

You can make it more motivating and fun for the whole family to learn environmental awareness through positive, practical, daily activities.

Here are some tips to teach your children to live more eco-friendly lives at every age:

• Go outside. Hike through the woods, row a boat or climb trees. All are time-tested ways for kids to develop an appreciation for their place within nature.



• Read. Introduce older kids to environmental classics like Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden.”



• Pick up litter. Choose a park or a neighborhood in your community that needs cleaning, get a group of friends and pick up the trash.



• Recycle. Learning to recycle, reuse and compost as a youngster fosters habits that will have long-term benefits for humanity and the planet.



• Learn names of bugs, critters, birds and trees. Use books to get to know the names of plant and animal life in your area, then go out and find what you read about.



• Observe Earth Day. Make Earth Day an annual celebration in the home.



• Walk, ride bicycles. Kids don’t need car rides everywhere. Get kids in the habit of walking and riding bikes to school, sporting events and friends’ houses.



• Go camping. Sleep under the stars, just like your ancestors did.



• Save water. “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.”



• Write poetry. Write Haikus or other poems about nature and the changing seasons.

Orso writes for the La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin. Contact: joe.orso@lee.net.

This article was compiled with input from Judson Steinback, a teacher at Three Rivers School, La Crosse, Wis.

Year by year

Here’s an age-appropriate tip for each phase of childhood:

Preschool: Show kids that when they have finished their fruit and vegetables, there are parts that can be composted. Involve your children in composting your food scraps, coffee grounds, etc. Get them used to seeing that food waste is not garbage but rather something that can be turned into soil to grow more food.

Grades 1-3: While teaching your children dental hygiene, remind them to turn off the water while brushing their teeth.

Grades 4-6: Enlist kids to help in the garden and give them their own plants to nurture. You can have them help with weeding, but you can also bring them in at the beginning of the process. Start with sunflowers, carrots and pole beans.

Grades 7-8: Involve your children in shopping and meal preparation. Teach them about genuine organic food.

High school: Encourage walking, riding bikes and using public transportation. Make emission-reducing car care part of learning to drive.

Source: iVillage Inc., NBC Universal