Raring2go! PLACES TO GO Raring2go! PLACES TO GO 4 raring2go.co.uk 5 Love the Earth 10 ways to love the Earth 1. Love Nature Having an appreciation of nature from an early age will help children see that our world is beautiful and worth their time and efforts. Local parks, woodlands and nature reserves are a great place to start. Ask youngsters to spot things from nature or print out a bug hunt, scavenger trail or animal detective sheet from our website www.raring2go.co.uk/kidszone Make art from what you find on your walk. Look out for children’s holiday workshops that encourage a love of nature such as pond dipping or forest schools. 2. Love Animals A great way to develop a love for animals is to see them with your own eyes. By visiting your local zoo, safari park or animal conservation centre you are helping to conserve endangered species here and abroad. Find out how their work supports animals from their websites. 3. Love Walking Getting out on foot is by far the best way to travel for the environment and is good for our health too. Get children to love walking by making it fun. Get a pedometer or download a free app to your phone so they can see how many steps they’ve taken. Try the Love Exploring free app www.loveexploring.co.uk which includes games and guided tours. 4. Love Recycling Get your children to help with sorting the recycling when they are old enough. It might seem a massive task to reduce the amount of plastics we use, but break it down so that children can see the small things they can do can make a difference. Take a reusable water bottle to school, don’t wrap sandwiches in cling film, if their school doesn’t recycle ask them to bring their lunch litter home so it can be recycled with household waste, use rechargeable batteries for their electronic toys and games instead of single-use batteries. 7. Love Cycling Bikes are a sustainable transport option so get youngsters on a bike as soon as possible. Bikeability courses teach your child how to ride a bike safely and are run at locations across the country. Read our tips on how to ride a bike at www. raring2go.co.uk 5. Love Food Visit local working farms to see how our food is grown, meet the animals, buy local produce from the farm shop or pickyour-own fruit, veg and pumpkins or pay a visit to your local refill shop. Visit the Love Food, Hate Waste website for lots of tips including recipes to use up left-overs, storage tips and a useful portion planner for 1-2, 4-10 and 11-18-year-olds. www.lovefoodhatewaste.com 6. Love Pre-Loved Encourage children to be proud to wear ‘hand-me-downs’ from brothers and sisters, cousins and friends as ‘pre-loved’ items cut down on waste and your carbon foot print. Re-useable nappies work out cheaper the more babies that wear them! There’s loads of resale apps but why not consider giving your good quality used clothes to a local charity shop, so you are helping a local cause as well as the environment. Uniforms can be problematic as they are not accepted by all charity shops. Why not set up a uniform swap at your school or you can sign your school up to Uniformerly www.uniformerly.co.uk 9. Love Gifts We all like a present to open but often they involve buying lots of plastic. If you are invited to a Naming or Christening ceremony consider buying a tree that could be planted in the child’s garden. They can then see how tall the tree has grown as they grow and if you buy a fruit tree, they can even eat fruit from it. The best time to plant a tree is in the colder months, get advice from your local garden centre. 10. Love Water Remember to turn off taps when brushing your teeth and that showers are more economical than baths. Litter can find its way into rivers, streams and canals and can make its way to the sea. To keep it from blowing into waterways join an organised litter pick or organise one yourself. www.keepbritaintidy.org 8. Love Local You don’t have to travel abroad to have fun, you can reduce your carbon footprint by getting together closer to home. We are so lucky in this area to have so many exciting places such as the ones in this magazine. Why not visit a different park, playground, or woodland each weekend? Climate change is the topic of the moment but how can we help our children develop a love for the Earth without scaring them? 29 LOVE THE PLANET Raring2go! raring2go.co.uk Raring2go! LOVE THE PLANET 28 10 ways to the Earth
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