In a world where kids are lost in their videogames and cartoons, teaching values such as sustainability or zero-waste has become difficult. Know that children always observe and imitate. You must start adopting a sustainable lifestyle and make it look fun and interesting before you ask them to join in. If you are a parent and are looking for some easy ways, here are a few tips and tricks that might help you.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!

Your child might have come across the famous 3Rs of sustainability in their school, talk to them, and ask questions to each other.

Teach your child to turn off the lights and fans while leaving the room to conserve electricity. Encourage them to ride their bicycles, take a shorter shower, and to turn off the tap while brushing teeth. Simple acts like these can teach them the importance of energy and water conservation.

You could teach your kids crafts and fun DIY hacks to reuse old newspapers and clothes. Use old newspapers instead of fancy color papers for arts and crafts. These are your child’s initial steps towards a sustainable lifestyle.

Encourage them to reduce food wastage and indulge them in composting. Kids would like to play with mud and get messy and dirty. This could be a fun activity for the family.

Go Eco-friendly with School Gears.

Talk to your child about how harmful plastic is. If your child is yet to start school, encourage them to choose metal lunch boxes and water bottles. Using metal products is both durable and reduces your plastic usage. Talk to them about the benefits of using eco-friendly products like these.

Switch to Eco-friendly Stationery like metal pencil cases or cloth pouches, pencils, and pens made of recycled products, fountain pens, and wood/metal rulers. Your kids would love the new-age pencils and pens made of various recycled products like newspapers, wheat dust, etc. Get them hands-on with plantable pencils and notebooks. They would love their used pencils and notebooks growing into beautiful plants.

Participate in Cleanliness Drives

Both of you could enroll with a few NGOs and participate in various plantations and cleanliness drives. This would be a great experience for your kids to understand the situation of the planet. It is a perfect way to take them outdoors and help the planet. Sign up with local NGOs and look out for drives and initiatives like this. They would love to participate and make new friends during these initiatives.

Go Green!

An excellent way to interest your kids in plants would be to indulge them in gardening. Reuse products like plastic jars, tin cans, and old clothes. Gardening involves getting your hands dirty with mud which means even your 3-year-olds would be able to help. This is an amazing and fun way to teach your kids eco-friendly habits.

Playing Outdoors

Take a walk with your child and encourage them to play outdoors. This is a good start for them to learn the benefits of being outdoors and playing. Encourage them to ride their bicycle instead of always relying on you to drive them. You could ride a bicycle together when you go shopping in a supermarket. This is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Take Baby Steps!

Kids learn fast if learning is FUN!