You see, when kids love something, they help to protect it. Understanding how to look after our planet and care for our environment as well as the animals that live within it, helps form fabulous eco-awareness at an early age.

Getting our children engaged in the natural world is all part of our commitment to nurturing a future generation of responsible citizens. Not only does it help kids understand about trickier concepts like climate change and pollution, but it teaches them how to respect and appreciate our environment. Whether at our POD or at our Holiday Clubs we foster a love of nature through discovery, investigation, exploration, and play. Want to see how we’ve been going green? Here's some of the fab ways we include eco-friendly fun into learning at the POD and at our Holiday Clubs.

 

Our POD is a Place for Hands-on Learning About Nature

With indoor and outdoor classrooms, our POD is a place for hands-on active learning about nature.  There’s nothing we love more than bringing the outside in or setting off on our own exciting outdoor adventures! We kicked off this spring term in serious style with our POD-ers being magically transformed into intrepid nature explorers!

As part of our adventures, we’ve been learning about nocturnal animals and their super senses. Who wouldn’t love to have the night vision of a fox, the super-sonic hearing of a bat or the hyper sense of smell of a hedgehog? Looking at animals’ habitats, we’ve made our very own clay hedgehogs and discovered what they need to keep themselves safe and warm. Learning about animals, their homes and lifecycles is a great way to nurture curiosity in our wildlife and help protect them.

With our very own veg patch and budding-green-fingered helpers, we’ve planted seeds and learnt all about what helps them grow. From seeds that encourage bees to pollinate, to growing our own fruit and vegetables, letting children see how plants fuel our eco-system is a wonderful way to get them thinking about looking after nature. We know that seeds can’t grow without water, so, we took a deep dive into the weather and how it works by making our very own rainclouds in a jar. This super fun STEM activity is high on wow factor and sneakily good at getting across more complicated weather concepts. It’s a lovely visual way of learning that provokes some fab conversations about the environment and our reliance on it.

 

Injecting Eco-Education into the Holidays!

All our Holiday Clubs have forest school fun at their core. There’s nothing we love more than being outside! In fact, whatever the weather, you’ll find us immersed in our many outside activities. We know that being outside boosts health and wellbeing but that it also grows a passion for the environment. Whether we’re crafting with natural resources, den building, organising scavenger hunts or building bug hotels, we’re committed to providing an eco-education that’s brimming with natural fun.

Our “February Folk” Holiday Club explored the myths and legends of folktales – about hunting fairies and catching dragons. It allowed us to explore a magical world of flora and fauna and gave us an insight into how stories can help us understand and explain the natural world. This gave us inspiration for discovering our own magical underground world of beetles and worms under our feet. Whether we’re discovering or protecting habitats, planting trees (or climbing them), we’re always busy learning to look after the wonderful world we’re living in.

This Easter we will be turning our attention to the skies, building nests and eco-friendly bird feeders. From learning how to identify our feathered friends to discovering more about the world above our heads, it promises to be a Holiday Club to remember!

 

Cultivating eco-curiosity, boosting interest in the outdoors and nurturing nature are just some of the many ways we help our children explore and learn about the world around them. Whether kids are part of our POD or joining us for our Holiday Club activities, we’ve always got lots of nature inspired, eco-friendly fun to knock everyone’s welly-boots off! Afterall, we made a pinky promise to the little people in our care, that together, we will protect our environment as well as making a positive difference to the planet. And we always keep our promises.

Want to see what other eco-adventures we get up to? Why not follow us on social media where you can see more of our exciting eco-friendly fun and activities >> Practically Family Instagram | Practically Family Facebook | POD Instagram | POD Facebook.