There are many ways children learn but did you know that children of preschool age learn best from the world around them? Contrary to popular belief, children’s learning should extend beyond preschool workbooks and worksheets. Many of the developmental skills for preschoolers are strengthened when children are given plenty of opportunities to explore, discover and interact with the world around them. Everyone exerts influence on shaping children’s knowledge and understanding of the world. This includes the people in children’s everyday life such as the people in their homes which involves their parents and siblings, the people outside of their homes such as their preschool teachers, friends and the people in their community. More than just people, the environment also contributes towards enhancing children’s learning experiences with the world. Other living things such as plants and animals make up a crucial aspect of many learning activities for preschoolers.
Why Environmental Education is Important for Preschoolers
Now that we understand how the environment and its surroundings can help build developmental skills for preschoolers, let’s dive into one of the best ways to do so which is through environmental education. What is environmental education for preschoolers? Teaching kindergarteners about the environment involves getting to know nature and the things living in it. More importantly, it invites kindergarteners or young children to explore and discover environmental issues such as deforestation and climate change. In this sense, with environmental skills, preschoolers gain ample opportunities to think critically and solve problems and therefore, promoting the development of their higher order thinking skills where 21st century learning including STEM for preschoolers comes into play. In this blog, we will explore different reasons why we should teach our children about the environment as a way to support their knowledge and understanding of the world.
Here are 5 reasons to teach your child about the environment:
- Builds Scientific Knowledge and Skills
Science teaches us about the universe. Basically, through science, we understand how our world works. When you give opportunities to your child to explore the environment, you are showing them how different scientific processes take place in nature such as the life cycle of animals and plants, gravity and the water cycle. Many children’s science experiments and topics revolve around the environment which makes nature a great tool for parents and teachers to plan educational outdoor activities for preschoolers.
- Instils Nature-loving Values
Bonding with the environment from a young age instils nature-loving values within your child. Nature-loving values extend beyond sustainability and eco-conscious traits but also incorporate moral values such as compassion, responsibility and kindness. These traits help shape and nurture your child’s character development positively. As parents, you can also explore environmental-themed storybooks for children. These children’s stories embed essential moral values that introduce crucial core values to kindergarteners that ease their process of growing up.
- Nurtures Eco-friendly Habits
Did you know that many sensory activities for preschoolers revolve around the environment? There are many exciting and fun ways for your child to explore the environment using the five senses such as digging through the sand, smelling the flowers, identifying the colour of leaves and listening to the sounds of nature. Environmental-themed sensory activities for preschoolers can also be done at home! Environmental learning activities for preschoolers at home such as recycling, conserving water and planting trees cultivate eco-friendly habits from a young age.
- Raises Environmentally-conscious Generation
In this day and age, environmental education among the younger generation is more important than ever. Providing your children with learning activities that teach them about the environment at home helps to educate them on the ways they could play more active roles in protecting our planet. This engenders a future generation that is more proactive and passionate towards environmental issues and concerns.
- Broadens Opportunities for Learning
Last but not least, getting your child to explore and learn from the environment broadens his or her opportunities for learning. Rather than relying only on preschool worksheets and workbooks, encourage your child to take his or her learning activities outdoors. By introducing young children to the many ways they can learn, they are more likely to engage in learning within whatever environment that they are in.
Make Earth Green Again with Q-dees
Sharpen your child’s environmental skills by joining the Q-dees Make Earth Great Again (MEGA)! This yearly campaign strives to instil nature-loving character traits and cultivate environmental awareness from an early age. This year, we aim to raise tree-huggers and nurture tree-loving values among preschoolers through a series of engaging, tree activities that your child can do at home. Teach your child how to plant trees, discover the life cycle of a plant, explore the impacts of deforestation on our planet and many more by completing the MEGA challenge checklist. Check out the @OfficialQdeesWorldwideEdusystems Facebook page for daily MEGA activities and be a part of the ‘Eco Plants Trees!’ live storytelling event happening this 26th March at 11:00 a.m.!
See you there, little green thumbs.