Easy Green Tips for Kids
Teach kids to recycle. Learning colors and symbols is one of the foundational pillars of a child’s education. You can use these things to help kids differentiate between a garbage and a recycling bin! Recycle a few products from your home: glass jars, soda cans, cereal boxes, plastic bottles, and any other recyclable materials you have. And, while you’re teaching them what and how to recycle, you can incorporate learning lessons with shapes, colors, and symbols.
Teach kids to conserve water. Kids love anything that involves water, whether it’s washing their hands, brushing their teeth, or bath time. And each of these activities can also be a learning experience! We can teach our children to turn the water off while brushing their teeth, or to put soap on their hands, before turning the water on. These daily habits help the environment and introduce kids to new concepts like “conservation” and why it’s important.
Teach kids to conserve energy. In addition to teaching kids about conserving water, we can teach them about conserving energy. We tend to take green actions throughout the day, without explaining to our kids why we’re doing them. These actions can include turning off the lights when leaving a room, turning off the TV when not watching, or unplugging appliances for vacation. As you go about these tasks, explain to your kids why you’re doing them.
Did you know?
91% of the plastic we use is not recycled
About 80% of the items in our landfills could be recycled.
It takes 500+ years for a plastic bottle to decompose.
It takes 4,000 years for a glass bottle to decompose.
Aluminum is the #1 recycled item in the US.
On average, an American household uses about 400 gallons of water per day.
Letting the water run while brushing your teeth uses about 4 gallons of water. If you turn off the water, when not needed, you’ll use only about a quarter of a gallon.
Energy use in the US has been doubling every 20 years.