Teaching Young Children about Green Living : Nature Walk & Craft

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NaturalGoodness #CollectiveBias Since our first child was born 5 years ago, we’ve tried to keep our home and the products we use as natural as possible. From cleaners, to baby care and personal hygiene, we trust brands like Tom’s of Maine to keep the chemicals and artificial stuff out of the things we use. As parents, we also want to make sure our children understand the “why.” My five year old is able to understand, but, my almost 3 year old twins are just learning.

We are committed to helping them understand a green lifestyle at a young age – so that it can lead to a lifetime of healthy living. As a former teacher, I try to fill their time at home with teachable moments. Being Earth Month, we focused a lot on the environment, nature and appreciating our planet. Getting out to explore was the best way to do this – followed by a Nature Letter Craft. The park and playground are great, but kids focus on the slides and swings (naturally!) and can miss the bigger picture of being outdoors. I like to take my girls to a large park near our home, Natirar, here in the Somerset Hills of New Jersey. It’s a beautiful park that used to be a large estate. The mansion still exists as a private club, with the grounds being a public park. (Fun facts: Natirar is actually Raritan spelled backwards – for the nearby Raritan River. The 500 acre NJ estate is the former property of the late King of Morocco, Hassan II and is now operated by the parks commission.) Stunning. Gorgeous. You can tell why we love coming here. As for the kids, I can see it on their faces that they are in awe by the vast, open space. This is where I know they learn to appreciate the environment. We talk about what we see, walk along the stream that runs through the park, see plants and watch people riding horses. On our most recent trip, we did a nature walk – where they each filled a bag with what they found. It could be grass, small plants, rocks, pebbles, twigs and more. They had so much fun and were so proud of their ‘bag filled with nature.’ At home, we traced our initials and made ‘Nature Letters.’ From the walk, to tracing, to gluing and discussing, this activity hit so many levels of learning and used both fine & gross motor skills.

Best of all, the twins loved it. They were so proud of their prints.

From this lesson, you can move on to discussing care of the environment to taking care of our bodies. I teach my kids that we must take care of our bodies through healthy eating, exericse and using natural products like Tom’s of Maine. Mommy and Daddy teach by example when we use products like the Antiplaque & Whitening Peppermint Fluoride Free Toothpaste, Whole Care® Peppermint and Spearmint Fluoride Toothpaste, and Unisex Long Lasting Apricot Deodorant. Tom’s of Maine natural personal care and oral care products are made with no artificial colors, flavors, fragrances, or preservatives. Next up for my girls is learning more about recycling! Learning the importance of and how to sort and recycle.

We find all of our favorite Tom’s of Maine products at Walmart. You can find these natural products just where you would expect to find them – toothpaste aisle, with other deodorants, etc.