Category: Reducing Waste by Giving and Sharing

• Key idea: There are better ways to deal with things that you no longer need – e.g. Involve the children in recycling, upcycling,  reuse, repair, giving, and sharing activities (UC4.2).

Emergent learning:

The economic benefits of sharing are obvious, and if we are no longer using something it costs us nothing to give it to someone who will use it.  There are also many social and emotional learning benefits that can be gained through children sharing, they learn to build and maintain friendships, they develop patience and empathy, how to cooperate, and how to manage their emotions. 

Preschools often organise toy and book sharing libraries and the best of these projects involve the children at every stage of their planning and execution.  Extensions of this involve the sharing of outgrown school uniforms, children’s clothing, and car sharing in the transportation to and from the preschool.  All of these things can operate at any level, between individual families or whole communities.

Activity recommendation:

When we are working with children in fund raising for good causes, as adults it is important for us to recognize that there can sometimes be a downside to giving simple charity: At its worse it can encourage false notions of superiority in the donors, and of dependence for recipients.  One of the best ways to avoid that is to encourage exchange, to provide practical rather than financial support, or to provide groups or individuals with reduced interest or interest free loans that support their own efforts. This way we can empower individuals and groups to become more self reliant and sustainable. Examples include the development of mutual aid projects, community gardens, and micro-finance initiatives.
The OMEP-UK Early Childhood Education for Sustainable Citizenship Award: A Call for Partnerships – John Siraj-Blatchford – OMEP
Global Partnership Strategy for early c…od, 2021-2030 – UNESCO Digital Library

Other Book Recommendations: 

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