Mini-Toolkit "Growing up with respect for nature"
An educational path designed for children aged 7 to 9 that combines fun and learning in environmental education. Through three engaging activities - from becoming Nature Ambassadors to building shelters for useful animals, up to the game of creative recycling - the little explorers will learn to take care of our planet. Each experience is designed to be inclusive and stimulate collaboration, empathy and active citizenship, transforming each child into a true guardian of the environment.
EGIS - THE EDUCATIONAL GARDEN INCLUSIVE OF THE SCHOOL
Project code: 2023-1-IT02-KA220-SCH-000156065
The little ambassadors of nature
Every child can become a true ambassador of nature! This special activity helps our little friends to reflect on their daily behaviors and discover how they can protect the environment with simple but precious gestures. The goal is to make it clear that even the smallest actions can make a difference for our planet.
1
The Special Medal
Each child receives a beautiful customizable ambassador medal, to be decorated with unique colors and designs.
2
Observation in the Garden
Together we discover good practices: do not step on the flower beds, use water without waste, keep the green space clean.
3
Gesture Recognition
With symbols and drawings, each child can signal the kind actions towards nature that they see in their peers.
4
Home Quests
Wearing the medal at home, you write down all good deeds for the environment in your teddy bear-environment diary.
To make the activity truly inclusive, children who have difficulty with writing can use colorful symbols or photographs for their environmental diary. Every small gesture thus becomes a great victory for nature!
The power of small daily actions
Turn off the light when you leave a room, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, pick up a piece of paper from the floor – these gestures seem small, but together they can save our planet! When children wear their ambassador medal at home, they become true superheroes of the environment.
The Bear-Environment Diary
The teddy bear diary is the faithful companion of every little ambassador. In this special notebook, decorated with a cute teddy bear, children can write down or draw every kind action towards nature. Each page becomes a small story of love for the environment.
The best thing about this activity is that it involves the whole family. When parents see their children so environmentally conscious, they are often inspired to do more for nature as well. This is how a virtuous circle of respect and care for our planet is born, one family at a time!
We build the shelter of useful animals
In the world of the vegetable garden live many small animals that are our best friends! The bees that pollinate the flowers, the ladybugs that eat parasites, the hedgehogs that help us keep the garden clean. With this special activity, children will learn how to build real houses for these precious allies of nature.
Hotel for Bees
Using bamboo straws and perforated pieces of wood, we create cozy shelters where solitary bees can lay their eggs and rest after the hard work of pollination.
House of Ladybugs
With twigs, dry leaves and bark, we build small hiding places where ladybugs can overwinter and protect themselves, ready to defend our plants from pests.
Hedgehog Refuge
Using natural materials such as branches and leaves, we create safe spaces for hedgehogs to hide and rest, continuing their important work of cleaning the garden.
During the construction, each child has a special role: who glues the pieces, who decorates with natural colors, who tells stories about the animals that will inhabit the shelter. This division of tasks allows everyone to actively participate, even children with different abilities, making the experience truly inclusive and fun for everyone.
The magic of bee-hotels and biodiversity
Bee hotels are much more than just buildings: they are real shelters for the most precious insects in our ecosystem! When children discover the importance of these small shelters, they begin to understand how every creature, even the smallest, has a fundamental role in nature.
What's Going on in the Bee-Hotel
Watching a bee-hotel in action is like watching a small miracle of nature. Children are fascinated to see how these tiny natural architects use the shelters they have built for them.
Biodiversity in the Garden
Every shelter built increases the biodiversity of our green space. More different species of insects mean healthier plants, more beautiful flowers, and tastier fruits. It is nature that teaches us the value of collaboration!
The activity also continues at home, where each family can build their own mini-hotel for insects to be placed on the balcony or in the garden. The children thus become little scientists, documenting the visits of their new winged friends with drawings and photographs, creating a wonderful bridge between school and home in environmental education.
The game of creative recycling
Transforming what seems like waste into something useful and beautiful: this is the true magic of creative recycling! Children discover that every object has a second life and that their creativity can save the planet, one material at a time. The goal is to promote respect for the environment through separate waste collection and show the hidden value of the materials that we often throw away.
Responsible Harvesting
In the garden, we collect small waste such as cardboard, plastic bottles and caps together, turning cleaning into a fun team game.
Creativity in action
In teams, each group transforms the collected "waste" into useful objects for the garden: colored labels for plants, small tools or cheerful decorations.
New Life
Each material is reborn with a new and important function, proving that nothing is really waste if we use our imagination.
During the activity, an important discussion opens up on why we should not abandon waste in nature and on the precious value of reuse. Children discover that every plastic bottle left in the environment can stay there for hundreds of years, while in their hands it can become a watering can or a pot for seedlings. It is a lesson in environmental responsibility that will remain in their hearts forever.
Family projects and shared creativity
The adventure of creative recycling does not end at school! Every child becomes a little designer of the environment even at home, involving the whole family in exciting projects. It's amazing to see how a simple roll of toilet paper can be transformed into a telescope for birdwatching, or how a shoebox can become a diorama of nature.
Creative Ideas for the Whole Family
Every family project becomes an opportunity to talk about the environment, to imagine creative solutions and to spend quality time together. Parents are often amazed by their children's imagination and also learn to see the possibilities hidden in everyday objects.
The most exciting moment comes when children bring their family creations to school to show them to their classmates. Each object tells a story of collaboration, creativity and love for the environment. This creates a beautiful gallery of projects where each family has contributed with their imagination and their commitment to a cleaner and more sustainable world.
Inclusion and supports for all children
Each child is special and unique, with their own talents and learning methods. Our mini-toolkit is designed to accommodate everyone, using colorful visual aids, inspiring tactile materials, and personalized roles that allow each little participant to shine with their own light. Inclusion is not just a goal, but the beating heart of all our environmental activities.
Visual Aids
Colorful symbols, clear images, and pictograms help all children understand the activities, making learning accessible even to those who struggle with written words.
Tactile Materials
Different textures, natural materials to touch and manipulate stimulate all the senses, allowing even children with visual difficulties to fully explore the environment.
Tailor-made Roles
Each child finds his or her perfect role: those who excel in drawing, those who love to tell, those who prefer to build. Everyone contributes to the success of the group with their strengths.
The beauty of the inclusive approach is manifested when a child with motor difficulties becomes the official narrator of the group, telling wonderful stories about the animals of the garden, while a blind companion discovers through touch the roughness of the bark or the softness of the petals. Each diversity becomes a precious resource that enriches the learning experience of the whole group.
Teachers often refer to magical moments in which children help each other spontaneously: those who can read help those who have difficulty with words, those who are good with their hands guide those who have coordination problems. Thus was born a community of young citizens who learned the value of solidarity and mutual respect, values that naturally also extend to the care of the environment.
Building responsible citizens of the future
The mini-toolkit "Growing Up in Respect for Nature" represents much more than simple educational activities: it is a bridge to the future, where every child becomes an active protagonist in building a more sustainable and inclusive world. Through play, dialogue and joint creation, we develop not only environmental awareness, but also the social and emotional skills that are fundamental for active citizenship.
Cooperation
Children learn to work together, sharing ideas and supporting each other in environmental activities, discovering that together we can do more to protect nature.
Empathy
Taking care of plants, animals and the environment naturally develops the ability to put oneself in the shoes of others and to feel responsible for the common well-being.
Peer Learning
Each child teaches and learns from others, creating a network of shared knowledge that makes environmental education a rich and stimulating experience for everyone.
Our Mission
When we see a seven-year-old boy proudly explaining to his little brother how not to waste water, or a nine-year-old girl convincing her parents to build an insect hotel together, we know that the seed of change has been planted. These little ambassadors of nature will grow up to be aware adults, capable of caring for the planet and building inclusive communities where every person has value. The future is in their hands, and we are here to help them make it greener, fairer and more beautiful for everyone.