Orangutans & Plastic Cheese

It was Orangutan Caring Week from 11-18th November so when I went in to do a workshop with the children mid-week that week, we learnt about orangutans; where they’re from and why we need to look after them. We also learnt about the crucial and very important subject of plastic pollution again – repetition is key with people so young. When I asked the children what they thought plastic was, they said bottles and stuff that fruit is wrapped in - very good - but it wasn’t until one child shouted ‘cheese’ that the teachers and I giggled. I could envisage a French man nodding his head at this comment, although it would of course be untrue. British cheese has come on a long way over the years.

Some of the toddlers had covered plastic pollution in our workshop last week so they were pretty quick to tell me, when asked, that plastic must go in the recycling bin. The picture of the recycling truck covered in pieces of soft plastic - created by the children with the teachers help earlier in the term - fixed on the classroom wall in the newly created ‘Conservation Area', was a real help when explaining the difference between a normal refuse bin, and a recycling bin.

By the end of the session these lovely little people were not only telling ME about plastic pollution, they were also saying that orangutans live in ‘Indonesia’ - amazing - and that they’re ‘endangered’ because humans are cutting down their trees. It was a great workshop and you can see for yourself that the artwork they produced tells many colourful tales.