Reusing Plastic - Mad Hatter's

As the children become more and more interested in learning to draw with me, during the last month the kids at Mad Hatter’s covered various conservation subjects, but the workshop on plastic pollution was one of the most memorable. Whilst he was drawing, I asked a little boy what happens when plastic goes into the sea and he said, ‘The animals will eat it, then they’ll sink and then they’ll die.’ Straight to the point, I thought, and about right too.

We then went onto discuss the ideas of recycling, reusing and reducing and he showed me a picture he’d been gluing together made from old bits of plastic. He then ran over to the recycling bin and pointed to it telling me that this is where plastic should go. Well done James. We will talk more about which types of plastic should go in the big recycling bins at the larger supermarkets, as well as things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as the children get a bit older.

The general consensus is that usually little girls are more likely to sit down and colour in, but what I’m finding - and what the nursery staff are also observing this year - is that currently little boys are also super keen to sketch at the easel with me too, not just the girls. This is really wonderful to see as it’s very beneficial to their development, not just in understanding how we can care for, and respect the environment, but learning about life in general through their own creativity.