Background information

Content information for this activity: Our environment is full of fascinating and beautiful animals. All these animals have evolved to suit the places they live in. The health of the places they live in is dependent on the health of the animals themselves: if the environment is sick then the animals will become sick, and if the animals are sick then the places these animals live in will suffer too. Humans are a part of this system - if our environment suffers then so do we.

However, humans increasingly have the ability to negatively affect the health of our environment through things like the resources we use and the waste we create. Yet we are also capable of helping our environment. You don't need to travel to a rainforest or coral reef to help our environment: there are many actions you can take in your daily life to improve the health of all parts of our environment, both now and in the future.

Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is one of the easiest and most effective things we can do. This means reducing the amount of electricity we use and/or switching to renewable energy (e.g. solar or wind power). If we all managed to reduce our use of fossil fuels, we would be helping to improve the health of our environment around the world, including in our own back yards.

About Earth Hour: Earth Hour is a WWF-Australia initiative, and is the world’s largest community-driven climate change campaign. At the centre of Earth Hour is switching off lights to show a commitment to taking action. Thousands of educators use Earth Hour’s education program to enrich their curriculum and provide pathways for young people to create change in their world.

Download the Earth Hour starter kit for your service: Earth Hour for Schools

Definitions:

Environment - Our environment is all the plants and animals (including people) on Earth, and all the things that are needed to keep the plants and animals alive, such as the air, water, soil and sunshine.
Nature - Everything that exists in the world that has not been introduced by people, including plants, animals, landscapes and weather.
Biodiversity - Refers to all living things that form the web of life. It is the variety of plants, animals, insects and micro-organisms on earth. It is all their genes too, and the web of ecosystems that they make up.

New words for children to learn:

Environment
River
Sand dunes
Forest

Activities for children aged 0 to 2

Preparation:

Print off the Our Place Flashcards. Cut them in half and keep the questions separate.
Print off the Animal flashcards and cut them out.
Collect other things you have in your service that relate to the images in the flashcards, such as toys, images, shells, feathers, leaves, sand etc.

Begin this activity by displaying the Our Place Flashcards on the floor and inviting children to look at the images. Invite children to share what they know about each of the images. Consider using the questions on the flashcards and some of the following questions to engage children:

I wonder what these places feel like? E.g. soft sand, cool water swirling around your legs, splashing waves, cool grass on your toes, warm and cosy house etc.
I wonder what these places sound like? E.g. wind whistling through the trees, waves crashing on the sand, river bubbling over rocks, parents cooking in the kitchen etc.

Next display the Animal flashcards (and other animal assets you may have collected). Invite students to look closely at the flashcards and other assets you have collected and to talk about what they see/feel. Invite children to think about where each of these animals might live talk about what they do it each of these places. For example, fish swim in the sea, birds catch fish and nest in the sand dunes, crabs live in the sea and on the beach in rock pools etc.

Work with children to place the animals near the places where they might belong and to talk about what they might do in this place (e.g. birds use trees for nesting, kangaroos drink water from rivers, fish swim in the sea).

Extend: Talk to children about how we can help to look after these places and the animals that live there. Explain that we can all do things in our own service that will help these animals and the places they live. By switching off for Earth Hour we can support their future.

Provocations:

I wonder what this place is?
I wonder if I have been to a place like this?
I wonder what these places feel like?
I wonder what these places sound like?
I wonder what animals live in these places?
I wonder what type of skin these animals have (e.g. fur, feathers, scales etc.)?
I wonder what these animals do in these places?
I wonder what these animals eat?
I wonder what sounds these animals make?
I wonder how we can help look after these places and the animals that live in them?

Possible lines of development:

Activities for children aged 3 to 5

Preparation:

Print off the Our Place Flashcards. Cut them in half and keep the questions separate.
Print off the Animal flashcards and cut them out.
Collect anything you have in your service that relate to the images in the flashcards, such as toys, images, shells, feathers, leaves, sand etc.

Begin this activity by displaying the Our Place Flashcards to children. Invite children to share what they see in these flashcards and what they already know about the places shown in these flashcards. You can use the questions on the flashcards to engage children in a discussion around the images.

Next, display the animal flashcards, or give one animal to each child. Invite children to match their animal with one of the Our Place Flashcards, discussing with children why they have matched their animal with this place, for example:

What does this animal do in this place? (E.g. use the trees for nesting, drinks water from the river, swims in the sea or river etc.)
I wonder if this animal lives in other places too or visit other places? Where?
I wonder if you have you ever seen this animal in real life?
I wonder if you have any of these animals in your yard at home?
I wonder if we have any of these animals in our service yard?
I wonder how we can look after these places and the animals that live in them?

Explain to children that we can all do something to look after the places that we live in, and for the animals that live in these places with us. Invite children to think about why it is important to look after our places and the animals that live there. Consider the following points:

Mini-beasts are important because they help our plants to grow flowers, fruits and vegetables. Without bees we would miss out on so many different foods, and our world would be a lot less colourful.
Mini-beasts are also important because they help break down all the waste that we create (like old food, paper and clothes) and the waste that nature creates (like sticks, bark and old plants). If we didn't have mini-beasts our world would be full of rubbish!
Birds are important because they help plants grow, they eat bitey insects and they make beautiful songs for us to listen to!
Other animals are important because they help to keep our oceans and rivers clean, our forests tall and healthy, and our grasslands lush and green.

Once complete, explain to children that they will be doing something special to help our environment stay healthy for Earth Hour Schools Day. One of the easiest things we can all do is to switch off our lights! Why? Using electricity creates pollution in the air that can hurt these places and the animals that live there.

Have children create a poster about the places and animals they most want to care for. These could be the places and animals you looked at in the flashcards, or these could be other places or animals that are important to them (e.g. the animals that live in their yard at home or in the yard at your service). Share your posters for Earth Hour Schools Day.

Provocations:

I wonder where this place is?
I wonder if anyone has been to a place like this?
I wonder who lives in this place?
I wonder what we can do in this place?
I wonder if we can use any of the things in this place for anything else (e.g. trees for wood or paper, river water for growing food, fish from the sea for eating etc.)?
I wonder if we need to look after this place?
I wonder why we should look after this place?
I wonder how we can look after this place?
I wonder what other places we can look after?
I wonder what we can do in our service to look after our environment?

Possible lines of development:

Invite children to think of animals they know or like and working together, undertake research to find out where they live.
How seasons affect animals (e.g. nesting, hibernation, growing woolly coats or losing woolly coats etc.).
Animals that live in the sea - Make a sea diorama with your children.
Other animals with fur, feather or scales - Animal adaptations – Early Learning.
Hunt for mini-beasts in your yard: Bugs in the garden – Early Learning.
Helping nature in your yard (Build a bug house instruction sheet, insect hotels, native garden etc.).
Conservation action ideas.
Other actions you can take to help our environment, such as recycling, saving water, buying less stuff. More ideas can be found here: Sustainability Audit – Early Learning.
Exploring the shapes, patterns and textures of nature in your yard: Outdoor Learning – Sorting and Patterns – Early Learning.
Listen/watch the birds in your yard. Can you identify any using this website - Top 40 bird songs.
Being safe with electricity.
Try some of these other Earth Hour Early Learning activities:
- Switching off for the places we love – Early Learning
- Out and About in ‘Our Place’ – Early Learning
- Light – Early Learning

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning listing evidence about:

Belonging	Finding something of interest
Communication	Expressing an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engaging with challenges and persisting when difficulties arise
Wellbeing	Being involved

Embedding into daily practice

How can you make Earth Hour a movement rather than a moment? Discuss with other people at your service about how you can include regular actions around sustainability into your policies, procedures and program. Find our more here: Sustainability Audit – Early Learning.
Create a 'switch off' rota in your service to encourage staff and children to switch off throughout the year.
For the most up to date Earth Hour dates, times, and events, check here.
Has your service been involved with Earth Hour before? Have you got a record of our involvement? Consider creating an exhibition/display to celebrate your involvement and to share how far your service has come!

Earth Hour - Switch Off to Join the Future

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