Recycling & sustainability -
How we get children involved

Recycling and sustainability are always at the forefront of our considerations when providing care and education at Confident Kids.

Why?

Because we believe in meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations. Empowering our children through role-modelling and including them in sustainable practices are just some of the ways we are cultivating future sustainable citizens!

Active Learning

Our children are always involved in active sustainable learning, which means that we try to involve them in as many experiences as possible to encourage problem-solving, creativity and group participation. Some of the ways children actively participate in recycling and sustainability at Confident Kids are:

• Tending to the centre veggie garden to plant, weed, water, harvest and taste our produce.
• Feed their scraps to the worm farms to create compost for the veggie gardens.
• Donate and use recycled materials in art and craft projects.
• Watering the garden with the leftover water from our drinking cups, which is collected in a bucket and poured over our plants.
• Playing interactive games where children sort different types of waste materials into the correct bin.

Inviting the Community in

Reaching out to the local community to expand our children’s understanding of their world and the active citizens maintaining our environments is another beneficial way we introduce children to recycling and sustainability. Last year, Tea Tree Gully Council’s Recycling Ambassador, Sam, visited the Holden Hill centre to teach the children about waste management. You can see the post here.

We also plan excursions to the KESAB Recycling Centre to see recycling-in-action and recently invited ‘Recycleman’ for an interactive incursion. Our local Bunnings even supported us to set up our own 'Bush Tucker Garden’, which you can see here.

Links to the EYLF

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) is a set of standards, principles and practices that guides Early Childhood Education in Australia and underpins everything we do at Confident Kids. It requires us to support, “...children [to] become socially responsible and show respect for the environment” (ACECQA, ‘Belonging, Being and Becoming’, EYLF 2022 V2.0, p29-32).

Our eco-conscious children are supported to recognise the importance of caring for our planet, even from a young age – our nursery children often enjoy sensory play using shredded paper, and our toddlers are encouraged to scrape their bowls to use for the worm farms. The pre-Kindy children are excellent gardeners, and our preschoolers are constantly surprising us with creative ways to repurpose recycled materials.

We invite you to find ways to actively encourage your child to participate in recycling at home – whether it’s sorting rubbish into the correct bins or donating used toys to the local charity shop. If you’d like to see recycling and sustainability in action, visit one of our centres. You can phone our Croydon Park centre on 08 7078 0129, our Salisbury location on 08 7078 9912, or our Holden Hill centre on 08 7077 6000.