Teaching Kids how to By Alan Chan
C
omposting is great fun, as well as an engaging and educational task for children. Not only is it a lesson in environmental awareness but you’re building sustainable habits from a very early stage.
The next time you’re at the dinner table, have a discussion with your children about why composting is helpful for the environment and the amazing benefits and rewards that can be reaped from upcycling food scraps. The size, sight (and contents!) of the compost bin might be a bit daunting and unappealing at first, but there are some things you can do to help them on this journey. PERSONALISED COMPOST BUCKET Get the kids a small plastic bucket and give them the responsibility to fill it with kitchen scraps for carrying to the compost. Having ownership of the bin makes it more personable and fun; you can also encourage your child to decorate the compost bucket with some stickers or markers. The idea of the compost bucket is to keep this in the kitchen as you prep food for family meals, and once it’s full it can be taken out to be emptied into the compost bin. TURN COMPOSING INTO A GAME The compost bin should include a mixture of brown ‘crunchy’ materials such as dried leaves, sticks, newspaper and cardboard. It should also be a mixture of household green waste such as fruit, vegetable scraps, and grass clippings. Use a trip to the park as an opportunity to find leaves and sticks – count them, compare shapes and colours, and take a pick-up stick to make collecting fun. Count each one together as you place into the compost bin and use the opportunity to talk about how leaves and scraps will become soil to nourish new plants and trees. If you have a bokashi bin or aboveground compost, you can set up a mini garden or herb garden for the kids, and use the compost as fertiliser.
24 Peninsula Kids – Winter 2022