Can your child predict environmental impact? Help her fill four cups (labeled “A,” “B,” “C,” “D”) with soil, poke two bean seeds one-inch deep in each, water to keep soil moist until seedlings emerge. Once all four cups show seedlings, have your child tend “A” with normal watering, give plant “B” slightly salty water, and give plant “C” too much water. Don’t give plant “D” any water. What happens to each plant? Explore your child’s confusion when some plants die. Have her imagine these plants as part of a garden with similar conditions. Talk about what changes soil (chemicals, air, construction, rain) and how this can mean the difference between food on our plate and failed crops.
Can your child transform a white carnation into a two-color flower? Take a light-colored flower (carnations work great), and split the stem. Have him place one of the split stems in a glass of water with a little blue food coloring and the other in a glass of water with red food coloring. Check on the flowers over the next couple hours as the stem soaks up the water and the color changes the bloom. Talk about how quickly the plant takes water up the stem against the force of gravity using capillary action—tiny fibers inside the stem create a lattice that help push molecules of water up to the top. You can also take the bottom end off a wilted stalk of celery, place it in colored water and watch the stalk change color and shape as it becomes crisp again.
Can your child feed the garden instead of the trash? Have him line a simple container with recycled plastic bag (to cinch off the smell) and place it by the kitchen sink. When preparing and cleaning up after meals, help your child collect in the container biodegradable waste—scraps of fruit and vegetables, bread, cereal, egg shells. Talk about the things (meat scraps, cheese, oily foods, paper, and packaging) that need to be discarded in the trash and how plastics, glass, and cans can be recycled. After a couple of days, talk about how the scraps can break down and help the garden. Help him dig a hole in the garden (at least eight inches) for the scraps. Also, come up with a plan to create less trash each week.
Classroom Initiative
Minnesota hopes to be a leader in helping students better understand the environment through a new initiative called We 3—We Learn, We Save, We Win. The Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Board program (still in the planning stages but with a rollout targeted in the next two years) is designed to teach students of all ages the science behind everyday environmental and health issues, and help them turn that knowledge into action. Testing asthma and allergy triggers in their classroom, for example, they’ll also find ways to improve the air quality. “The emphasis is on the ‘we,’” says Clark Erickson, science specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education. “We are all in this together.”
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