EYFS activities - Education for Sustainability: Finer feelings

Unesco’s third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), ‘Good Health and Well-being’, aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all and at all ages. However, Covid-19 is having a devastating impact on the mental and physical health of many families globally (see: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health).

Early years practitioners are ideally placed to raise awareness in their communities about the importance of healthy lifestyles and people’s right to quality health care. They can also build on the sense of community that we have seen during the pandemic, as communities showed resilience and co-operation, and children showed their appreciation of the NHS by displaying drawings of rainbows.

WHAT A WORRY

Use Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival as a springboard for discussion on feelings and community.

In the story, a young girl’s sense of adventure vanishes when she discovers a worry that grows and grows until she learns how to get rid of it (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWS0Q5oCUNE).

Extension activities

• Help children to develop their own safe space that they can go to and share their feelings and worries. When creating the space, allow children to make their own decisions.
• Develop a ‘feelings tree’ to help children make up rules of responsibility and friendship.
• After sharing the story, discuss worries. What is a worry? What should you do with a ‘worry’? Can the child draw a worry?
• Ensure you encourage a ‘community and participatory spirit’ in your setting. Go on a community walk around your neighbourhood, looking for signs of ‘community’.
• Build upon the community spirit and appoint friendship buddies to support children when they feel lonely or sad.
• Share Hannah Cumming’s The Cloud, in which a black cloud descends on a little girl, but an imaginative classmate manages to cheer up everyone.

Learning links

EYFS (2017) states that ‘a secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right’ and that ‘children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships’ – with their families, peers, carers and community.

PSED involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; positive relationships and respect for others; social skills; and an understanding of appropriate behaviour.

ALL ALONE?

Share and explore themes in The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig. In the story, nobody ever seems to notice Brian or think to include him in their group, until new boy Justin becomes the first to make him feel welcome. And when Brian and Justin team up to work on a class project, Brian finds a way to shine. Listen to the story at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDMFX1__K2U.

Extension activities

• Discuss what ‘invisible’ means. Have the children ever felt invisible? Why? And how did it make them feel?
• Discuss what a friend is. Identify words that describe friendship.
• Develop a ‘yarning circle’ for children to sit together sharing not just food and drink at snack time, but stories of their families and pets, and to welcome parents and grandparents.
• Make each child feel special – for example, Steiner pedagogy celebrates each child’s birthday with a personalised story and candles, with contributions from family and friends. (See Understanding Sustainability in Early Childhood Education: Case Studies and Approaches from Across the UK by Boyd, Hirst and Siraj-Blatchford.)
• Read Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival, in which Meesha loves making things but struggles to form friendships.
• Research shows the importance of nature and being outside in all weather. Use your outside space to provide a diverse range of experiences that promote healthy and physical development. Build upon SDGs 1 and 2, with emphasis on growing and gardening activities. Giving children shared responsibility for plots provides satisfaction and well-being, while eating healthily, alongside fresh air and exercise, supports overall development.

Learning links

PSED – Managing feelings and behaviour

PSED – Making relationships

ABOUT THIS SERIES

This series explores meaningful and practical ways to introduce young children to UNESCO’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). See also‘All about…Early Childhood Education for Sustainability’ by Dr Diane Boyd, www.nurseryworld.co.uk