Educating Children About the Environment

Educating Children About the Environment

When we think about doing all we can to protect the environment for future generations, it can only make sense that we get them involved; after all, it’s their planet too. And good habits started when children are young will last a lifetime.

Durham County Council Environmental Education scheme

Durham council run a comprehensive scheme that offers free education sessions to schools, youth groups, and community groups. The sessions cover topics such as litter, dog fouling, fly-tipping, and graffiti, and the main aim is to encourage residents to take pride in their local areas.

Sessions for schools

Tidy Ted 

Tidy Ted is Durham Council’s anti-litter mascot. He visits primary schools and nurseries to teach the children about the problem of litter. He can attend a special assembly, where he explains to children what litter is, what effects it can have on the environment, and what they can do about it. There is an optional litter pick after the assembly.

Tidy Ted story sack

This is a novel way of communicating the story of Tidy Ted and what he does to younger children. Puppets are used to tell the story of animals living in a littered forest. The story explains what they do to clean it up, and how Tidy Ted works for the council, visiting schools and helping to keep the streets clean.

Responsible dog owner assembly

The anti-dog fouling mascot ‘Scoop the dog’ visits schools to illustrate how dog fouling can spoil the local environment.

Green Dog Walkers

This is a wider scheme in Durham, which attempts to change attitudes towards dog fouling. It recognises people who are interested in the scheme as ‘Green Dog Walkers’, and they sign a pledge to always clean up after their dog, to carry extra waste bags to give to other owners who don’t have them for their dog waste, and they wear a badge to show that they belong to the scheme.

The scheme was originally an idea that a local community group in Falkirk in Scotland had, and they enlisted the help of their local council for advice on how they could set up and develop the scheme to tackle the problem of dog waste.

Environmental crime session

The council runs a classroom-based session, which covers littering, fly-tipping, dog fouling, and graffiti. The session is very interactive and uses PowerPoint, discussions, and DVD clips to get the messages across. This session is available to children and adults, and is easily adapted to suit the target audience.