Learn a love for Nature & Outdoors Early

Be kind to the earth and fair to its people. That's our motto here at Playfair Kids

If we could all teach our children these two things, I believe we would be leaving the world in safe hands.

I am Jess Crosser, founder of Playfair Kids and for as long as I can remember I have been passionate about our environment. Some of my very first memories are of making nests for birds in my front yard and feeding our resident pet lizard.

In primary school my friend and I made “things” to sell and raise money for the Koala Foundation.

Unfortunately we only made a few $ so spent it on lollies instead of actually donating the money, but our hearts were in the right place.

I followed this passion throughout my life, becoming an environmental and marine scientist, eco tour guide, high school biology teacher and after settling down to make a family, I started Playfair Kids and moved to selling eco-friendly products for children.

My new family & business, coupled with my own education and love for the environment now sees me more committed than ever to giving young children every chance to understand and respect our world. To me, it is important to first teach kids to love and care for the environment.

CHILDREN ARE NATURALLY DRAWN TO AND ENCHANTED BY THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AROUND THEM. AS PARENTS, WE CAN CHOOSE TO HARNESS THIS AND USE IT TO CREATE A LOVE OF NATURE IN OUR CHILDREN EARLY ON. A LOVE WHICH JUST MIGHT, LIKE MINE, BECOME LIFE LONG.

Obviously it is important to keep teaching simple and age appropriate, but it is all about creating awareness from a young age. Some ways to encourage a love of nature in little ones include:

• Go on an insect hunt with a magnifying glass
• Write out a nature scavenger hunt together and see what you can find in your neighbourhood, my children love this little adventure
• Find a duck pond and feed the ducks
• Encourage your children to help look after the family pet, this teaches children about responsibility and how to care for animals
• Play animal games- e.g. What animal is this? Provide clues until they guess, this is a great way to teach children all about different animals in a fun way. It can get more detailed as they develop their understanding.
• Make things out of toilet rolls, like a tree forest or some binoculars and get your stuffed toys out and go on safari in the front yard
• We all stress about too much screen time, try occasionally to replace cartoons with docos. My two and four year old already love David Attenborough and Bindi the Jungle Girl
• Take walks on the beach, through the forest, wherever you can
• Hug a tree, everyone feels better after they hug a tree
• Buy or make a bird bath or bird house
• Grow a sunflower in a pot, encourage your children to care for it

KIDS WHO HAVE A LOVE OF OUR ENVIRONMENT ARE GOING TO BE MORE INSPIRED TO RESPECT & HELP CONSERVE IT.

There are many small things you can incorporate respect into your every day life and the life of your children. It is never too early to encourage children to be eco warriors.Be careful not to go on and on and nag or your teaching may lose its appeal. Just grab the small teachable moments and run with it. 

Here are some of my small teachable moments that might work for you too:

• Don’t litter: make sure your little ones always put rubbish in the bins, explain what happens when litter ends up in our oceans. Talk about what happens if turtles, birds or dolphins think it is food.
• Teach children about the 6 Rs and recycling, show them the recycle logo and what bin to put things in.
• Reduce your waste; ask children rather than throwing this out how could we reuse it? Get them to grab the shopping bags to create an awareness of ways to use less plastic.
• Teach them about ways to reduce water wastage, get them to turn the tap off while they clean their teeth for example.
• Save beetles from the pool, puddles, or the family dog. A thing like this make children feel really good about themselves and is teaching them how to show compassion to animals.

Please feel free to share any ideas you have to teach young ones how to appreciate and care for our natural environment. I would love to hear some new ideas to teach my own boys.

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