Educational Materials
Within the educational programs “Making Room for Climate Emotions” and “Explaining Causes and Solutions”, elementary teachers will find turn-key activities and lesson plans to support environmental education. Each activity lays out the materials needed, provides clear and comprehensive instructions, and suggests an abundance of prompts to spark thoughtful and age-appropriate discussions about topics ranging from supply chains to climate anxiety.
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Series 1 – Making room for climate emotions
“Making Room for Climate Emotions” is an educational program designed to help children explore their emotions related to climate change through artistic creation. Each workshop offers a creative activity such as drawing, photography, and collage to address certain themes, reflect on emotions, and initiate discussions on topics related to climate change in an accessible and age-appropriate way.
Series 2 – Exploring causes and solutions
“Explaining Causes and Solutions” is an educational program designed to support elementary teachers with the implementation of environmental education lessons for Cycle 2 and 3 students. Each module offers several themed activities that build on one another and reinforce new learnings in hands-on and often creative ways.
Download Materials by Activity – Series 1
Activity 1 – Ugly Drawings
This activity introduces art therapy and the importance of the artistic process rather than the final product.
Activity 2 – Wheel of Emotions
This activity explores emotions with students and helps them identify their feelings about climate change.
Activity 3 – The Planet in 50 Years
This activity encourages students to reflect on a future impacted by climate change and to imagine what Earth will be like in 50 years, followed by a discussion about hope and despair.
Activity 4 – Photovoice: The Beauty of Nature
This activity encourages students to identify elements of their environment that they feel represent the beauty of nature and to discuss their feelings toward nature.
Activity 5 – The Power of Nature
This activity invites students to explore the emotion of wonder through the lens of the power of nature and by creating a sculpture out of Lego or modeling clay.
Activity 6 – Taking Care of Nature and Yourself
This activity encourages students to reflect on what they would like to take care of in nature, while reminding them of the importance of taking care of themselves as well.
Activity 7 – Photovoice: Climate Change
This activity encourages students to identify elements in their environment that remind them of climate change and the destruction of nature, then to discuss the idea of responsibility.
Activity 8 – My Climate Slogan
This activity encourages students to express themselves through a climate slogan and to discuss the idea of change.
Download Materials by Activity – Series 2
Module 1, Activity 1 – The Albedo Effect
This activity introduces the albedo effect and invites students to explore the impact that light and dark colours have on temperature.
Module 1, Activity 2 – Urban Heat Island Effect: Albedo in my Town or City
This activity allows students to apply their understanding of the albedo effect to their own towns and villages and explore how this concept affects climates on both a small and large scale.
Module 1, Activity 3 – Communicating Through Colour
This activity gives students the opportunity to use colour theory and their knowledge of the albedo effect to create materials that raise awareness about the urban heat island effect within their school and the wider community.
Module 2, Activity 1 – Connecting With the Outside
This quick outdoor activity invites students to use their senses to appreciate their connection to the natural and human worlds.
Module 2, Activity 2 – Connecting Through Yarn
This activity encourages students to think about how they are connected to each other and how human actions affect the relationships between Earth’s inhabitants.
Module 2, Activity 3 – What’s in a T-shirt
This activity allows students to reflect on the life cycle of clothing by tracing the path taken by a single item of clothing from the country where it was made to the place it was purchased.
Module 3, Activity 1 – Waste Audit
This activity gives students the opportunity to conduct a waste audit, an important tool for understanding the quantity and composition of waste, as well as how it changes over time.
Module 3, Activity 2 – The Museum of Found Art
This activity introduces the concept of found object art, where students use materials they typically consider “trash” to create works of art, sparking a discussion about what trash really is.