Little Sprouts Program Blog

Sustainable stories, ideas and tips from our Program, early childhood services and partners.

Early Childhood Activities for Plastic Free July

Plastic Free July inspires people to be part of the solution to reducing plastic pollution. In this blog post we’ve put together lots of different early childhood activities for Plastic Free July that you can adapt as you need.

A Simple Guide to Making a Terrarium!

This guide will take you through the step-by-step process of how to make a closed terrarium.

Great Books to Start a Conversation with Young Kids About Sustainability

Books are a fantastic way to encourage children to connect with and contribute to the environment. Reading helps children visualize and understand issues. Nowadays, we …

How to Switch to Environmentally Friendly Nappies at your Early Childhood Service

We explore some key things to consider if you are looking to reduce or eliminate disposable nappy waste at your early childhood service.

Your Guide to Sparkling Responsibly

Do you love glitter but worry about its impacts on the environment? Join us as we explore why most glitter is harmful to the environment …

Top 10 Tips for Recycling in Early Learning Centres

If your current waste and/or recycling practices aren’t working for your early learning centre or the environment, check out the Little Sprouts Program top 10 tips

Goodstart Glenroy’s Green Play Space Revival

Find out how the Little Sprouts Program helped to revive Goodstart Glenroy’s outdoor green learning space for just $200!

Case study: Goodstart Early Learning

The Little Sprouts Program supported six Goodstart Early Learning Centres in Melbourne, Victoria to transition to recycling and more effective waste management strategies. Here’s how.

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In this session children will explore:
• reducing, reusing and recycling
• how paper is made
• why trees are important to people, animals and ecosystems
• the different steps to making recycled paper.
Children explore the topic creatively by working as a group to make several pieces of recycled paper.

Recycled Paper

Up to 1 hour, ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.
*Book our extended seed card workshop (1.5 hours, $495) if you would like children to make their own individual recycled paper creation.

This activity introduces children to worm farming. They become familiar with different types of waste, including organic food waste and other material that can go in a worm farm rather than to landfill. This is a fun way to make rich fertilizer and mulch for the garden. Children explore what earthworms can and can't eat, the biology of earthworms, and how to keep worm farms healthy. They help to set up a mini worm farm at the centre to continue the practice.

*Rather than a mini worm farm, we can help your service to start or revive a worm farm during the incursion to embed this into your practices. Your centre will need to supply the worm farm. We will bring the worms and other materials.

Worm Farming

Up to 1 hour, ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

Children will explore:
• The different parts of a plant and the roles they play
• What plants need to grow and survive
• The diversity of plants (through sensory play)
• The lifecycle of a plant (through movement and music)
• How to plant a plant and care for this.
Children each get to plant a seedling to take home to their families.

Growing

Up to 1 hour, ages: babies-5 year olds

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.
*$165 for a 30 minute session with babies or toddlers (up to 15 children) if we are already visiting the same day for other standard (1-1.5 hr) incursion/s.

Children will develop a basic understanding of the water cycle and where water comes from. Through play, they investigate different states of water and how much water is available for us as freshwater to use. They will then use this knowledge to demonstrate the water cycle through a science experiment, music, and dance. Children develop ideas for how to conserve water.

The Wondrous Water Cycle

Up to 1 hour, ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

In this session children become familiar with different types of waste, including organic food waste and material that can be composted to create useful fertiliser and mulch for the garden. Children experiment with how long different types of waste takes to break down and learn how to keep compost healthy.

Do you want help to revive or kickstart a compost system at your centre? We can include this in the incursion (compost system to be supplied by your centre).

Composting

Up to 1 hour, ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

In this experience children explore:
• what rubbish is
• different types of materials that waste is made of
• where waste comes from (who produces it)
• what we do with it once we don't use, need or want it anymore
• impacts on the environment from rubbish, particularly plastic
• refusing, reducing, reusing and recycling.

Children put learning into action by making a hanging garden at the centre out of old rubbish.

Waste Not, Want Not

Up to 1 hour, ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

This session encourages children to investigate water, where it comes from and where it goes. Children will act out the story of a river to explore how different activities can affect water quality. They will develop an awareness of the impacts of water quality on animals, plants, humans, and habitats. Children will share ideas for how they can reduce pollution and protect water quality.

The Story of a River

Up to 1 hour, ages 4-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

Children explore where we find water on earth and share ideas about how we, as humans use water. Through play, they investigate different states of water and how much water is available for us as freshwater to use. They participate in a filtration experiment to try to clean water and play a water savers game. Children develop ideas for how to conserve water around the centre and at home.

Water for Everyone

Up to 1 hour, ages 4-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.

During this experience children will explore:
• What pollination is
• A range of important local pollinator animal species
• Why we need pollinators
• How we can help pollinators
Children will play a flower pollination game and put learning into action by making pollinator-friendly seed balls to take home, to help grow pollinator plants at home or in their local area.

Powerful Pollinators

Ages 3-5

*$357.50 (GST inclusive) for one session of up to 25 children. $9.90 per additional child.