Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd each year. It is a day dedicated to raising awareness about climate change and the challenges facing our planet. 193 countries around the world join together, coordinated by the Earth Day Network, for a wide range of events. Topics include climate action, climate and environmental literacy, conservation and restoration, the great global clean up and more. 

It can be easy to be swallowed up in despair at what we’re facing, but hope is more powerful than fear. I am hopeful about the next generation and what we can achieve together. However, in order to want to protect the planet, children have to learn to love it first. This means fostering interest and curiosity about the world and all the people in it, no matter what age. It is important that we never underestimate the capacity of children to listen, to learn, to understand the things that are happening around them. 

There are lots of things we can do to raise earth loving kids. I have compiled a (non exhaustive!) list of Global and Local Earth Day Activities for kids you can play with a map of the world. We are making our colouring-in world map activity kit free until the end of the month, you can download it here. 

I have suggested local and global ideas around topics as we’ve found this really helps ‘think global, act local’ resonate with my 7 and 5 yr old. Pick a few and let us know how you get on. 

Download your free map activity kit (pictured above) here >>

Food: 

Global: Where does our food travel from? Local: What can we do at home? Can we plant things on the windowsill? In the garden? 

Migration:

Global: Where has our family migrated to or from? Where have our friends’ families migrated to and from? Local: How many different cultures and nationalities are represented in our local area? 

Ecosystems: 

Global: Finding endangered animals – where are they, why are they endangered? Local: What animals and insects can we see outside? What might we see as a pest? Can we find out what important job it does? 

Travel:

Global: How do we get around the world? What effect do planes have? Local: Can we walk more & take the car less? 

Learning different languages:

Global: Pick a country and learn how to say ‘hello’ You can use a map of the world to talk about different languages with your children, pick a country and find out how to say hello! Some countries have a number of different official languages, South Africa has 11! Local: Do your neighbours speak a different language? How about your friends? 

Indigenous and first people:

Global: Where are indigenous communities around the world? Local: Find out more about the history of where you are living. If you have family members in other countries, find out about where they live too.

Who made our stuff: 

Global: Can we find out about where some of our toys are made? How far have they had to travel? Local: Can we make our own toys or games? 

Plastic:

Global: How is plastic made? Where do the materials come from? Why do we need to be careful with it? Local: How can we reduce and reuse plastic at home? 

You can download your map here. Don’t forget to keep in touch and let us know how you get on. 

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The Adventure pack was created a few years back as a way of gifting experiences and adventures. I updated it for my children and family to connect with each other during lockdown and while we’re unable to travel.

Because we enjoyed using it so much, we want to share it with you, for free, in February and March 2021.

Each pack comes with a set of: 

• 6 cards you can write on,
• A special world map envelope you can assemble
• And adventure stickers to seal your pack with

With your cards, you can:

–    Invite them on future adventures

–    Remind them of happy memories

–    Tell them what it is about them you’re missing

–    Share a funny/scary/awesome family story

This isn’t limited to use by the younger members of our families. I have been sending the cards to my grown-up family and friends too!

The stay-at-home Adventure Pack will be available in different languages and FOR FREE for the rest of February and March 2021. Help us share the adventure by liking, tagging your friends, or sharing on your stories. Wishing you happy (and safe) adventures ????

To receive your adventure pack, please fill in the signup box below and it will be automatically sent to you. If you can’t see the language you’re looking for, let us know by responding to the email. 

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The post How to help children connect with family and friends during the pandemic appeared first on Lil'ollo.

This year, the theme is express yourself – finding ways to share how you are feeling, your thoughts and your ideas through creativity. It is about finding a way to express who you are, and how you see the world.

Good mental and physical health are the blocks on which everything else; all life learning, is built upon. It can be so easy to focus on school work, or learning activities, that we forget to look after the foundations. Although the official week is almost over, the activities we’ve done have been very helpful. Giving space for self-expression will definitely be at the forefront of my mind throughout this year and beyond.

We (at the time of writing) are in the middle of a pandemic, and you’re probably juggling work, homeschool and everything else you have on your shoulders. The Duchess of Cambridge (patron of Place 2Be) reminds us in her message to start the week, “whilst this is children’s mental health week, there has never been a more important time to talk about parental mental health and wellbeing too.”

Since homeschool/ national lock-down round 2, I often feel like my head is going to explode with everything I have to do. I imagine you may be feeling the same way.

The foundation blocks of everything

This Children’s Mental Health Week has allowed me to reflect on the importance of our mental health as a family; how we prioritise things, and how easy it is to be overwhelmed. If we think of it like a game of Jenga;

At the bottom of the tower, the foundation, is your (parent and caregiver) mental and physical health. All the activities & practices that keep you healthy reside here – this could be exercise, meditation, seeing friends and family, hugs, good food, love, connection, laughter, reading etc.

Built on top of these foundational blocks are your children’s mental health blocks; time with you, playing, exercise, love, connection, having fun, self-expression, healthy food, etc.   

We have some other things that are important and that prop up the two foundational layers – our income that enables us to have food, shelter and security. Our work can often be a foundational block if it gives us joy and fulfilment.

On top of these two layers of foundational blocks come everything else involved with family life – at the moment, homeschool for many of us, activities for the kids that aren’t directly related to their mental health, washing, tidying, cleaning, admin, etc.

There are only so many blocks we can have on the tower, so sometimes we might substitute things. For example; homeschool and chores take the place of our self-care practices. But if we substitute too many things, the tower falls down.

The question I’m asking myself is this: how many of those important foundation blocks are being taken away today? If all the blocks are being taken away, how important is finishing EVERYTHING, when really, we need to put the love and connection block back, and go and play a game together?

Which blocks are you prioritising?

Home schooling and other educational activities are important for learning, but they are rendered useless if YOU are not OK. If you are putting too much pressure on yourself, are unwell, burnt out, anxious, stressed out, then all the amazing Pinterest boards in the world are not going to help.

Children learn far more from who we are, than the activities we put in front of them.

The most important piece in their learning puzzle is you. You need to look after yourself and be looked after. 

If there are activities that you all enjoy doing, then great. If you get through the homeschool work, then well done. If not, then DON’T WORRY.  You are doing an AWESOME JOB.

We need to embody the messages we want to send to our children. 

You are enough. 

And just in case you haven’t had a hug today – I’m sending you a virtual

(COVID-free) one.

Alex X

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We all know that the best time to start speaking a second language to your child is right from birth. But what if you’ve missed that train?

Maybe you were too exhausted as a new parent to think about anything else. Maybe you had deep seated concerns about bilingualism that you couldn’t quite shake until now. Maybe it didn’t seem important to you at the time, but now that your child is 4 or 5 or 8, your heart aches every time you notice they can’t quite speak to their grandparents in your home country in your native language? Or maybe you simply decided that it would be good for your child to learn a second language to be more open to the world.

This is the situation that I found myself in a couple of years ago when I realised that my seven year old was bilingual in Russian and English, but didn’t know our second home language, Hebrew.

How To Teach Your (Older) Child A Second Language

The good news is that you can still pass a second language (or third) to your child even at a later age, and with enough exposure, they can still become effectively bilingual in it. In fact, new research shows that we can reach native-like mastery of a language at least until the age of 18, much later than originally thought.

To be sure, this will be a completely different process than simply speaking to a baby, and will require a lot more effort. But it need not be stressful or be seen as hard work or even “learning” by the child. Here are some things to keep in mind and some ideas to get you started.

Make It Fun

First of all, don’t ever use the word “learning”. True, your child is not a baby so there WILL be actual learning involved, but they’re not an adult either, so doing something that’s not enjoyable with a long term goal in mind makes no sense to them. For you the idea of them being able to speak to their grandparents next summer might be motivating enough, but they’re asking, what’s in it for me NOW?

Sing songs in the new language together, over and over again. Children’s songs with hand movements that are maybe familiar to them from their first language. Sing until they remember the words by heart even if they don’t completely understand them.

Pick a soft toy and pretend that it only speaks that language. Draw, dance, play, using the language. Play games like “Simon says”. Let them use all their senses in their learning.

Point to objects around the house and name them in the new language throughout the day. Gradually introduce new words and phrases into familiar routines. Before you know it, you’ll be doing the entire mealtime in that language and they will never guess that they have done a lot of learning.

Most importantly, focus on the process, make it fun and tailor it specifically to your child.

Don’t Correct Mistakes

I don’t mean don’t correct mistakes at all. If the child repeats a word after you incorrectly, it’s fine to correct them to help them get it right. What I mean is when they’ve got enough language in their head from songs, books and games, they will want to reproduce some of it. When they start speaking in phrases and sentences, even if they don’t get it right, refrain from correcting their mistakes. Focus on the interaction. One of the main reason why many adults take a long time to learn a language is because they’re afraid to make mistakes. Children don’t have that level of self consciousness yet and that’s a great thing! Let them make mistakes, play with the second language, get the confidence, get to feel as if they already know it super well. Let them make friends with the language on their own term. They will always have a chance to start learning proper grammar, but shattered confidence will be difficult to reclaim.

Find A Community

Especially if you’re not a native speaker of your target second language (but even if you are), finding a community is hugely important. Even if it’s a weekly playgroup or a club it will be an important addition to your daily interactions in the language and will give them the chance to speak to more people.

Photos in order by Vitaliy Paykov , Aaron Burden and Ashton Bingham on Unsplash

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