How to talk to children about ecology?

The ecological emergency is a reality we all face, including our children. But how can we raise their awareness of planetary preservation issues without frightening them?

Here are our tips for gently and sensibly talking to children about ecology to stimulate their curiosity and desire to act.

🌍 Help them discover and love nature

We protect what we know and love best. Discovering the wonders of the world is the first step to understanding the need to preserve them. To do this, you don't need to go far; nature is everywhere, and every outing is an opportunity for new discoveries.

🦋 Observe insects
🍁 Collect leaves and make a herbarium
🌧 Describe the weather and understand the seasons
🌱 Grow lentils in cotton
🐄 Visit an educational farm
🍏 Participate in fruit picking

All these moments are opportunities to connect with living things and inspire a desire to care for them. If you're short on ideas or looking for support, we recommend the Instagram account @seveillernaturellement, which offers many activities and resources on this theme.

📖 To supplement these explorations and answer your children's many questions, feel free to use documentary children's books such as the Mes P'tits Docs or Kididoc collections, and specialized magazines like Wakou and Wapiti from Milan or Petite Salamandre. Your local library is probably full of resources on these subjects.

🔍 On Tikino, also find the series: Nature Under the Magnifying Glass and Animals Under the Magnifying Glass, short formats from Bayard Jeunesse that stimulate curiosity and will echo your observations in the field.

🎬 Use the power of stories

Children better retain what they can see, imagine, and feel. Fiction is a very powerful lever for sowing ecological seeds in their imagination.

Within the Tikino catalog, several short films subtly address environmental protection to gently awaken awareness. We can recommend, among others:

🐠 Funny Fish from 3 years old, available in the pack Funny Encounters

⛰️ The Hill of Stones from 5 years old

and of course ⭐ Mademoiselle Etoile

Written exclusively for Tikino, this special series on planetary preservation is aimed at children from 5 years old.

Every night, Mademoiselle Etoile, our grumpy and comical heroine, falls from the sky to resolve complex situations. Drought in Egypt, coexistence with wild animals in Botswana, or deforestation in India, each episode presents a child-friendly problem and concrete solutions that can be implemented together to solve it.

With humor and music, this series gently opens up discussion and also shows that it is possible to make a difference at one's own level.

♻️ Simple daily actions

Now that your child loves nature, teach them the small daily actions that help preserve it and value their positive actions:

🌿 Sort waste together
🚿 Turn off the water when brushing teeth
🛍 Reuse a bag for shopping
🍎 Choose seasonal fruits

Children learn by observing you. If you set an example, they naturally understand that caring for nature is important.

In summary

Talking to children about ecology is not about burdening them with adult responsibility. It's about instilling in them a love for living things, an awareness of their actions, and a desire to contribute positively with enthusiasm.

At Tikino, we believe in joyful and sensory learning, where images, sounds, and stories help to better understand the world in order to better care for it. 🌍

✨ Feel free to use our content to gently awaken children to nature and positive actions!