ELP Spread the Word – Tangalooma EcoMarines

Spread the Word

Caring for our environments far and wide!

This Eco-focus is about spreading the word of caring for our environments far and wide! Not only to the children in your centre but also to family, friends and the community. You can do this by hosting a Toy Swap Fundraiser with your community (challenge 2).

Early Years Learning Framework

Learning Outcomes:

2.1 – Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities

4.4 – Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another

5.3 – Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media

Principles:

2. Partnerships

Practices:

8. Assessment for learning

CHALLENGE 1: Go Green For EcoMarines

EQUIPMENT:

Green clothing or accessories!

TIME NEEDED:

The whole day if possible

Step 1 - Pick a Day

Pick a date during to host your Go Green for EcoMarines dress up day!

For this day, your whole centre can dress up in green and bring in a gold coin donation. The donation can be put towards EcoMarines foundation or your own centre’s eco-projects.

Step 2 - Spread the Word!

During the lead up to your Go Green for EcoMarines day, make sure to promote the day to your centre and families.

You can get children to create posters to advertise the day. Or why not create advertising material out of rubbish or repurposed items?

Step 3 - Plan the Day

On the day, educators can plan some fun eco-activities to get your mini marines in the green spirit! Here are some ideas:

Creating a recycling station for your centre
Eco-art: what recycled items or rubbish items can kids use to create art?
Go on a nature walk in a nearby park or garden
Read an eco-themed story book

Step 4 - Submission

Take photos on the day of your sea of green! We would love to see what your school got up to so don’t forget to email us or tag us on social media. You can use the form below to send us some photos!

CHALLENGE 2: Toy Swap Fundraiser

EQUIPMENT:

Printer to print out posters and flyers, collection of centre toys to swap, arts and craft supplies for children to create own promotional materials

TIME NEEDED:

1 to 2 hours to create promotional materials – STEP 1

1 hour to hosting swap – STEP 3

Step 1 - Promoting Your Toy Swap Fundraiser

We want you to involve your whole community in working towards a more sustainable centre. A great way to do this is hosting a Toy Swap Fundraiser which promotes the idea of re-using and recycling whilst raising money for EcoMarines or an environmental charity. Up to 27 million toys end up in landfill each year when many kids would appreciate these items, so a Toy Swap is great way to combat this!

The first step is to identify when and how you might like to host the fundraiser. Many centres will choose a date for children and their families to bring in a toy or maybe a book to donate plus a gold coin donation when parents/guardians drop children off in the morning. During the day, educators and children can organise the donated toys in the foyer of the centre. When parents/guardians come in for pick-up, they can select a ‘new’ toy to take home along with their children.

Once your date is selected (we recommend choosing a date closer to Christmas), you may like to get children involved in creating promotional materials such as:

Posters
Flyers for parents
Create a donation box for the gold coin donations

Extra points if you can use recycled items! And it’s a good idea to specify the do’s and don’ts of what types of toys to bring e.g. age appropriate and no sharp/small objects.

Here is a poster template you can use:

Step 2 - Planning Before the Toy Swap!

Before the scheduled date of your toy swap, there are a few things to consider:

Will you have enough toys to go around?
Which charity will you donate the funds to? If you donate to EcoMarines, you can do so HERE
How will you regulate the swaps?

Step 3 - Submission

Send us photos of your toy swap fundraiser!

Use the submission form below to upload your photos and answer a few questions. We would also love to see your centre’s creative posters as well.

The centre with the best submission will receive a visit from the EcoMarines team and another special prize to be announced soon!

Activities about Waste Reduction & Litter

Make an Ecomarines Pledge Tree

A pledge tree is a great way to get kids thinking of sustainable solutions!

After, during or before your Go Green for EcoMarines celebrations, you can get children to think of ways they and their families can help the environment.

Here are some ideas to get started:

Use a real tree and have the kids make a pledge on a piece of paper that is shaped like a leaf, or
Make a big paper tree to display on a wall and post pledges on pieces of paper (or real leaves) to add to the tree.
Add some pictures of marine and wild life they are helping to protect.

Tangalooma Island Resort are the major sponsor of Tangalooma EcoMarines and have kindly offered access to free images for learning.

Kids Teaching Kids

A big part of EcoMarines is learning from each other and sharing knowledge!

In our Primary and Secondary school programs, many EcoMarines ambassadors will go to classrooms and educate their peers through environmental presentations, videos or workshops!

You can do the same in your centre. You can get the older children to research and learn about a particular environmental topic such as:

Plastic Pollution
Water conservation
Waste reduction
Recycling

And then create a presentation or workshop to present to younger classes. If your centre does this activity, then we would love to hear how it went!

Ecomarines Book and Colouring In

These are easy activities you can get your children to do to help them feel connected to nature!

Our EcoMarines book tells the story of Eco Ranger Sarah and her environmental adventures around Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Bay. The book comes in the form of a PowerPoint so can easily be shown to children from a computer or laptop.

We also have EcoMarines colouring pages that you can download and print out for your children to do. A good idea is to print these out on recycled or scrap paper. You can even use the pages once completed to create a foyer display!

Go Green for Ecomarines Materials

Before the dress up day, you can get children to create advertising material such as posters and recycled decorations

Poster: Get your kids to create a poster about Go Green for EcoMarines day. Make sure to include a ‘Spread the Word’ component and let your community know how important caring for our environment is. You can display this poster on your centres foyer.

EcoMarines decorations: Your kids can use recycled materials or rubbish items to create decorations for the dress up day. How creative can your centre be? Here are some examples:

Paper chains from recycled paper

Bottle lid chains
Confetti made out of dried leaves
Flowers made of food wrappers