One of the biggest lessons a child must learn is the art of giving (green gifts) and receiving gifts.
Every birthday and holiday experience is another fabulous opportunity to talk about what it means to be a compassionate, thoughtful giver – on many levels.
When it’s time to make a list for Santa, or pick out a present to take to a birthday party, think about starting a conversation about what makes a gift a “good gift.” Some good questions we came up with are:
How should a good gift make you feel (when you get one or give one)?
What does the person that I am getting something for really care about? (How can let them know I see them and appreciate who they are in the world?)
What are the gifts I am considering buying made from, and where did it come from?
Can green gifts go beyond pleasing the recipient?
(How does it give back to the person or people that made it?)
Is an experience/activity better than a thing?
Once that conversation is started, the possibilities are limitless – as wide as your child’s imagination. But here are a few great ideas to have in your back pocket to suggest to get the idea ball rolling:
Toys without batteries encourage the use of imagination, creativity and physical activity.
Chose toys that will get your kids outside and moving or playing with other children.
Musical instruments, art supplies, board games, sports equipment or outside toys and pretend play toys are great examples of toys that require no batteries at all for hours of fun!
Click here for good green gifts ideas for toys, as selected by an elementary school teacher, like our Musical Instrument Set or handmade finger puppets.
green gifts ~ rain forest finger puppets
The more your kids enjoy exploring the natural world around them, the more interested they will be in taking care of it. You can give the gift of a “green adventure” to a zoo or a nature center with fun green programs for kids. Your child will not just have a blast with their friend, it will also teach both kids that gifts don’t have to be tangible objects.
You could also encourage your kids to choose a charity that supports needy children and ask family members or friends to donate directly to the charity or purchase green gifts for those children instead. If possible, take the kids to deliver the green gifts to the charity personally, so they can see the impact their good green gifts choices have made and feel empowered!
The conversation is the most important part. Talk to your kids about why you made green gift choices for their toys, like why they use soy crayons, or what “sustainable” wood really means, or even the difference between a gift made by machine vs by hand. Being aware of the power they have to of green gift choices will help them understand true value.
Your influence and openness to talk with them about these ideas goes a long way toward battling the massive consumerism messages they see everyday.
Kids are quick learners so when we teach them how to go green early in life, eco-friendly choices become second- nature for them, which is how we at GGN think it should be!
After all, it’s their green planet too!
This is the third blog in our GROWING GREEN KIDS blog series. In case you missed the two previous blogs we chose to write them because in addition to having struggled with this challenge ourselves, we’ve also heard from many parents asking and giving advice about how to instill and explain the idea of going green to a child – especially when it comes to giving green gifts. After looking them all over we decided on what we considered the best ideas for teaching kids about green gifts, fair trade and eco-friendly gifts (the criteria being that the idea was either incredibly easy to do or was something that a parent & child could have a ton of fun doing). We had so many ideas we decided to make it a blog series. Hopefully it has inspired you as much as it did us!
Please leave us comments and share your ideas for giving green gifts and growing green kids!
