Most children by nature (no pun intended!) seem to love looking at insects and spiders – observing what they are doing, studying how they eat or interact, and looking up and learning about the particular bug they have found. While many parents can be less than enthusiastic about finding an unwanted critter in the house, try using this as a learning opportunity. You can either invest in a simple bug box with a magnifying glass or even just reuse a cleaned jam or other glass jar to catch the critter and examine it before you release it outside. Some simple insect and spider identification books should help you learn about your great find. Not only can this be a great educational experience for your child, but it has a number of other advantages as well. First, spiders act as a natural insecticide, helping reduce pests such as flies, mites, and mosquitoes. Secondly, they also act as food for birds and other animals you DO want around. Simply releasing spiders and insects outside instead of using conventional pesticides and insecticides keeps chemicals out of our environment which can damage kids’ brains and nervous systems which continue to develop through age 12. If 10,000 people help their kids relocate a spider instead of squishing it, we’ll let nature dispose of 20 million insects without man-made chemicals!

A fundamental way we can help children learn an appreciation and love of their environment is to teach them where their food comes from. Too many children today are so removed from the reality of what they are actually eating, and how that is related to the earth. There are so many ways to help children learn in a fun way about our food system. First, you could visit a local farm. Many do tours and even those that do not do “official” tours are happy to talk to children about what and how they grow/raise plants and animals. Second, visiting a farmer’s market helps children make the connection between the fruits and vegetables on the tables and the farmers that grew them. Striking up a conversation with a vendor about the specific vegetables can teach your child and you something too! Third, you can plant your own garden – whether this means just a few herbs on a sunny window ledge or a larger garden plot, the idea is the same – teaching your child about growing a food that you later use to cook and eat. (Another side benefit – children are much more likely to eat their vegetables if they grew them, watered them, and picked them themselves!) Lastly, joining a “CSA” (community supported agriculture) where one can buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer via (usually) a box of vegetables per week is a great way for children to see where food is grown. We love our CSA, Valley End Farm (www.valleyendfarm.com) in Santa Rosa, which also offers eggs. My son loves going every week to pick up our box of veggies and to say Hi to the chickens that scurry about. 

While it’s great to buy eco-friendly, sustainably-made toys, the ultimate eco-friendly toy is the one that is not new and has not used up any resources – sustainable or not – to produce it. Reusing old games and toys is also a great lesson to children in our “throw away” society that many items can be fixed if broken, given to those less fortunate if no longer used, and vice-versa, can be purchased or borrowed used instead of always buying new. Think about how much waste could be avoided if we acquired many of our children’s toys used versus always buying a new one – not only in producing the toy itself but all the packaging that goes along with it. You can find good used toys at children’s consignment shops like Sweet Pea in Cotati, on Craig’s List, and at garage sales and thrift stores. The Rohnert Park Cotati library has a great used book store with a selection of children’s books. Another idea is doing a “toy swap” among friends.

An added bonus – you’ll be saving money too…not a bad idea in this economy!