Who takes care of the environment? Eco-jobs around us
Rationale: Why is this needed?
Introducing children from an early age to the idea that jobs can be environmentally friendly.
Objectives
By the end of the activity, participants will be able to:
- give examples of green jobs in their surroundings.
- link eco-friendliness with opportunities in the job market.
Resources needed
- Selected resources (videos, fairy tales, books) to watch/read out loud to students,
- Pictures of green jobs,
- Art materials,
- Optional equipment for playing a video: computer, projector, speaker
Activities
1. Warm-up – discussion and introduction to the topic
The facilitator starts a conversation with the students:
- How do you think we can take care of our planet? Let’s try to find examples of such actions.
If this question is too abstract or difficult for children in grades 1-3, the facilitator can first ask about how children take care of themselves, their pets, or how parents take care of them to guide their thinking in the right direction.
After this short discussion, the facilitator moves to the second topic (having a job/working):
- What does it mean to have a profession? What are your associations?
- Do you know the professions of your parents, relatives, neighbours?
- What other professions do you know?
Now, the facilitator explains that we will try to combine those two topic (taking care of the planet + having a job)
- Let’s think about what it means for a profession to be environmentally friendly. Have you heard of jobs that help protect our environment and our planet? Do you have any ideas about what these jobs could be? Maybe someone in your family does such work?
If the above discussions are too “serious” for younger students, the facilitator can suggest physical or art activities based on these questions, e.g.:
- instead of asking Do you know the professions of your parents, relatives, neighbours?, the students who answer “yes” move to one side of the class.
- instead of asking How can we take care of our planet?, the facilitator can ask the children to make a drawing.
2. Activity (optional): watching/listening together to a video/fairy tale/book chapter to introduce the topic of sustainability to children
In order to introduce children to the topic of being eco/sustainability, the facilitator chooses an age-appropriate resource from the padlet (video, fairy tale, book chapter) and discusses it briefly with students.
Next, the facilitator shows children examples of eco-friendly jobs.
3. Activity: What Do They Do?
The facilitator shows students several images of professionals working in green jobs (e.g., renewable energy engineer, organic farm owner, eco-food producer, environmental educator, solar panel installer).
You can use the images available in our padlet.
Students, together with the facilitator, discuss what the people in the images do and why their work is important for the planet.
4. Brainstorming: other eco-friendly jobs
The facilitator initiates a discussion with students:
- Can you think of other eco-friendly jobs besides those in the pictures? Who else is needed to take care of our planet?
- Do you think other professions can also be environmentally friendly? Think about different jobs you know and those your family members do. Guiding questions:
- What can someone working in an office or at a computer do to avoid harming the planet?
- How can someone travel for work in a more eco-friendly way?
- What can a chef, teacher, artist, or athlete do to be more eco-friendly? (Here, facilitator can suggest some examples for discussion, such as a chef using local products.)
5. Art project: A green job of the future
Based on previous activities/reflections, students create a drawing, collage or artwork titled “A green job of the future”. It does not have to be necessarily what they want to do in the future – it can be a career path discussed previously in the class.
Students can use recycled materials or items brought from home.
Reflections/Consolidation of learning
- What did you learn today about eco-jobs and eco-friendly work?
- Who of you would like to have one of the eco-jobs we talked about today?
At the end, the facilitator can recap the new terms and job names, especially those suggested by the students themselves, emphasizing that they are great experts in eco-friendly work.