Energy conservation is more important now than ever as we move toward increasing green innovations. But teaching your kids about energy conservation might feel a little trickier than telling them “don’t waste water.” So if you’re looking for a few good teaching tools, here are a few crafts that can help you teach your kids about conserving energy.
“Turn Off the Lights” Door Hanger
When it comes to conserving energy, turning off the lights as you leave a room is one of the simplest things you can do. But sometimes kids need a reminder to help them get in the habit. With a fun little door hanger, remembering to turn off the lights will be a breeze. For this craft, you’ll need:
- Cardstock and construction paper
- Scissors
- Markers or colored pencils
- Hole puncher
- Yarn or twine
To begin, cut your cardstock into a thin rectangle. After that, you can cut colored construction paper in the shape of a lightbulb or have your kids draw their own lightbulbs. If you’re cutting out your lightbulb, you’ll need to glue it onto your cardstock paper. Once your lightbulb is done, you or your kids can write the “turn the lights off!” message on your door hanger. After that, your kids can decorate it any way they like, provided a little bit of space is left at the top. When your door hanger is looking amazing and the glue is dry, use your hole punch to put two holes in each top corner. You’ll use those to tie your yarn around and hang your new craft on its intended door.
Painting with Energy
When you’re trying to explain energy conservation to your kids, you’re not going to tell them how proud you are that your eco-friendly thermostat will pay for itself in two years. You’re going to help them get their creative juices flowing while teaching them about saving energy in everyday life. To do that, you’ll need a large printable outline of a lightbulb and some paint. After you’ve printed your lightbulb outline, ask your kids to fill in the entire lightbulb with color. After they’re done, start a conversation about how much energy it took to fill in the entire lightbulb with paint. This is your gateway into teaching about how, without painting, your kids could have done something else with their energy. They could have saved it for later! A lightbulb without any “paint” in it can save energy.
Make Saving Energy a Game
If all else fails, gamify your teaching strategy. Every time you leave the house, send one of your kids to check and see if all of the light switches are off. If you have more than one child, let them take turns. Whoever can check all of the lights with a faster time might get a prize. You can do this with faucets and electronics, too. Are all of the chargers unplugged? Is every screen in the house turned off? There are plenty of ways to make this activity fun for your kids.
Lessons on energy conservation can help your kids better understand green initiatives and eco-friendly projects at a younger age. And as they grow, they’ll have these fun activities to look back on that taught them all about conserving energy at home.
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