Green child care programs blend environmental lessons and eco-healthy practices into the day. 

Green Lessons

Green lessons teach students how to live in balance with the earth. School lessons might include:

• Healthy Ecosystems: Learning about the environment and how to maintain healthy ecosystems
• Energy: Learning about energy production and how to save energy
• Water: Learning about water sources and how to save water
• Air: Learning about air quality and asthma
• Organic gardening: Learning about growing and maintaining an organic garden
• Recycling: Learning about waste streams, and how to reuse, recycle, or compost
• Composting: Learning about composting, including worm composting

Green Practices

Green child care programs uphold green practices.

These may include:

• Using asthma-safe green cleaning products
• Using plastic-free food service ware
• Diverting waste from landfills
• Teaching the 4 Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot
• Teaching children to be environmentally responsible

Eco-healthy Child Care programs agree to apply certain practices to help keep the environment free of toxins. Child care programs can seek Eco-healthy endorsement by following best practices: https://cehn.org/resources/for-parents-families-and-other-child-health-advocates/

Sources:

https://www.epa.gov/students/lesson-plans-teacher-guides-and-online-environmental-resources-educators

https://www.acgov.org/ece/green_childcare.htm