‘Nature, my friend’: raising awareness of protecting the environment through engaging nature-based activities

Brumă Ala and Istrati Viorica, two Moldovan eTwinners, implemented the project ‘Nature, my friend’ in partnership with schools from the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece and Portugal.

The project, which ran during the 2021-2022 school year, focused on developing ecological awareness in preschoolers, transforming their daily behaviours into ecological, economical, healthy and sustainable lifestyles, as well as making them aware of their responsibility in preventing pollution.

To get the students better connected with nature, students observed the germination and growth of plants, took care of animals and made recycled toys or created coding activities. One of the kids’ favourite activities was the creation of their own speaking avatars where they practised English for the first time. 

However, project member Brumă Ala says that students were most excited to collaborate with kids from other countries. 
 

‘As soon as the online activities started, the kids were very excited during the activities and to find out that the results of their work are shared with children from other kindergartens in a common online space.’ 

Another fun part of the project for students were online celebrations with partner countries. 

Project members organised online celebrations for days like the Day of Water and Earth Day where kids greeted each other and sang together. They even created a speaker poster with short videos of them saying ‘Save the Planet’ and ‘Protect the Environment’ in their own languages. 

‘They were very delighted to watch themselves in videos,’ said Ala.   
 

Parents were also involved in the project from the beginning, by first helping kids vote on the project logo and poster of the project. Later, project members implemented a group of project activities called ‘Family Activities’. Families went sledding together, explored nature and organised outdoor games and sports. Pictures of the activities were shared on the TwinSpace throughout the project where students from other countries could see the activities that their peers participated in. 

‘It was impressive and curious for children to see that in one country it was snowing, in another country it was raining or the sun was shining, and flowers and trees were blooming.’ 

 

- Istrati Viorica

The project ‘Nature, my friend’ was an interdisciplinary project that used fun and engaging nature-based activities to raise children’s awareness of the importance of protecting the environment.