KPA 2018, Topic 1 on “Friends”

Title: Little Nature's Keeper

Objectives:
At the end of the KPA, KFLs will be able to:
1. Know that the environment is God’s gift to us.
2. Appreciate and give importance to nature and all available resources.
3. Learn different ways of using our resources wisely.

Motivation:
The session may start by playing the game below or eating a banana with peel
and drinking from reusable cups (the banana peel/left over food and reusable
cups will be used later in the activity).

Game: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down

Mechanics:
1. The Heart Champ will cite different examples about conserving and
destroying the environment and resources through actions and sound
effects. It will be much better if they are able to recreate the scenarios.
They may add their own examples.
2. The KFLs are then ask to identify if it’s a good thing or a bad thing
by raising their thumbs up or down.
3. The Heart Champ will then explain why the scenario is good or bad.
The scenarios will be used as an example in the talk proper for KFLs
will have a recall of what was discussed.

Scenarios:
1. Using a lot of paper in drawing. (example action: drawing then
crumpling the paper and throwing it anywhere and doing it repeated
times)
2. Reusing plastic bags after buying groceries
3. Segregating trash to biodegradable (left over food), recyclable
(plastic bottles), non-biodegradable (candy wrappers).
4. Planting seeds.
5. Throwing trash everywhere without concern
6. Sharing things/food you cannot finish by yourself
7. Playing with matchsticks
8. Finishing your food and leaving nothing behind
9. Picking leaves from plants or flowers, playing with it, and throwing it
away after.
10. Using leftover water to water plants.

Head:
When God created everything in 7 days, even before He created man, the
Lord first created our environment, the nature, our natural resources and all
the animals. Creation is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. And just like any
other gift, we have to take good care of it and use it wisely.
Heart:
In our own little ways, how can we take good care of God’s great gift of nature,
environment and resources to us? Let us always practice the 3 R’s.

3R - reduce, reuse, recycle:

Reducing - is cutting back on the amount of trash we make, or making as
little trash as possible.
Reusing - is finding a new way to use trash so we don’t have to throw it out.
(ex. reusing grocery bags)
Recycling - is using trash to remake new goods. (ex. paper mache)

Other ways of practicing the 3Rs are: Properly disposing of trash, and
segregating, throwing pieces of trash we see around us to trash bins, etc.

*The Heart Champ will then discuss the different and creative ways they can
C.A.R.E. in their own little ways. They can use the sample scenarios in the
opening activity.

Hands:
The area may choose from the different activities below, whichever they deem
most relevant to their area:

A. Planting
One of the best ways of contributing to the environment is through planting.
Planting helps kids appreciate the food they eat by giving them a first hand
experience of growing their own food.
Materials:
- Participants may use the seeds of the fruit they were eating (ex. Avocado,
Apple, Kalamansi seeds from Kalamansi Juice) or use Mungo Beans, Ginger,
Garlic, Onion, etc. (see appendix for other examples and ways of planting it)
- pot for planting
- planting soil (will depend on the kind of seed they will plant)
- water for sprinkling

Directions:
1. Ask the children to fill 1/2 of their pot with soil.
2. Place the seed in the middle of the pot
3. Fill the remaining space with soil
4. Water the newly planted seed.
5. Ask them to take care of it by making sure that the pot is in direct sunlight
and the soil doesn’t dry or become too moist/soft from over-watering.
* If the area is near a body of salt water, they may plant mangroves instead if
its accessible; or coconuts if they are in a field.
* Instead of tree planting, they may weed plants by removing overgrown
weeds, or pruning overgrown grass, or watering a garden, etc.
* during this activity, it is also important to emphasize the importance of
avoiding picking of plant leaves or flowers for no particular reason because it
‘hurts’ the plants making them grow much slower or die faster.
B. Segregating. Teaching Kids How to segregate by helping them identify
and differentiate between biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and recyclable
materials, this activity helps for easier recall.

Segregating 1: Which is which?

Mechanics: Each KFL/Group if there are many participants will be given
3-6 different materials/trash that they will ‘throw’ at the right bin/trash can
marked as ‘biodegradable, non-biodegradable, recyclable. Service team
may choose the materials kids will segregate (Ex. Empty water
bottles/juice drink, scratch papers, egg shells/fruit peelings, etc.)

C. Recycling
Recycling is fun! It is one of the best ways of saving the environment, and we
don’t even have to spend a single peso in making them because all materials
are found at home or in school. The output can be given as gifts to our
friends and family.

Recycling 1: Paper Mache

Materials:
- Cut strips of old newspapers/magazines/scratch colorful papers
- Bowlful of Glue (See appendix for DIY Glue)
- Scissors
- Balloon/recycle cup or bowl/cup/box as mold (make sure to cover the
mold with plastic wrap)
- finished product as an example (bowl, ball, piggy bank, mask, box,
figurine) *tell kids that they can do/form/mold whatever their imagination
leads them.

Directions:
1. Dip the strip of paper to the bowl of glue and stick to your mold (make
sure the mold is covered with plastic wrap except when using the balloon).
2. Continue sticking the strips of paper in varied directions, at least 4
layers is enough.
3. Let dry.
4. Paint and decorate.
* Encourage kids to give their output as gifts to their friends/siblings, etc.

Recycling 2: Kite Making

Material:
- Old News Paper/plastic cut into kite outline
- sticks (broom sticks/walis ting-ting) or plastic straw measured according
to the kite outline size
- glue and strips of newspaper/ masking tape
- spools of thread

Direction:
*Make sure each group/participant is supervised by a Heart Champ but still
letting the KFLs do the work instead of them just observing.
 1. Create the skeleton of the kite by attaching the sticks to the kite outline.
Participants may choose from these 2 samples of outline or they may
create their own:

2. Attached the thread into the four corners of the kite intersecting at the
middle. The middle then connects with the rest of the spool.
3. Double check the kites of the participants before teaching them how to
make the kite fly on their own. Enjoy!

Take Away:
We have to remember that all the resources we have are God’s gifts to us.
Gifts should be used wisely and taken care of properly. Let us never forget to
practice the 3Rs, in this way, we become blessings to our environment and a
good example to follow by our friends.
Appendix:
Tree Planting Activity Guide:
https://www.diyncrafts.com/4732/repurpose/25-foods-can-re-grow-kitchen-scr
aps
DIY Glue:
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Glue
How to make a kite:
https://www.marthastewart.com/1112288/how-make-kite
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Kite
3R’s:
http://www.ecokidsusa.org/3rs.html