Check out how Earth Kids have been taking action on film in 2019! Watch inspiring films made with Earth Kids to illustrate their passion and their learning. Real education in Nature, for the environment. Learning in the film studio about how to take action during this present time of crisis.
We invite other schools to meet us online and share materials. We learn from and with others. We learn from the world around us.
ES – Rain Gauge
Research Question: How is rainfall measured?
This is what Earth Kids did last summer! Their vegetable garden was a new project and so they decided to make their own rain gauge using available resources: an empty plastic milk bottle. Read more here about how YOU can make your own rain gauge too!
Food Waste Can be Avoided
An absurd amount of the food produced in the world today – as much as a third – goes to waste across the supply chain. A third of all edible food in South Africa is never consumed and ends up in landfill, adding pressure to an already over-extended waste system. Meanwhile, millions don’t have enough to eat. Food Waste is a global human and environmental issue.
Earth Kids logged into an online lesson by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and learned a lot about NOT wasting food and how to shop wisely, grow wisely and take care of our planet.
National Women’s Day in South Africa
A powerful day for equal rights – Women’s Day celebrates the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and country. In South Africa, August is Women’s Month – and each year August 9th is celebrated as Women’s Day.
Did you know that National Women’s Day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria? These women carried a petition containing more than 100,000 signatures against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass. They stood outside the Union Buildings in silence for 30 minutes in a non-violent and very powerful display of unity.
We asked the Earth Kids what Women’s Day meant to them and who the important women are in their lives. It made for a fun, moving film. Women are known as the nurturers, the multi-taskers and the talkers!
Lower Silvermine Wetlands, Clovelly
Earth Kids joined Toad Nuts member, Richelle Steyn, on a glorious walk around the Lower Silvermine Wetlands in Clovelly, next door to Fish Hoek. She taught them so much about the hydrology, the biology and the geology. What an eye opener of a habitat and ecosystem. A wetland is so important to the lives all living things – especially humans, of course!
Visit this exquisite urban nature reserve, caught beautifully between ocean, mountain and dune habitats. A lovely natural sponge of clean water which is home to various indigenous species, especially frogs.
International Tiger Day
Earth Kids celebrated International Tiger Day on 29 July. Did you know that Tigers are the largest naturally occurring species of cat? The Siberian Tiger is the largest feline, weighing up to 800 pounds and measuring up to 11 feet, head to tail. Tigers are great swimmers. The roar of a tiger can be heard over a mile away.
Most tigers have more than 100 stripes. Their stripes are much like a fingerprint, because no two tigers are exactly alike. Tigers are the largest land-living mammal whose diet consists mainly of meat.
Herbs for Health
Earth Kids each chose a herb often used for medicinal purposes to research.
- Amelie chose Aloe Vera, a succulent Aloe species which is often grown for medicinal reasons.
- Sophia chose lavender, from the lavandula species which is loved for its beautiful flower and scent.
- Jeremy chose peppermint (mentha x piperita) which is a fresh reviving herb often used for stomach ailments.
- Leeya chose Oregano, the leaves of the Oregano plant which have a strong aroma.
Outdoor Classroom Day
When teachers take learning outdoors they report some powerful impacts: Children’s behaviour improves, whole classes are excited to learn, and individuals who feel inhibited by the curriculum often thrive in an outdoor environment.
With this in mind, Earth Kids TV joined the movement and focused on the Dog Poo Compost Bins on Noordhoek Beach in their local neighbourhood. Dog poo has an environmental impact and Project Noordhoeked has added this to their clean beach drive.
Magical Harbour Destination
The Hout Bay Harbour and Yacht Club is a magical marine destination. Earth Kids were lucky enough to explore what life would be like on board a yacht AND off the grid. They met Craig Dunlop, Rear Commodore of the Hout Bay Yacht Club, and his pride and joy, the 42-foot Gioia built in England. Enjoy the pics here and a story here!
Growing Food to Pick and Enjoy
We look at gardening holistically – from the soil to the water, the sun and the air (non-living things). We look at the life cycle of a seed, composting, planting the seed and watching it grow. We then watch the plants grow, nurturing them with water and compost. When we harvest their fruits (vegetables) we know that we have achieved something vital for our health.
“The earth is facing unprecedented environmental crises. Our hope for a healthy world rests on re-establishing the harmony between the earth and its people.” These words the Earth Kids read on the Soil for Life website before our visit to such an inspiring organic garden.
Preparing our First Garden
Prepare the soil. Dig in healthy compost. Let it rest. Plant seeds and seedlings. Water and mulch. Watch them grow. Use Companion Planting and Permaculture techniques and ethics. Ecosystems at work.
Planting seeds is the most satisfying outdoor garden activity we know. We believe in Companion Planting and Permaculture because we intend to garden WITH Nature. We like growing in terms of a Polyculture, not a Monoculture.
A Green Partnership with Guerillas
The Green Guerrillas farm soil using cows, pigs, chickens, anaerobic bacteria and composting worms on a small farm located in the Southern Peninsula (Cape Town South Africa). The farm is a living lab of urban agriculture and sustainable living, a constant growing and challenging experience.
“The next big food trend will not be milk-less milk or meatless meat, it will be buying local organically produced food and watching your carbon footprint, ” says Green Guerilla General, Akim Riemer. Check out our pics here.
Talking About Climate Change and the Carbon Cycle
Leon-Jacques Theron is a climate change scientist. He came to share his knowledge about climate change and the carbon cycle with the Earth Kids.
Humans, that means US, are making the Earth get warmer. We have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by nearly half, since the 1960s. In other words, carbon emissions caused by humans are causing climate change too.
We need carbon. Forged in the heart of aging stars, carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe. Most of Earth’s carbon—about 65,500 billion metric tons—is stored in rocks. The rest is in the ocean, atmosphere, plants, soil, and fossil fuels.
Compost, Pigs and Vegetables
The Green Guerrillas, led by Akim Riemer, offers a business as unusual approach to growing food, anywhere. Communities, individuals and businesses are empowered with proven solutions to ensure self-sufficiency: using what they have to make what they need.
Earth Kids is proud to be associated with such a motivated and passionate individual who only wants to feed the hungry. In fact, Akim Riemer is growing food in Masiphumelele, a township in the Southern Peninsula. He started this initiative on the 31st of March 2020, during lockdown.
Where Nature is Teacher
Glencairn Rotary Camp is a special place where Nature is teacher, the shining light in our world. Koos Burger, warden of this special outdoor venue for kids, is a walking encyclopaedia who ignites our passion for all things living.
Listen spellbound as Oom Koos recounts the history of Welcome Glen, the Else River, the reasons for the huge gum and poplar trees, and the design of his labyrinth.
Of Fire, Fractals and Vortexes
The Hive was an amazing education center in Muizenberg for a while. There Liesel taught the Earth Kids about the wonders of fire, of vortexes and of fractals. A vortex is a whirling mass of fluid or air, especially a whirlpool or whirlwind. It is a mass of fluid (such as a liquid) with a whirling or circular motion that tends to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle and to draw toward this cavity or vacuum bodies subject to its action. Learn more about what a vortex is HERE.
A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. A fractal is a pattern that the laws of nature repeat at different scales. Read more about fractals HERE.