Explaining (renewable) energies to daycare children!

Explaining (renewable) energies to daycare children!

What characteristics do Lisa Light and Wilma Warmth have and why do we call them sun children?

Even when children are still quite young, you can explain complex things like “energy”, “waste”, “saving electricity” and “renewable energies” to them. However, this is not easy and requires experience. Today, there are many committed educators and teachers for whom topics such as climate change, climate protection and renewable energies are important and who would like to teach them to their pupils. However, this requires the right teaching materials, illustrative games and knowledge about the subject matter. This is exactly what UfU does in its energy-saving projects, for example in Lübben and Luckau in southern Brandenburg. In educational training courses, teachers learn how to introduce children to these complex topics and which playful methods children can use to experience and learn about solar energy, heat and wind, for example. An important part of this training is the formulation of playful questions that encourage children to experiment:

• Why can Lisa light pass through some objects and not others? And why does a shadow appear? Can I catch it?
• How does Wilma heat the earth and why does it sometimes work better and sometimes worse?
• How can I roast marshmallows without lighting a fire or using electricity?
• What magic is hidden in the play of colors of the rainbow and how can I write with a magnifying glass?

By making the properties and effects of energy tangible on the basis of low-threshold games and experiments, it is possible to bring the otherwise rather abstract topic of energy and how to deal with it closer to preschool children. As part of the project, the teachers receive lots of teaching materials that they can take back to their daycare centers. These training courses are repeated at regular intervals. In addition to the aim of raising children’s awareness of energy and, in particular, energy waste at pre-school age, the project also aims to achieve savings in the facilities’ consumption of resources. There are also energy tours of the buildings and specific project days on the subject. In Lübben and Luckau alone, five schools, one after-school care center and eleven daycare centers are participating in the program.

https://www.fifty-fifty.eu/projekt/energiesparprojekt-luebben-luckau/