Play a fun way to nurture children's love of nature

By Bayu Dwi

JAKARTA (JP): School holidays are memorable times for children, as they get the chance to forget their tiring school assignments and enjoy themselves.

Unlike children from well-off families who can fly abroad to visit famous places like the Disneyland, those from the middle and lower classes must be satisfied staying in the city or visiting relatives in other towns and cities.

"I went to see my grandparents in Bantul, Yogyakarta," said Yohana Putri, 10, when asked how she spent her recent holiday.

"It was quite fun to walk around the village, enjoying fresh air...," said Putri, a fifth grader at Mater Dei elementary school in Pamulang, Tangerang, who was quite satisfied with her holiday trip to the village.

Traveling is not the only option for the school holidays. If parents desire, they can pick different but useful activities for their children -- things they do not get the chance to do at school. In this case, they might choose some attractive programs prepared by several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the environment. These programs offer activities to nurture and encourage children's love of nature.

Teaching young children the importance of caring for the environment, according to education experts, will help shape their attitudes later in life. When they grow up, these children will believe in the green principles and maintain the belief that caring for the environment is vital.

The head of the University of Indonesia's human resources and environmental research center, Setyo Sarwanto Moersidik, faulted the country's education system for introducing environment- related issues through printed materials.

"Teaching children at the basic educational level (kindergarten and elementary school) about the environment can't be done only by providing theories. It is hard for the children to remember (all of the theories)," said the secretary of environmental studies at the university's postgraduate program.

"Unfortunately, it seems like our teachers are busy dealing with the curricula most of the time and hardly have time to take their students outdoors to play."

Children, he said, can learn about water pollution on their own, not only by reading about it in books. For instance, they can observe the destruction of water ecosystems in rivers, lakes or the sea due to pollution.

"Certainly, these activities can be introduced through games, and then the results can be discussed with the children. The teacher's job is only to guide the children to the right track. The key word is play." Setyo said.

Playing outdoors

The concept of playing outdoors while introducing environmental issues to children during school holidays was introduced by, among others, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Indonesia).

According to WWF's environmental education officer, Adji Santoso of the Ujung Kulon National Park project, children's participation in and awareness of the environment was often neglected by the formal education system.

"Not many schools include environmental messages in their lessons," Adji said.

He said NGOs could help fill this gap by organizing activities during the school holidays.

Calling its program "Get to Know Nature with WWF During the Holiday", the NGO introduced children to issues and problems related to the environment through discussions, games, observation and exercises at the Cibodas botanical garden at the foot of Mount Gede Pangrango in West Java.

From July 10 to July 11, the children were immersed in all things related to the environment.

"Our teaching method was completely different from that in the schools. We allowed children to play and then if they found problems, they would be discussed in a group session," said Yosafat Erie S., the program's general coordinator. "Here, our role was only to guide and to sum up the discussion."

During treks, children were introduced to different kinds of flora and fauna typical to Indonesia's tropical rain forests. With binoculars in hand, the children watched birds and became familiar with other animals, such as the black or gray long- tailed monkey (Trochypithecus auratus).

Moreover, they were able to see plants not found in their neighborhoods in the city, as well as enjoying the botanical garden's subtropical plateau area.

"Seeing all of these things, the children will learn not to buy or keep wild animals and rare plants at home. These animals live in the forest and not in a house," Erie said.

During the activities, children were also asked to take note of the garbage found in the botanical garden. The children witnessed for themselves how some of the garden's visitors -- mostly adults -- sometimes "forgot" to put garbage in its proper place.

Then they were taught to distinguish organic and nonorganic garbage. To encourage the children, the organizers held a competition. "The group of children who separated the most garbage correctly won the competition," said an organizer, Diah Rahayuningsih.

The activities did not stop there. The children were taken to observe a small river within the botanical garden to learn about water pollution. They were then asked to take note of the animals that lived in the water, which can be used as an ecosystem indicator, and compare them with those animals found in the rivers near their homes.

For these urban children, the activities organized by WWF were tremendously fun.

"It was really exciting," said 12-year-old Angga, one of the program's participants. The boy did not have a complaint about the program, even though he had to wake up a few hours before sunrise.

"I was able to see long-tailed monkeys, eagles and other kinds of birds. It turns out there is more to a jungle than just trees and flowers."