Learning and Development: Activities - Our bright idea - Save our seas

A chance conversation with a parent about the Great Pacific Rubbish Dump - created and held in place by marine currents - inspired one Cornwall nursery to raise children's awareness about the environment.

Children at Flying Start Nursery, Camborne, visit the coast about once a month, and for their Save Our Seas day, they headed to Godrevy Beach, just 15 minutes away.

There, they spent much of the morning exploring, investigating seaweed and mark-making with pebbles. Then, together, they collected rubbish. As well as driftwood, the children found coloured plastics and crates, balls and nets from fishing boats.

Nursery manager Kerry Baker says, 'We wanted to highlight the importance of looking after our beautiful local beaches and to consider what we do with our rubbish.

'While there, we talked about how we put our rubbish into different bins at the nursery. We were able to get our message across because there is a river there as well, and the children could see the rubbish that had been thrown into the river as well as into the sea.'

Back at the nursery, the children used the rubbish to make sculptures. 'This, for me, was the most exciting part of the day, as it was so free and creative,' says Ms Baker. 'The rubbish was different sizes, shapes, colours and textures, and it was lovely to see how the children used it. Some were attracted to the coloured plastics, while others went for the driftwood.

'I have an arts degree and I was interested to see how the children were much freer with the way they used the materials than adults - they weren't boxed in.'

To round off the day, staff and children built a bonfire and cooked their afternoon snack on it - corn on the cob and bananas with chocolate.

Ms Baker says, 'We used the driftwood that we found to fuel our campfire back at the nursery, so again, the message was about reusing and recycling.'

- More information: http://greatpacificrubbishdump.428456.free-press-release.com