Teaching environmental consciousness to toddlers is one of the most meaningful gifts we, as adults can offer. An introduction to caring for the world long before they fully understand it. Between the ages of 0-5 years, lessons are absorbed less through explanation and more through feeling, observation, and experience. When young children splash in puddles, touch leaves on a morning walk, or help water a plant, they are already learning about their place in a living, breathing world.

Environmental awareness in early childhood is about nurturing a relationship. It helps toddlers understand, quietly and naturally, that their actions matter. Something as small as turning off a light, not wasting water while brushing teeth and washing hands or remembering to water a plant can give them a sense of responsibility and pride. These tiny acts sow the seeds of mindfulness, an understanding that they are part of something larger, and that they can choose to care for it.

This connection translates into empathy. Children who spend more time outdoors, who pause to watch butterflies or notice the changing colours of a leaf, often develop a reverence for living things. They learn that every insect, bird, plant, and animal plays a role. It is this early emotional bond that later helps them choose compassion over neglect, and care over convenience.

Teaching toddlers about the environment does not require grand gestures. Set up bird feeders, plant saplings, make sorting, recycling into bins for paper, plastics and glass, a fun game. Reuse jars instead of throwing them away, craft toys or art from cardboard rolls, or spend time tending to plants at home. Show children that care can be woven into daily life. Keeping indoor plants, opening windows for fresh air, enjoying morning sunlight, these simple acts bring nature closer and signal that it belongs in our lives, not only outside our doors.

Read out books with nature themes. Tell stories about helping animals and the earth. Be a role model. Reuse bags, envelopes, conserve water, pick up litter. Praise your child’s positive actions and make them feel helpful.

My book on environment, Ouch! Cried Planet Earth, is full of ideas about how children can contribute towards conserving the Earth.

By beginning early, we do more than teach ecological practices. We shape a worldview. We help children grow up believing the Earth is not a resource to use, but a companion to respect. Not something distant, but something they are a part of. These early seeds of awareness and love will one day grow into thoughtful choices, responsible action, and a generation ready to safeguard the planet they learned to cherish from the start.