Young children will have a chance to get up close and personal with worms and learn to grow food as part of the City’s new Garden Critters program, aimed at supporting waste education and nutrition in early learning centres.
The City has teamed up with Environment House and Waste is my Resource to offer the free waste reduction and wellbeing program. It kicked off with a pilot program at Salisbury Childcare Centre in May, with plans to offer the program to early learning and childcare centres throughout the City later in the year.
This program is designed to teach young children how to make a positive impact on the environment and lead a healthy lifestyle through hands-on activities and education.
Under the program, centres will be able to host a worm or garden incursion, with options available for two age groups - 2 to 3 year olds and 4 to 5 year olds.
For centres participating in the gardening incursion, children will help set up and plant a raised garden bed, while learning about the connection between eating nutrient rich food and processing food waste. The lesson includes learning about the types of food that can be grown, what plants need in order to grow and how to care for them. The incursion also includes a session for staff to learn how to take care of a worm farm and how to compost. As part of the program, a waste audit is conducted to determine the amount of organic waste produced on site and consultation to discuss options for reducing waste on site.
During the worm incursion, children will learn about the three-bin system and take a close-up look at worms, including building a worm farm and learning how to feed the worms.
The program supports waste reduction and recycling opportunities as well as teaching staff and children how to divert organic waste from the waste stream and compost it on site.
The program is supported by the City’s Health and Wellbeing Plan to create a healthier Bayswater.
To find out more about the program or get involved, contact the City’s Environmental Health team at environmental.health@bayswater.wa.gov.au or call 9272 0648.