April 22nd every year is celebrated as Earth Day. It is an annual reminder of our responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth.  One can contribute to a healthier Earth in multiple ways: plant a tree, pick up trash, purchase biodegradable products, and commit to reduce, reuse and recycle. Planting trees is one of the easiest and most sustainable ways to positively affect the environment. We need trees now more than ever!

The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil to grow a healthy tree.  So ahead of Earth Day, I decided to plant trees(saplings) with young kids to teach them important lesson on tree and nature and to make them remember  for ever the significance of trees.  It is rightly said "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn" that's why I made it a point to plant saplings with the small kids to lay green foundation for them .

I went to Kids Paradise Nursery, Sharjah and  gave a simple environmental talk to these really small kids in a simple language like I told them "like you all have your birthdays , 22^nd April is Mother Earth Birthday. We should love Mother  Earth. We should help Mother Earth by planting trees, by keeping our place clean, not wasting paper, not wasting food" .  

I concluded my session with them by taking their  promise(pledge) that they will never waste food , will take care of plants and trees , will throw the waste in dust bin and keep the place clean. 

Then I planted 40 saplings with each of the 40 kids there . They really loved putting soil in the pod, watering the sapling and seeing the whole thing.

School Principal and teachers will make these 40 kids water these saplings daily so that these kids feel  the nature and see the sapling growing. I am very happy that I could teach them simple and useful eco values which , I am sure, they will remember for ever as they have done it themselves in a fun-filled way.

Planting trees should be part of every school curriculum as trees are the lungs and lifelines of Earth. Students become aware that they can play a role in protecting the environment through personal involvement. Experience of such events  will help them make intelligent decisions about conservation and use of our valuable natural resources.

My idea behind this activity was to generate kids' interest in environment and create the sense of responsibility(towards environment) in the child's behavior and foster environmental stewardship. These cute kids were the primary planters today and by planting saplings themselves it gave them a sense of ownership and increased their knowledge of trees.

I am so thankful to media for covering this activity, appreciating it and featuring it in their newspapers so that it could inspire others.

The online links for various media reports are :

7 Days

http://pages.cdn.pagesuite.com/6/d/6dfc6d4d-fa1a-4d0b-9b33-d7f431ce2ed3/page.pdf

Dubai PR

http://www.dubaiprnetwork.com/pr.asp?pr=109244

Go Dubai

http://www.godubai.com/citylife/press_release_page.asp?PR=109244&Sname=Government,%20Legal%20and%20Humanity

Azad News

http://azadnewsme.com/en/54/6/7868/Young-environmentalist-plants-trees-with-kids-ahead-of-Earth-Day.htm

The Gulf Today

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/b84a3237-781f-4641-9e00-5e953527b82d.aspx

Khaleej Times

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/happiness-times/young-dubai-eco-warrior-plants-seeds-for-greener-future

https://www.facebook.com/khaleejtimes/posts/10153554818107864?fref=nf