Ecotherapy With
Soak clay pots in water for a couple of hours. Use an adhesive, like mortar, caulk or glue and tile grout, if desired, to attach the tile fragments to a pot of your choice. Create your own design with the tiles, clean them up with a damp towel and let dry. Afterwards, you can pot a plant in your new creation!
Palette garden: Use discarded palettes to create a frame to construct garden beds for different types of plants, even succulents!
Potpourri: Collect flowers or use faded birthday flowers and dry them for this creative activity. Put the dried flowers in jars. The jars lock in the fragrance which you can enjoy by leaving the tops open.
3. Eco for kids
Collecting adventures: Take a nature walk exploration with a child and collect found items along the way. Search and scan the area for various items of nature. For example, seed pods, seeds, feathers, stones and dry leaves. After collecting, take them home and make a collage on cartridge or other paper by gluing them on.
Leaf rubbing: This teaches children about the intricacies of leaves and other surfaces like tree bark. You don’t even have to pick the leaf, though easier for the exercise. You can ago around from plant to plant with paper and charcoal or pencil. Hold the paper over the leaf or even the bark of a tree. Do some light shading to imprint the texture and design of the leaf.
Gardening projects: It’s always fun to plant in ground or pot and plant then watch things grow, especially for our little ones, be it a potted garden or a vegetable patch. Even more so when they can reap their own fruits and veggies!
Nature scavenger hunts: Nature-based scavenger hunts are always fun for kids. Go out on a nature walk. Make a list before or during the walk of unique and eye-catching aspects in nature and have your little one find them. For example, a brightly coloured leaf or flower, a rock with a particular shape, a special tree or even an easy-tofind insect. To play, you don’t have to be where there a lot of trees or nature. Even pointing out the weeds that are growing in the concrete cracks is good.
Climbing trees, skipping stones, making paper out of cut grass. The options are endless.
Nature for the body
Jamaica has been hot on “nature for the body” for centuries. Our natural remedies, from cerasee to leaf of life, have inspired Bianca. She says, “On a physical level, natural remedies have enhanced my wellness.” Having planted her own fever grass and other herbs, “adding superfoods, especially those that you grow yourself, brings a lot of joy and motivation…the natural ways to strengthen your body are helpful, not only to treat COVID-19, but also to keep your immune system strong”.
As we commence a New Year, let’s go a little bit more eco-friendly and make a commitment to spend a little more time to connect with nature, our families and ourselves.
May 2021 bring us all nature’s peace, pleasant wonder and quiet sense of joy!
*Bianca Young is an environmental consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme and the Sandals Foundation.