“If you love something, set it free”: Exploring relationships with living things

Young children often form a strong attachment to animals (mainly insects and bugs!) and this more often than not leads to an overwhelming desire to keep them. As an Early Childhood Educator, I have found myself having many conversations with children about why an animal needs to be left in its own environment rather than becoming a pet. I find these conversations to be a balancing act between ensuring children maintain their passion and awe for the environment, whilst teaching them to respect animals and their right to be left in their natural habitat. 

So how do we teach children that observing an animal is enough and we don’t need to ‘keep’ it? Here are 5 ways you can foster a better understanding of ‘empathy’ and ‘attachment’ as a parent and as an Educator in your programming and planning cycles.

Mood boards: I often use a mood board in my preschool and, as we are reading a book, I ask lots of questions about the central characters. For example, How are they feeling? How do you think they have made someone feel? Do you think that is fair?, etc. I then ask my preschoolers to point to the emotion on the board that matches the one they see or feel in the character.

Reading books: I look for books that foster the concept of empathy. I have been reading our book, Flora and Rainbow Hopping Bug, to my preschoolers, which tells the story of a very eager nature enthusiast, Flora, and her passionate desire to keep a cricket as a pet. The book is ultimately about the things she discovers as she seeks to find him. It is beautifully illustrated and is also in rhyme which young children relate to.

Sand Mandalas: Tibetan Buddhist Monks produce works of art called Sand Mandalas, which are intricate works of art that can take many weeks to complete. Once the mandala is finished, the Monks simply sweep them away - it is an amazing lesson in not becoming too attached to something. I set up a mandala activity in my preschool room using different coloured sand and a simple design drawn on a large tray. They loved filling in the picture with sand to create their very own mandala and the effect was absolutely stunning.

Insect habitat: Making a habitat that mirrors an animals environment is a great activity and a rich learning experience. I have used clay, branches, leaves, soil, etc and then made paper insects or pet rocks to go into the display. 

Role Modelling: There are lots of opportunities throughout the preschool day to role model empathy. By always asking children to consider something from a different point of view, we begin to build up their ability to understand how other people might be feeling. This is a skill that takes time and patience to develop.

Helen Lewis is a Senior Early Childhood Educator, Educational Leader and Qualified ECE Trainer and Assessor, with over a decade of experience working with young children. She currently works for Australia’s largest not-for-profit Early Childhood Education provider and is also the co-founder of Rainbow Hopping Bug (www.rainbowhoppingbug.com) and Future Fit Families (www.futurefitfamilies.com). Both enterprises seek to educate and support parents to better understand the needs of their children at different points in their life journey.