Everyone needs clean air. To find out what you or your school can do we have developed the following Clean Air 4 Kids Toolkit.
This is for anyone who wants to explore the world of air quality. It is particularly aimed at providing adults with fun and engaging activities to complete with children in educational settings. Here you will find information on different ways in which to bring the subject of air quality to life, with interactive ideas to get conversations started.
This toolkit is in three sections:
The first section includes introductory activities where the focus is about engaging and enthusing children around the topic of air quality.
The second section provides more formal session plans for investigating the air quality in the school environment, with age specific worksheets for the children to complete.
The final section details wider campaigns and initiatives that schools and individuals can get involved in. These help raise awareness of air quality issues in the wider community and encourage people to make small changes to improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Section One: Activities
These are a great way to introduce children to air quality issues. They are adult led and focus on inspiring children to want to learn more. They can be delivered individually, grouped together to form a workshop, or used to introduce investigations from section two. Follow the links below for information on how to deliver these activities. The duration of the activities is also shown below. They can be easily adapted for different aged children.
- Why is air quality important? An introduction to the links between air quality and the biological processes within your body- 5 minutes.
- What’s around me? Looking at live pollution level maps of your local area brings to life the importance of air quality issues- 15 minutes.
- Sources of pollution. An exercise to consider and learn the different sources of air pollution- 15 minutes.
- Up in the sky. Using real time aeroplane flight data to inspire children when considering air quality on a large scale- 15 minutes.
- What does poor air quality look/ taste/ smell like? An activity focused on our awareness of poor air quality- 15 minutes.
- How does poor air quality affect our health? Looking at the short and long term health implications of living with poor air quality- 15 minutes.
- How do our lungs work? Using broccoli as a visual aid, learn about lungs and the role they play in keeping us alive- 10 minutes.
- The world in detail… Let’s explore the microworld with pocket microscopes- 20 minutes.
- How motor vehicles work. Learn about the different pollutants produced by motor vehicles, and how these impact us- 10 minutes.
Section Two: Investigations
This section provides resources for investigating the air quality of different locations around the school. They are linked to the National Curriculum, and provide worksheets for the children to complete with mathematics, english, science and geography elements. The first two investigations can be completed in one session. The third section measures nitrogen dioxide over 3-4 weeks and can be split into two or three sessions.
- Particulate matter- using sticky tape to learn about particulate matter, investigating its presence in different locations. This investigation can be enhanced by the children using pocket microscope.
- Love lichen- learn about these natural bio-indicators and investigating where they grow in relation to different sources of pollution.
- Diffusion tubes- use scientific equipment, processes and analysis to measure the levels of nitrogen dioxide at different locations. This will require scientific equipment, which is available to purchase on-line.
Section 3: Get involved
There are many ways in which you can improve the air quality in your local community, with plenty of resources available online, why not have a look at our Carbon Neutral Cornwall Hive, where there are more resources to explore.
Here are a few more ideas…..
Child/school focused initiatives:
- Encouraging Active Travel- Encouraging more walking, cycling and scootering will reduce the number of cars, helping to improve the air quality. Here you will find guidance on bike maintenance, route planning and setting up a park and stride car park.
- Start a student Eco-Council within your school, where air quality issues and action can be discussed, with support from an adult Air Quality Champion. You may want to start weekly scooter and bike counts, and competitions between classes for the amount of active travel taking place with prizes and rewards for the winners.
- Get involved in Cornwall Council’s Junior Safety Officer programme. You will find information on how to sign up and resources to help you with your projects. The JSO manual contains information on Road Safety: Be safe, be seen, cycling, pedestrian safety and much more.
- Run an anti-idling campaign to encourage drivers to switch off their engines whilst stationary, particularly whilst waiting outside schools.
- Take part in national challenges to encourage children to cycle, scooter and walk more, such as Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel. This free initiative takes place over two weeks every spring and is a great way to encourage active travel to school. There are lots of resources available for schools, which are updated every year. Other initiatives include Walk to School Week, National Clean Air Day, and Cycle to School Week.
- Consider changing the focus of the area immediately outside your school. You may be able to transform the space into a School Street, with traffic limited during drop-off and pick-up times.
- Sign your school up to the Eco-Schools initiative to gain Green Flag accreditation. Activities you complete to improve the air quality in your local area can be used towards this.
- Get support producing sustainable school travel plans with Modeshift Stars
Adult focused initiatives:
- Take part in the annual Cornwall Active Travel Challenge. This free online challenge takes place over four weeks every summer and is open to all adults in Cornwall. It is a great way to get active, log your journeys and win prizes! Why not enter a team from your workplace? Search online for Cornwall Active Travel Challenge.
- Cornwall Car Share is a lift sharing service open to any adult in Cornwall. Car sharing is a great way to save money, alleviate the stress caused by travel and reduce road and parking congestion. It is free to sign up.