LocationsLittle Hands, Big Impact: Belarus Raises Plastic Awareness at Preschool
June 5, 2025
In Minsk’s Kindergarten No 568, crafts are a staple of the morning routine. One project in particular catches the eye. Huddled around a table, a group of preschoolers is busy assembling a colorful art piece made entirely from plastic bottle caps. The blue ones represent the Earth, while the green caps form trees - a symbol of efforts to make the planet cleaner.
“What happens if we just throw them away?” the teacher asks. Without hesitation, the children reply: “The planet will get polluted and turn into a huge landfill.
What’s striking is not just creativity, but the confidence with which these six-year-olds talk about waste and pollution. That’s no coincidence. The activity is just one of many in a carefully coordinated effort by the kindergarten to nurture care for nature from an early age.
Green schools: An early start to a sustainable future
Last year, the kindergarten became part of Green Schools - a network first launched by UNDP in 2010, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. Since then, the programme has evolved into a countrywide effort to embed sustainability in everyday learning, expanding to include preschools, universities, and extracurricular education centres. It now encompasses 739 institutions across Belarus, with children as young as five learning about recycling, energy saving and biodiversity alongside their ABCs.
“When I first started working here and saw how green the place was, I knew right away I wanted to focus on environmental education,” says Svetlana Dracheva, the head of the kindergarten.
The playgrounds live up to that vision. The first step was creating an eco-trail - outdoor learning spaces designed to help children explore nature up close. With everyone involved - educators, parents and children - the kindergarten territory has been transformed into a vibrant hub for green education.
An insect hotel and a bird canteen support local wildlife and double as living classrooms. A rose alley, an alpine garden, and a small lily pond burst with colour, introducing children to the richness of the natural world.
The kindergarten even boasts its own mini weather station, where kids learn to observe and interpret nature’s patterns.
Pointing to a weather vane, the nursery teacher helps kids identify the wind direction.
Cloud-spotting is a particular favourite: using a ’cloud catcher’, children eagerly trace shapes drifting overhead.
The results of all these efforts were not long in coming. Within just a year of joining the programme, the kindergarten was awarded a first-degree diploma for its environmental work. Plastic awareness plays a big part in that success. From sorting waste to repurposing materials in crafts, children are developing a hands-on understanding of the environmental impact of everyday choices.
From waste to wealth: Giving plastic a second life
Since its launch, the Green Schools project has grown both in size and in scope. The curriculum now spans six thematic components, covering everything from biodiversity to energy efficiency and giving children a rounded, hands-on introduction to environmental issues.
“At our kindergarten, we wanted to make sure each theme got the attention it deserves,” says Svetlana. “So we split all the preschoolers, aged five to seven, into groups. Each one focuses on a different topic - they work on their own projects, then come together to share what they’ve learned. It also helps kids understand that everything in nature is connected.”
To support this learning, teachers have designed a wide variety of games and activities, many themed around waste and literally handcrafted from leftover plastic.
One game repurposes broken food containers into educational tools that resemble real bins, helping children develop practical recycling skills. Another transforms recycled plastic into flashcards for memorising animals and trees, or into pieces for board games.
The youngest learners use recycled bottles to explore seasons and natural phenomena. By associating the items floating inside with summer, night, or rain, they turn abstract concepts into playful discoveries.
Together, these activities bring the idea of ‘waste to wealth’ to life, turning environmental lessons into fun and excitement. In the biggest campaign of the year, children of all ages joined forces to collect plastic bottle caps, proudly arriving each morning with their pockets stuffed full. These were then taken to a local recycling point.
During an eco-fashion show, six-year-old Milana walked the runway in a dress crafted entirely from single-use utensils.
Green education for plastic awareness
Plastic pollution reaches every corner of our planet - from the deepest oceans to the highest mountains - and even inside our bodies, where microplastics have been found. Globally, over 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year, and an estimated 8 million tonnes end up in the oceans alone. Tackling this growing crisis requires urgent, collective action.
This is where green education plays a vital role. By nurturing environmental awareness and responsibility from the earliest age, initiatives like Green Schools help shape lifelong habits, turning knowledge into values, and values into action.
“In our workshops, children use their imagination to give plastic waste a second life, creating beauty from things others discard,” concludes Svetlana. “Perhaps adults, too, could imagine a different future - one where we rethink our habits, recycle waste, and treat our planet with the care it deserves.”
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