Saving and appreciating electricity starts as a child

In homes and schools across the country, the task of responsibly saving electricity is most often carried out by teachers and parents. But, to truly stop electricity wastage in future generations, it’s time to get our country’s little ones and pre-teens actively involved.

The opportunities to teach our kids about saving electricity and using it more consciously, present themselves every day, in our classrooms and in our homes. By making our children aware at a younger age, they will take their new knowledge home to help stem the electricity waste tide today. Their actions today will afford South Africa a more brightly lit future tomorrow.

As parents and teachers, we can use the Eskom grade R – grade 9 and the Ruby and the Powerpals book resource materials, to find new ways to keep our kids’ attention and make the electricity saving topic more engaging.

Here are some tips and tricks to help the kids in your life take note of this important topic:

• Use actively engaging electricity saving examples in the classroom and at home. For example:
• Closing the refrigerator door (see the Ruby book and see how Freddie the fridge does this in very funny way)
• Turning off the lights when leaving a room (Lighty the Lights witch engages with Ruby and teaches her this.
• Turning off plugs that are not in use
• Turning off the oven after taking out the food
• Turning off the TV, game console or computer when not in use (Tini remote teaches Ruby this for the TV
• Taking a quick shower instead of a bath (Gertie the geyser and Hottie the hot tap does not with Ruby with great delight)
• Encourage your kids to keep a list of their electricity saving habits and to share them in class with their friends. • Take your kids along when buying new globes for your home to teach them the difference between electricity saving and wasteful varieties.
• When teaching kids about pocket money and saving, share with them that nothing in life is free, including the electricity they use.
• Leaving a room with a light on is the same as leaving a tap running.
• Visit Eskom’s downloads centre for more helpful educational content: Ruby and the Powerpals

A class activity will always bring energy saving to life. Teachers and parents can have elections and vote in Ministers of Water Affairs, Ministers of Energy and Ministers of Recycling. Each minister looks after that expense and usage in the home and in class, they get spotters and helpers to assist them to share savings tips and to root out wastage. A fun activity that can be developed further to teach children the responsibility of appreciating our resources.

The more we actively engage our kids on the topic of electricity saving in everyday life, the brighter everyone’s futures will become.