Playing Cool: The Sustainable Cool Cubby

Abstract

PLAYING IN CUBBY HOUSES has been a long tradition with children. When a cubby house is given sustainable lifestyle components—that is, converted into a ‘Cool Cubby’—how does this influence awareness about sustainability? Since 2009 there have been significant innovations in Australia to promote sustainable practices, and the Cool Cubbies Project is a small-scale example of such an initiative. Giving cubby houses sustainable components is innovative, and represents a play-based approach to teaching, in line with early childhood principles of learning. This paper reports on an evaluation of the Cool Cubbies Project (Rous Water, 2015). Cubby houses in five preschools were converted into Cool Cubbies by adding features of sustainable living, including biodiversity, water, waste and energy. An evaluation of the impact of Cool Cubbies raised awareness about sustainable living with young children, educators, families and community. This is a key example of developing resources to support a more sustainable future, through the act of creating a learning resource grounded in sustainable practices for children's play.