Free ‘Champions of the Earth’ Educational Materials by E.ON

One of the most important tools for educating children about sustainability is the transfer of knowledge: the more diverse the ways in which children encounter environmental issues – and the more senses these experiences engage – the more deeply that knowledge and mindset can become ingrained in their thinking.

Four years of experience with the E.ON Earth Champions competition show that children truly understand the fragility of the environment and the opportunities inherent in protecting it when they not only hear or read about it, but also get to experiment, observe, create, and take action themselves. In this way, the knowledge imparted becomes a personal experience and leaves a much more lasting impression.

Following this approach, the E.ON Hungária Group, in collaboration with the FUNtastic Academy, developed the ‘Champions of the Earth’ curriculum, which offers playful, experiential, and multifaceted sustainability activities tailored to different age groups, from preschool through high school. The curriculum is free, available to anyone, and supports educators’ work with detailed lesson plans.

“We shape the future not only through our innovations and the solutions we implement to ensure a clean and secure energy supply, but also through education and by shaping the mindset of future generations. The kind of world our children will live in as adults depends on us, on the knowledge and perspectives we pass on to them. “The curriculum we’re presenting today allows children to experience, even at a young age, the many opportunities that knowledge, cooperation, and collective action offer them in shaping their environment,” Gergely Losonczi, Director of Corporate Communications at the E.ON Hungária Group, said.

The curriculum engages children in different ways depending on their age group. Preschoolers can learn about how their environment works – such as the water cycle, the value of a healthy forest, or the logic behind recycling – through stories, coloring pages, and simple experiments.

Elementary and middle school students can work with videos, magazines, educational games, workbooks, and project assignments. At the Green Superhero Academy, they practice energy conservation, while the Secret pH Detectives investigate the effects of acid rain. Hungary’s natural treasures, habitats, and national parks are also featured in the sustainability curriculum: The Little Nature Rangers Handbook playfully introduces the protected animals and plants of forests, meadows, waterfronts, wetlands, and mountainous regions, while the National Park Mission Log features activities such as tracking, habitat matching, and “what can we do to help?”-type tasks for the children.

For high school students, more thought-provoking content has been prepared: magazines, group projects, and discussion-generating questions. As part of their assignments, high school students will organize a climate summit, examine ocean acidification, and, working in teams, design a fully sustainable, smart neighborhood: here, the emphasis is truly on hands-on problem-solving.

A common feature of these challenges is that they are age-appropriate, child-friendly, short, yet informative. They can be followed step by step, are adaptable, facilitate playful knowledge-sharing, and develop a variety of skills – from concentration and observation to teamwork and critical thinking.