Eco-friendly parenting: small stories that make a big difference

Discover how eco-friendly parenting starts with storytelling and small acts of kindness. From sharks to soil, these children’s books inspire greener thinking.

There’s something oddly reassuring about watching my eight-year-old crouched in the garden, poking the soil with a stick as if he’s on some important archaeological dig. It reminds me that children are natural explorers, not just consumers of screens. Their curiosity, occasionally muddy, is what shapes how they see the world. And if we can gently steer that curiosity toward kindness, nature, and empathy, we might just raise a generation that treats recycling as second nature rather than a chore.

With climate change hogging the headlines (again), now feels like a good time to start those conversations at home. I’m not talking about sitting your five-year-old down for a grim PowerPoint on rising sea levels, but about making the environment something they can see, feel and care about. That’s where stories come in.

Two picture books in particular have caught my attention lately: Lark The Shark by Natalie Newman and Dave Explores The Great Outdoors by Nicky Gould. Both use storytelling and rhyme to nudge children toward small acts of care for the planet, and they do it without any preachiness.

Lark the Shark: changing minds about the deep blue sea

Forget the usual man-eating movie monsters. Natalie Newman’s Lark The Shark gives us something far more refreshing: a friendly, misunderstood shark who loves his home and wants to keep it clean. The book, co-written with her young son Henry, is a vibrant picture book filled with humour, rhyme, and a big environmental message wrapped in fun.

Newman, a mum of two who’s passionate about literacy, wanted to create something her boys could relate to. Reading together is a big part of their life, and Lark The Shark is proof that shared imagination can turn into something magical. Each page splashes with colour and movement, an undersea world brimming with personality, and Lark himself is utterly endearing.

But the heart of the story lies in its message. Explaining ocean pollution to a four-year-old is no easy task, but Newman makes it beautifully simple. When people remove litter from the sea, she writes, “the sea starts to glitter.” It’s the sort of line that sticks, both because it rhymes and because it feels good to say out loud.

Lark isn’t some smug eco-warrior wagging a fin; he’s a relatable character trying to make sense of the mess humans have made. The book gently flips the script on our fear of sharks, reminding us that they have more to fear from us than we do from them. It’s clever, tender, and thought-provoking, all while holding the attention span of a preschooler.

When I read it with my son, he was instantly captivated. The illustrations drew him in, but it was the character of Lark, the “friendly shark who likes to clean up,” that he couldn’t stop talking about. And that’s the power of children’s literature when it’s done well. It sneaks the important stuff in through the back door of storytelling.

Dave explores the great outdoors

If Lark swims through seas of glitter, Dave scuttles through the soil. Dave Explores The Great Outdoors by Nicky Gould is the second book worth adding to your shelf, and it’s one for anyone who’s ever found a worm, screamed, and then realised their child was utterly delighted by it.

Gould’s woodland tale celebrates the bugs, butterflies, and bees that make up our world. The poetry is rhythmic and accessible, encouraging children to look closer at the natural world rather than recoil from it. The illustrations are lush, detailed, and full of movement and make every beetle and butterfly seem like a character worth knowing.

As a mum who’s more “hand sanitiser” than “barefoot in the soil,” I’ll admit, worms are not my thing. But my son adores them. Reading this book together gave me a new perspective on what he sees when he’s in the garden—something alive, intricate, and strangely beautiful.

Gould also slips in little facts throughout, and there’s a double-page spread at the end full of fascinating minibeast trivia. We spent a good twenty minutes afterwards chatting about which bug we’d least like to find in the bath (my vote: anything with more than six legs). That’s the magic of this kind of book, it extends beyond the page. It invites real-world curiosity.

Like Newman’s story, it teaches without lecturing. Kids learn why we need to protect bees and butterflies, why worms are unsung heroes of healthy soil, and why even the smallest creatures matter. It’s a quiet, gentle kind of environmentalism, the kind that starts with wonder.

Why these stories matter

We often think saving the planet requires grand gestures – solar panels, meat-free Mondays, or giving up holidays abroad. But sometimes, the biggest changes start with bedtime stories. When children fall in love with nature through characters like Lark and Dave, they start to see the world differently.

Spending time outdoors, getting mucky, learning about bugs or oceans – it all builds confidence and empathy. It gives children a sense of belonging and responsibility. And for us parents, it’s a reminder to slow down, to look up from the news or the endless to-do list, and notice the small wonders around us.

These stories also serve as a quiet counterbalance to the screen-heavy childhood so many kids now have. A few pages of rhyme about sea creatures and soil dwellers can do more for a child’s curiosity than a dozen educational apps ever could. It’s real, it’s tactile, and it’s connection, the kind that sticks.

Final thoughts: small stories, big impact

I’m not naive enough to think a rhyming shark and a worm-loving boy can reverse climate change. But they can start conversations, and that’s where all real change begins. When children grow up with empathy for animals and awareness of the world around them, they carry that into adulthood.

So, the next time your child drags you out into the drizzle to “rescue” a snail or insists on saving a bit of garden space for the bees, let them. They’re practising the kind of kindness the planet desperately needs.