We like to think that the impact of our education is lasting. Nia House aims to create life-long lovers of learning. We hope to share in values that nurture healthy decision making.

Montessori encourages care of self, care of others, and care of the environment. While care of the environment can be as simple as sweeping, scrubbing a table, or composting, it extends into the choices we make about the longevity and impact of the day-to-day things we use.

Life Without Plastic not only shares in this vision, they directly support Nia House in executing it! Life Without Plastic has provided Nia House with stainless steel cups at whole sale cost. For the past ten years, Nia House has purchased a cup for each child and inscribed it with their name. The cups are used daily at Nia House. When children graduate, they take their inscribed cup with them for home use and as a memory of their years here at Nia House.

While at Nia House, these cups play a significant role in our children’s day.

At 18 months, children come to Nia House to begin their journey of self-care and meeting their own needs. When toddlers are thirsty, they find the stainless still cup inscribed with their name and pour their very own cup of water. At lunch, after washing their hands, toddlers come to their lunch tables to find their cup, with their name.

Every morning, the primary aged children, ages 3 to 6 years old, take a tray of cups, napkins, and silverware to set tables in preparation for lunch. They are able to look at the cups and identify which friends are sitting at their table. At lunch time, the children ask one another and their teachers, “Can you help me find my cup?”

We are so grateful to Life Without Plastic for supporting our community’s goal of being waste-free and in sharing with our children that items can be reused and, like learning, made to last.

Life Without Plastic has amazing products that you might want for your home or waste-free lifestyle. lifewithoutplastic.com

In the midst of getting to and from work and school, navigating bath time, bedtime routine, getting in some quality time with the family and so much more- lunch packing should be swift and hassle-free. Nia House wants this for you. We also intend to make environmental stewards of your children, leave them a world with less waste, and promote healthful eating so their bodies feel strong, healthy, and ready to learn. For this reason, Nia House needs your help in packing environmentally friendly, waste free, and health filled lunches.

At Nia House, there are no garbage cans in children’s spaces. Compost bins are available for lunch waste, paper towels, and tissues. Recycling is available, however, recycling has serious environmental drawbacks. In an ideal world, which we need your help in creating, compost will be the only waste option. Therefore, we ask that you send NO DISPOSABLE PACKAGING in your child’s lunch. Here are some common items we see:

Not only are these items non-recyclable, they often end up littering our school yard.

A Huffington Post Blogger calculated that packing with reusable containers and avoiding disposable packaging can save you $400 per year! Such a cost saving might be worth the extra effort! Being eco-friendly is all about building new habits and routines. We are happy to support you make the changes needed to make Nia House’s lunches waste-free, earth friendly, and healthy.

Here are some tips to get started in packing eco-friendly lunches to Nia House:

Skip the individually wrapped items and buy in bulk. Instead of cheese sticks or individual yogurts, you can buy in bulk and send these items in reusable containers.
Buy reusable containers. Remember to label the container and the lid with your child’s name. If washing these each night feels a hassle, have the children help. Once you get home, fill a tub with bubbly water, hand over a sponge or scrubber, and 75% of the time they will likely oblige. Soap and water equals fun!
Prepare lunch the night before. We all know, the morning is a scramble. Boil eggs over the weekend, have the children slice and pack the cheese, cut the fruit, make the sandwich or pack up dinner’s leftovers.

We understand that for many this is a major lifestyle shift. Please reach out if you need more ideas or support. Thank you so much for supporting our efforts at being waste-free and instilling in our children values that will make the planet more inhabitable and their bodies all the more healthy.