Things We Make and Do
Overview
"Things We Make and Do" is a core theme in EVS for Classes III-V that connects children's learning to the world of work, crafts, and responsible consumption. This topic builds awareness about how everyday objects are made, the occupations involved in making them, and how we can reduce waste through recycling and proper management.
For UTET Paper I, this theme is significant because it tests your understanding of activity-based, child-centred pedagogy. Questions often link local crafts of Uttarakhand (like woollen weaving, ringaal basketry) with broader concepts of sustainable living. Expect questions on traditional occupations, the 3R principle, and how teachers can use local resources to make EVS learning meaningful.
Mastering this topic requires understanding both the content (what crafts exist, how recycling works) and the pedagogical approach (why we teach this, how to connect it to children's lives).
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Key Concepts
- **Learning by doing**: EVS emphasises that children learn best when they actively make, create, and experiment rather than passively memorise facts.
- **Local to global connection**: Teaching starts from objects and occupations in the child's immediate environment before moving to regional and national contexts.
- **Dignity of labour**: All occupations—whether potter, weaver, farmer, or doctor—deserve equal respect. This value must be integrated into teaching.
- **Interdependence**: People in a community depend on each other's skills and products; a carpenter needs the blacksmith's nails, the farmer needs the potter's storage vessels.
- **Sustainable consumption**: The idea that we should reduce what we use, reuse items, and recycle materials to protect the environment.
- **Indigenous knowledge**: Traditional crafts carry generations of knowledge about local materials, climate-appropriate designs, and sustainable practices.
- **Waste as a resource**: What we call "waste" can often become raw material for something new—this shift in thinking is central to waste management education.
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Key Facts
| Area | Must-Remember Points | |------|---------------------| | **3Rs Principle** | Reduce → Reuse → Recycle (in order of priority) | | **Uttarakhand Crafts** | Aipan (floor art), Ringaal (bamboo craft), Pashmina/woollen weaving, wood carving, copper utensils | | **Traditional Occupations** | Potter (kumhar), weaver (bunkar), blacksmith (lohar), carpenter (badhai), cobbler (mochi) | | **Biodegradable waste** | Kitchen scraps, paper, leaves, cotton—decomposes naturally | | **Non-biodegradable waste** | Plastic, glass, metal, thermocol—does not decompose easily | | **Composting** | Process of converting biodegradable waste into manure | | **Vermicomposting** | Composting using earthworms—produces nutrient-rich fertiliser | | **Blue and Green bins** | Blue for dry/recyclable waste, Green for wet/biodegradable waste |
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Worked Examples
### Example 1: Identifying Craft and Raw Material **Question**: Ramu's grandfather makes baskets from thin strips of a plant that grows near rivers in Uttarakhand. What is this craft called and what is the raw material?
**Solution**:
- Step 1: Identify the clue—thin strips from a plant near rivers points to bamboo or ringaal (a type of dwarf bamboo).
- Step 2: Ringaal grows abundantly in Uttarakhand's middle Himalayan zone.
- Step 3: The craft of making baskets, mats, and containers from ringaal is called **Ringaal craft**.
- **Answer**: Ringaal craft; raw material is Ringaal (Himalayan bamboo).
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### Example 2: Waste Segregation **Question**: Meera has the following items to throw away: banana peel, broken glass bangle, old newspaper, plastic bottle. How should she segregate them?
**Solution**:
- Step 1: Identify biodegradable items—banana peel (decomposes naturally) → Green bin.
- Step 2: Identify non-biodegradable but recyclable items—old newspaper (recyclable paper), plastic bottle (recyclable plastic), broken glass bangle (recyclable glass) → Blue bin.
- **Answer**: Green bin: banana peel. Blue bin: glass bangle, newspaper, plastic bottle.
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### Example 3: Applying the 3Rs **Question**: A school generates a lot of paper waste. Suggest one action each for Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
**Solution**:
- **Reduce**: Use both sides of paper for writing; avoid unnecessary printouts.
- **Reuse**: Use old newspapers for making paper bags or craft projects.
- **Recycle**: Collect waste paper and send it to a recycling unit where it becomes new paper.
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Common Mistakes
| Wrong Thinking | Correct Understanding | |---------------|----------------------| | "Recycle is the most important of the 3Rs" | **Reduce comes first**—it's better to not create waste than to manage it later. The order is Reduce → Reuse → Recycle. | | "All plastic can be recycled easily" | Many plastics (like multi-layered chip packets, thermocol) are **difficult or impossible to recycle**. Hence, reducing plastic use is essential. | | "Traditional crafts are outdated and not relevant" | Traditional crafts use **local, sustainable materials** and provide livelihoods. They are highly relevant to environmental and economic education. | | "Wet waste and dry waste are the same as biodegradable and non-biodegradable" | Mostly overlap, but not always identical. A wet plastic wrapper is still non-biodegradable. Focus on **material type**, not just moisture. | | "Teaching occupations means just listing job names" | Pedagogy requires connecting occupations to **children's observations**—whose parents do what, what tools they use, how products reach us. |
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Quick Reference
- **3Rs order**: Reduce first, Reuse second, Recycle third.
- **Green bin = wet/biodegradable; Blue bin = dry/recyclable**.
- **Uttarakhand crafts to remember**: Aipan, Ringaal, woollen weaving, wood carving.
- **Biodegradable**: anything that rots (food, paper, leaves). **Non-biodegradable**: plastic, glass, metal.
- **Composting**: nature's way of recycling organic waste into manure.
- **EVS pedagogy**: always connect crafts and occupations to the child's own family, village, and daily life before teaching textbook content.