Research from New Zealand and Sri Lanka reveals that integrating prayer, meditation, and moral teachings into preschool routines can nurture children’s respect for nature and promote eco-friendly behaviour from a young age.
A doctoral study from New Zealand-based educator and researcher Dilini Chathurika Pallege Ralalage argues that everyday Buddhist practice can help young children develop a lasting respect for the natural world. Writing about research in Sri Lankan early childhood education settings, Pallege Ralalage says that routines built around prayer, meditation and moral instruction can shape children’s sense of empathy not only towards people but also towards animals, plants and the wider environment.
Her account centres on three teachers at Nature Friends Centre, where religious observances were woven into the morning routine. Children gathered at dawn, offered flowers to Buddha and then took part in reciting the five precepts before a short loving-kindness meditation. The research describes how one teacher simplified the practice for young children, first encouraging self-care and family care, then extending that circle of goodwill to all living beings. Pallege Ralalage says the response from children suggested that the exercise was not abstract ritual, but a way of helping them understand themselves as gentle and responsible members of a living community.
The study also draws on interviews with other teachers, who described meditation as a practical tool for shaping conduct from an early age. One teacher said the aim was to teach children that “all creatures” includes even the smallest forms of life, while others linked meditation to mindfulness, reflection and kind behaviour towards nature. The research presents these practices as part of a wider moral education, in which Buddhist ideas of non-harm, kindness and self-discipline are used to nurture environmental sensitivity.
The argument is supported by wider research. A review of early childhood environmental education published in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly found that nature-rich, play-based approaches can strengthen cognitive and social-emotional development, while also encouraging pro-environmental behaviour. Separate academic work on Buddhist environmental education has similarly argued that the Five Precepts and related teachings provide a framework for stewardship, selflessness and kindness in the face of ecological decline. Other scholars have made parallel claims in Islamic, Indonesian and broader early years settings, suggesting that spiritual traditions can be adapted into environmental learning across different cultures.
Pallege Ralalage also places her findings alongside research from Aotearoa New Zealand, where Māori narratives, karakia, māra kai, gardening and rongoā have been used to build children’s connection to Papatūānuku and Ranginui. Taken together, the studies suggest that eco-spirituality is not confined to one faith tradition. Rather, they point to a broader educational principle: when early childhood centres make room for belief, ritual and reverence, children may be more likely to grow into careful, environmentally literate citizens.
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