I have spent sunny days in the garden reading the excellent Engineering Education for the Next Generation by Samuel Cord Stier, who is the executive director of The Center for Learning with Nature. This book, together with wild gardening books, Wild Your Garden and Wildlife Gardening, provided the basis for the ideas about bringing sustainability into the classroom or home.
Sustainability is rarely explored in the lower grades, yet I think it can be introduced by using engaging activities that provide children with hope for the future while at the same time inspiring a love and fascination for nature. Nature produces materials without mining, produces power without pollution, and reuses materials. Children can learn from nature and develop strategies to design a world that is long-lasting.
This project-based learning unit is inspired by the popular “Write the Room”. The idea behind “Invent the Room” is to provide students with opportunities to explore the objects in the room from a sustainability and biomimicry perspective.
Children are asked to carry out a Life Cycle Analysis of an object in the room. Then the task is to make the production, transportation and disposal of the thing more sustainable. Included in the resource are inspirations about how to use animals and plants to design or invent things.
Perfect for exploring in the classroom, at school or at home. Engaging science resource to welcome students back to school.
You’ll find the resource here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biomimicry?
Biomimicry is the practice of looking to nature for solutions, then applying what we learn to design and problem-solving. Instead of inventing from scratch, it means studying how plants, animals, and ecosystems have already solved a challenge — like staying cool, collecting water, or absorbing carbon — and adapting that strategy for human use.
How does biomimicry help address climate change?
Nature has been adapting to extreme conditions for billions of years, so many organisms already hold working solutions to problems we now face at a larger scale — cooling buildings without electricity (termite mounds), collecting water in drought (the Namib beetle), protecting coastlines from storms (mangrove roots), and capturing carbon (corals, forests, kelp). Biomimicry means studying those solutions and applying the same principles to human design.
How can children get involved in biomimicry?
Children don’t need special training to think like a biomimicrist — just curiosity and a habit of asking “how does nature solve this?” Simple ways to start include a backyard scavenger hunt for nature’s patterns, a “design-an-animal” challenge for a changing climate, or building a small model (like a passive-cooling structure or a water collector) inspired by something they’ve observed outdoors.
Is biomimicry only for scientists and engineers?
No — biomimicry is as much a mindset as a profession. Anyone can practice it by observing nature closely and asking design questions. Professional biomimicry practitioners apply it in architecture, materials science, and engineering, but the same core skill — careful observation followed by “what if we built it that way?” — is exactly what this post’s classroom and family activities are designed to build in children.
Åsa Jomård
In 2015, Åsa completed a course in Biomimicry: A Sustainable Design Methodology at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. With over 10 years of experience exploring nature for inspiration and as a former member of Ben, Biomimicry Education Network, she brings both academic background and creative teaching experience to her work. Her materials seamlessly integrate stories, nature observations, and design challenges, making them perfect for inquiry-led learning in early primary contexts.
AI was used as a Thinking Partner.
A good post on Sustainability & Biomimicry. Thank you 😊
So glad you liked it!