Nursery schools ban glitter from Christmas crafts (and ask others to do the same)

Children will not be allowed to use glitter on Christmas cards

'Tis the season to be jolly… but not if you're a fan of glitter, because the sparkly stuff has been banned from a chain of 19 nurseries in the South of England, and they're calling for more to follow suit.

The substance can be a bit 'Marmite' for many, with people having a love and hate relationship with it – after all, it does get everywhere.

But, that aside, it is popular for adding a festive flourish to anything homemade, such as Christmas cards and decorations - especially when they're being crafted by kids.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Cheryl Hadland, the managing director of Tops Day Nurseries, said she decided to ban glitter from all of their branches after realising that it is a microplastic which does 'terrible damage' to nature.

She went on to explain that there are 22,000 nurseries in the country and if they're all getting through kilos of glitter, they're doing a huge amount of damage to the environment, before adding: 'this world is for [the children].'

Cheryl, who has been running nurseries for the last three decades, continued: 'You can't really recycle it because it's so small, you can't separate it from anything.'

Though she did admit that on a personal level, she 'loved it', she couldn't stand by the idea of keeping it her schools.

'I love glitter, it's lovely, shiny, twinkly stuff, so it is kind of sad, but when we're wrecking the environment we really can't be doing it,' Cheryl detailed.

While it may be tempting to allow toddlers to use glitter for Christmas-themed arts and crafts classes, she explained that it does far more harm than good in the long run, as it is 'wrecking' their futures. Suggested replacements for glitter are lentils and rice.

What do you think? Would you like to see glitter banned from schools across the country? Let us know in the comments box below.

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