As the planet’s community stumbles across systemic tipping points, global temperature thresholds (Steffen et al., 2018) and planetary boundaries (Richardson et al., 2023), we wonder what the future holds for young children. There is a perception that successive global events such as wildfires, floods and pandemics are creating a polycrisis; or, a cascade of shocks with unanticipated and interdependent consequences for all (UNICEF, 2023). How the planetary community responds to this polycrisis will echo down the generations, but most significantly impact the young children we teach today. Notably, the World Health Organization (2017) has previously argued that climate change is ‘one of the greatest new threats to children’s environmental health’ (p. xii). Unfortunately, it is no longer new and the threats are exacerbated with each mitigation delay. In addition, health authorities including the Lancet (Clark et al., 2020) are increasingly recognising the intersection between children’s health during early developmental stages and the impacts of climate events. To dwell on such matters may evoke feelings of solastalgia and eco-anxiety and these are increasingly reported (Baker et al., 2020; Sanson et al., 2019).