As a mature trainee about to embark on a postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE) course as an early-years specialist, the author has been thinking about how she will approach her science teaching, and how it will fit with her beliefs about the importance of education for sustainable development (ESD). In researching how she could go about this, the author has found that the recipe for success may lie in combining an early-years' approach to science, focusing on the development of beliefs, values and attitudes, with the core values enshrined within ESD. In this article, the author suggests ways of integrating early-years science objectives with those of education for sustainable development.