4 Fun & Educational Activities for National Recycling Week
National Recycling Week is an important time to teach the children they can make a difference – after all, they are our future! Teaching children to care for the environment is a learning experience that is an important part of growing up. It gives them skills in respect, empathy, responsibility and teaches them about consequences. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Its important that children see how much waste is being thrown away, so collect the classroom waste for a whole week and they will be shocked. Separate the recycling into 3 different bins 1. General recycling 2. Soft Plastics 3. Food Waste. It helps to download the “What can be recycled?” poster from teachstarter.com.
And here are 4 great activity ideas for National Recycling Week to encourage children to clean up their act:
- Have a Swap Party! It’s a great way to celebrate National Recycling Week – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Get each child to bring one or two unwanted items such as toys or clothes from home to swap. (Make sure parents give their permission!) Have a bucket of swappable items in the classroom.
- Have an art & craft recycling activity turning junk into fun creations. Using classroom waste, build a class robot or create a unique classroom pet that doesn’t need feeding!
- Create planters out of plastic bottles that can be sent home with children or hang them in the centre for a beautiful hanging garden!
- Create a flower wall from paper scraps or recruit children’s families to collect plastic bottle and jar lids for a colourful recycled rainbow mosaic.
