Materials
Box of biodegradable trash bags Magazines
Large poster board Glue
Markers
Instructions
1. As a group, prepare a poster using pictures from magazines to help children understand what ecology and recycling are and how important they are for everyday living and for the future. Cut out pictures of plastic items such as dish soap, soda containers, and so on. Find something to illustrate aluminum cans, glass jars and bottles, etc. Cut out a picture of anything that is considered a recyclable product. The pictures on the poster can serve as reminders that those items can be used over again and need not be tossed out into our overcrowded landfills.
2. Check with various recycling centers to find out what they take and what they don't. List on the poster the many things that can be recycled, such as newspapers, telephone directories, magazines, glass jars and bottles, milk cartons or jugs, aluminum cans or clean foil, egg cartons, cardboard, etc. Now, with the children, start to think about how things can be improved in your classroom according to your poster.
3. Group clean-up can be fun and helpful. Teach your class the song, "We Need to Care for Earth," below. Hand out the recyclable trash bags. Go on a walk around your center, or a park area, gathering items that have been discarded. Assign one or two children to look only for aluminum cans, one or two to look for plastic bottles, others to look for newspaper, and so on. Encourage the children to bring in items to recycle from home and have their neighbors save their recyclables as well.
4. When you have collected enough, take a trip to a recycling center and cash in the money to buy seeds for a garden. Also, begin a compost bin to create mulch to use in your garden. Enlist the aid of a carpenter who can make a simple wooden box with a latched lid in which to make the mulch.
5. Explore other opportunities to gather together to make a better and cleaner world.
