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Waste management is not just important for adults around the world, but, is crucial for children to learn. By being shown how necessary managing waste is for our planet, children can develop a true understanding of the impact that recycling and waste really has.
So for today's lesson, we will be tossing out the textbooks & getting hands-on!
In here, you will find recycling activities for kids, new ways to learn about recycling & lesson plans that you can take to the classroom with confidence and sustainability.
Teaching and educating children about waste management from an early age has a raft of benefits. By showing kids the positives of safely dealing with rubbish and how to handle recycling, you are planting the seed for future sustainability for years to come!
After we are long gone, it is the next generation that will have to clean up our mess, so it is only right that we give them a helping hand along the way!
By making waste management fun and providing activities for children of all walks of life to take part in, you can leave an idea on these impressionable youngsters that will last a lifetime.
We don't want you fighting this battle all on your own. So here are 10 fun ways to get children interested in waste management...
You will Need: All your recycling waste items: Plastic, Cardboard, Paper, Food waste / Multiple Bins / Bibs for the teams.
Think of your classic relay races back in school, but, with a stinky twist to it....create a recycling relay race to test children on how fast and efficiently they can sort out common household recycling items.
The way it works is: Place different recyclable items at the start line: Banana Peel, Plastic Bottle, Cardboard Box, Paper Pad for example.
Each team lines up behind their retrospective rubbish piles, once you shout go, each person from each team, has to grab an item, run to the finish line, place the item in the correct bin and run back to tag the next child.
Do this until each child has run once, or twice if you want to push them to their limits.
After the race, explain which items should go where and discuss why certain items are recycled and some need to be thrown away or composted.
This is one for them to take home to their parents. Hand out handy leaflets, flyers and a list of food items to your children, so that the parents know exactly what to do.
Ask the children to snap pictures of the compost regularly as it breaks down. For example, this could be one pic a week over a month period.
Not only does this teach the kids about the benefits of composting, but could also kick start their family into setting up a sustainable scheme in their homes. Once completed you can discuss what happens to organic waste when it decomposes and how composting helps the environment.
You Will Need: Instructions on how to complete compost assembly at home (You can find this below) & A list of food items.
How to Set Up
Collecting Scraps: Have kids collect kitchen scraps in a small container, this could be Fruit, Egg Shells & other organic food waste.
Space: Create an area in the garden, where you can put down soil and food scraps.
Layering: Let the children help with adding layers to the compost,
Turning: Involve them in turning the compost with a pitchfork.
Observation: Encourage kids to observe and record changes in the compost over time. For example: How long it takes to break down or change colours.
You Will Need: Used items like cardboard tubes, old clothes, jars. Ask children to gather old items from home to bring into class.
Ask the children to get their creative craft hats on & hold a little bit of a competition to see who can create the best up-cycling art project.
They could use old cardboard tubes to make a rocket or bring in old clothes to create a cushion. Provide them with some hints and tips along the way. If you want to just let their inner Picasso come out and create their own wild piece of art that is also fine...it doesn't have to be a specific item.
Demonstrating to children that you can up-cycle old items into something worthwhile, creates a more sustainable mindset instead of throwing away old stuff.
Discuss the importance to reuse and reduce waste by any means necessary.
Plastic pollution is a major issue, so any way to raise awareness is crucial!
Create an informative poster or posters to encourage students to learn more about plastic pollution in the ocean and our planet. They could contain: ways that children and students can reduce their plastic use wildlife that has been affected by plastics, such as fish and birds.
You could get the children to help you create the posters. This keeps them intrigued in the project.
If all else fails, David Attenborough - Blue Planet always does the trick. It is a great way to show what damage plastic pollution can show on our planet. There may be a few tired eyes with his soothing voice though.
You Will Need: Gloves, Bin Bags, Hi Vis vests.
Just like arranging school trips, why not arrange a trip to a local beach or park for a litter clean-up day near your primary school. We understand children won't want to be donning gloves, bags and a safety vest all day, so why not combine it with a fun day out?
Take a trip a park or attraction first, and then spend 30 mins to 1 hour after it cleaning up around that attraction. Not only are you creating an exciting day out for the children, but, it's a great way of encouraging them to always take care of their surroundings, wherever they go!
Use the litter picking time to discuss the impact that littering has on our community and planet. These environmental activities are designed to encourage children to dispose of litter properly.
You Will Need: Waste from a specific period, Gloves, Scales for weighing, Sorting bins.
Another great way of using the children to your advantage, is by having them carry out a waste audit. Now we aren't expecting you to be working the children to the bone and have them sifting through rubbish all day & week.
However, what you can do is create a specific time of day where you carry out a bitesize waste audit. After morning break or lunch time, gather up the waste that has been generated and start sorting it with the children. They will love to use the scales to weight each amount, you can then note down the number and at the end of it, you can all see how much waste was thrown away.
Compare the weight to something that children can understand. For example: The amount of cardboard weighed in the recycling bins is the same amount as a small cat. This not only keeps the children engaged but teaches them the importance of considering what they dispose of.
You Will Need: Plastic bottles cut in half, sand, gravel, cotton, dirty water (Use soil, twigs or leaves)
Water Filtration Experiment sounds like it needs a lot of work to get together, but it really doesn't. Children can easily build simple water filters to clean dirty water and see how waste can be filtered out.
Just cut the plastic bottle in half. The top half will be used as the filter. Place a layer of cotton on the bottom of the bottles top half. Add a layer of sand on top, add a layer of gravel on top of the sand. Spread the sand and gravel out.
Place the top half of the bottle into the bottom half which will catch the filtered water. All you need to do now is pour the dirty water slowly into the filter. The water will then pass through the different layers and collect in the bottom half of the bottle. Hey Presto, you have just created a water filtration experiment.
Once completed, explain to the children that waste such as plastic & chemicals can contaminate water making them unsafe to drink, this is reiterating the point of how filtering out water can help.
You Will Need: Books or videos featuring environmental heroes, Discussion questions
Bring in local environmental heroes or groups who have made an impact on waste management or the environment. This could be anyone from your local janitor to Busy Bins very own Josh Morris (No Appearance Fee Necessary)
If you can't seem to round anyone up to come in every week, use books or videos to show the importance of caring for our environment. This could be on people who have created recycling inventions, or the process of a waste to energy facility.
After each video, book or speech, discuss how each one of us can be an environmental hero in our day to day lives. .
You Will Need: Toy fruits and vegetables, Play money, Shopping Bags (reusable and disposable).
Kids love kitchen sets and playing shop, so use that to your advantage!
Set up a mock up supermarket where children can shop using different types of bags and buy items with minimal to no packaging.
Staging a green grocer game can help students understand the impact of waste and the benefits of using reusable bags. You could create a corner to demonstrate how plastic bags don't break down, & decompose in garbage, which affects our environment. Compare this to reusable or recycled paper based bags to show the differences.
Students Will Need: Reusable lunch containers, cloth napkins, reusable utensils.
Now we aren't asking the children to eat their packaging as well as their lunch. We don't think those plastic lunchboxes will taste too nice, Zero waste means eating a lunch without creating any waste. This could be by using reusable lunch boxes, napkins or reusable utensils like a metal straw.
Introduce a zero waste week between classes or years. Turn this into a competition where you give each year their own specific bin. Whichever year creates the least amount of waste wins the competition.
This not only encourages a sense of ownership between each year group, it is also a great way of reducing waste in your school grounds.
Discuss the importance of reducing school waste and the impact of school waste on our community and landfills.
There are plenty of waste education resources out there that can be used in your organisation. Below you can find various sites that are free for you to sign up and download packs for your classroom.
Project Learning Tree: PLT provides environmental education resources, including activities and lesson plans designed to connect children with nature.
Website: Project Learning Tree
Green Teacher: Green Teacher offers practical resources and articles for nurseries, to promote environmental education.
Website: Green Teacher
WasteFreeSD: WasteFreeSD offers resources for waste reduction and recycling, including educational materials suitable for nurseries.
Website: WasteFreeSD
Don't settle for our tips or activities though, there are plenty more out there so get exploring and discovering new ways to teach those young sprogs!
It isn't just teachers that have a responsibility to educate our children, parents/grandparents/carers/role models...we all have to get down with the programme and donate some time to showing them that recycling & waste management starts at home, not just the playground.
As always, if you have waste activities that you know youngsters like to take part in, don't hesitate to let us know. We are always open to new tips and tricks.
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