By Carolyn Whitley
Teaching kids good habits, like recycling, is best done when they are still young and more receptive to new ideas. Making them aware from the very beginning of the benefits of recycling is the most effective approach. It needs to be an integral part of their lives. As they grow older and become more aware of how they can contribute towards preserving the environment, they can make an even greater impact on our environment. Many school children starting from Kindergarten are already actively involved in reducing, reusing and recycling. Hopefully, we will see a generation of recyclers after us, if we begin with the kids - now!
Kids can be taught how to properly recycle, how to make new things from materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash. They will have to learn that recycling, or making new things from recycled materials, costs a lot less money, consumes much less energy and saves a lot of the Earth's natural resources, thereby helping the environment.
Instead of indiscriminately throwing things into the trash bin, recycling for kids programs can start with creative ways of teaching children how to make new and useful items from refuse coming out of the home and the classrooms in the school. There are currently websites in the Internet that are dedicated to such recycling for kids initiatives. They provide creative ideas on how to teach kids good recycling habits and ideas. Both at home and at school we can begin by initiating recycling games or recycling contests, making use of very common items like soda cans, toilet rolls, milk cartons and whatever other materials that are very familiar to children instead of just throwing these items away. Parents and Teachers can work together on what items can be recycled when at home, at school or out in the community. We need to actively encourage our kids to think about what can be recycled, so that it becomes second nature to them.
Pictures of landfills can be shown in class to make kids realize how much space can be saved through recycling. They can be taught that instead of garbage being thrown away and taking up space and possibly damaging the environment, it is a lot better and more environmentally friendly, to recycle things. Soda cans, paper and cardboard, as well as glass bottles can be recycled. Plastics of all kinds can also be recycled. Parents and Teachers can make recycling games out of "how long before.... (item) disintegrates and goes back to earth?" It can be surprising to learn how many years it will take for a plastic water bottle to break down and become part of the Earth. The energy saved by recycling also results in less pollution and children will become aware how damaging pollution is to our environment. Think about the natural resources that are saved by recycling materials from old products that would otherwise have been thrown away. A trip to a recycling center can be part of a recycling for kids program so that they can actually see what happens after an item is recycled.
Great recycling games for kid's, would be to trace the progress of an aluminium soda can from the time it is mined from the Earth. The amount of energy and the man hours needed to produce a soda can, the can's journey as it gets filled with soda, gets bought from the grocery store and is cooled in the refrigerator at home, then placed in the child's lunch bag, and then thrown away. The same idea can be done with a glass bottle or the daily newspaper. Create fun ways for kids to explore the best ways to reduce, reuse and recycle, preserving the environment for themselves and future generations.
This article has been written by Carolyn Whitley. If you found this article helpful, please visit my site http://www.squidoo.com/recycling-for-kids for more ideas.
Teaching kids good habits, like recycling, is best done when they are still young and more receptive to new ideas. Making them aware from the very beginning of the benefits of recycling is the most effective approach. It needs to be an integral part of their lives. As they grow older and become more aware of how they can contribute towards preserving the environment, they can make an even greater impact on our environment. Many school children starting from Kindergarten are already actively involved in reducing, reusing and recycling. Hopefully, we will see a generation of recyclers after us, if we begin with the kids - now!
Kids can be taught how to properly recycle, how to make new things from materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash. They will have to learn that recycling, or making new things from recycled materials, costs a lot less money, consumes much less energy and saves a lot of the Earth's natural resources, thereby helping the environment.
Instead of indiscriminately throwing things into the trash bin, recycling for kids programs can start with creative ways of teaching children how to make new and useful items from refuse coming out of the home and the classrooms in the school. There are currently websites in the Internet that are dedicated to such recycling for kids initiatives. They provide creative ideas on how to teach kids good recycling habits and ideas. Both at home and at school we can begin by initiating recycling games or recycling contests, making use of very common items like soda cans, toilet rolls, milk cartons and whatever other materials that are very familiar to children instead of just throwing these items away. Parents and Teachers can work together on what items can be recycled when at home, at school or out in the community. We need to actively encourage our kids to think about what can be recycled, so that it becomes second nature to them.
Pictures of landfills can be shown in class to make kids realize how much space can be saved through recycling. They can be taught that instead of garbage being thrown away and taking up space and possibly damaging the environment, it is a lot better and more environmentally friendly, to recycle things. Soda cans, paper and cardboard, as well as glass bottles can be recycled. Plastics of all kinds can also be recycled. Parents and Teachers can make recycling games out of "how long before.... (item) disintegrates and goes back to earth?" It can be surprising to learn how many years it will take for a plastic water bottle to break down and become part of the Earth. The energy saved by recycling also results in less pollution and children will become aware how damaging pollution is to our environment. Think about the natural resources that are saved by recycling materials from old products that would otherwise have been thrown away. A trip to a recycling center can be part of a recycling for kids program so that they can actually see what happens after an item is recycled.
Great recycling games for kid's, would be to trace the progress of an aluminium soda can from the time it is mined from the Earth. The amount of energy and the man hours needed to produce a soda can, the can's journey as it gets filled with soda, gets bought from the grocery store and is cooled in the refrigerator at home, then placed in the child's lunch bag, and then thrown away. The same idea can be done with a glass bottle or the daily newspaper. Create fun ways for kids to explore the best ways to reduce, reuse and recycle, preserving the environment for themselves and future generations.
This article has been written by Carolyn Whitley. If you found this article helpful, please visit my site http://www.squidoo.com/recycling-for-kids for more ideas.
Post a Comment