Recycling for kids 
How can I teach young children about recycling?
Teaching recycling for kids need not be complicated, instead take advantage of classroom routines when planning activities.
Each day at snack or lunch time, set up a classification area on one table in your classroom. The students then sort their garbage into three categories, recycling, compost, and landfill garbage.
Place a plastic ice cream bucket with a lid for the compost, a photocopy paper box lid for items that go in the garbage, and the same for items that can be recycled. The size of the photocopy paper box lid allows the items to be spread out for easy counting.
Each day the children classify the garbage from their lunch or snack into the above three containers.
To keep recycling for kids simple, have the special helper weigh the compost (with help) and then point to each piece of recycling and garbage in the lids as the whole class counts along.
The same student records the observations on a chart similar to the sample. The teacher records the date as the students suggest letters and assists the student when necessary.
Do not worry too much about accuracy when weighing the compost. We used a spring scale and recorded to the closest one hundred grams. I also ignored the weight of the bucket.
The children benefited from the extra practice counting the recycling and garbage items and recording or watching the numbers be recorded under the correct pictures on the chart. Each day use the words on the chart to reinforce letters and letter sounds. After lunch, an older students pick up the compost daily, the recycling goes into the blue box and the garbage into the wastebasket.
Recycling for kids - recording their knowledge
After spending time actually sorting the compost, recycling and garbage in the classroom, the children cut and sorted items from a worksheet and then glued them in the correct container.
I had the children complete the compost activity below first and saved the rest of the pictures for use later on in the week for the garbage and recycling page.
Compost activity
The students loved making their own representation of a compost pile with a flap that folds down to see what lives inside.
- The students color the inside picture and glue the correct items on to the compost pile.
- Then they cut out and glue on the flap.
- The students complete the picture by drawing birds, flowers, grass and worms on the outside with the flap closed. Make sure the glue is dry before closing the flap.
Recycling / Garbage activity
The students use the remaining pictures to finish the recycling/garbage page. They put all the items that can be recycled on one side and the items that must go to the landfill on the other.
Buddy Activity - worm houses
Kindergarten children look forward to spending time with their older buddies. In this recycling for kids activity the children first have a short lesson on worms, worm castings, and worm burrows. The kindergarten children have already been introduced to this material and review it with their buddies.
Then the buddies and kindergartens go outside armed with clipboards, pencils and the worm observation worksheets to look for worm homes.
Environmental education pages:
1. Environmental science
2. Recycling for kids
3. Environmental skills list
4. Year long ideas
5. Free environmental Ed. worksheets (for the worksheets above)
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