Recording recycling experiences
A “Recycling for Kids”, investigation offers many opportunities for young children to record their experiences and observations.
After taking a week or two sorting, counting and weighing classroom recycling and trash (read post here…), students may want to complete the following activities. Hopefully your students have a compost to investigate at the school or you can ask a parent to bring in a bucket of well rotted compost for the kids to poke around in.
Compost activity
After some introduction and experiences with worms and composts, some students enjoy making their own representation of a compost pile with a flap that folds down to show what lives inside. The following handouts provide the compost shape. Click on each picture to download it.
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Materials:
- markers
- crayons
- scissors
- glue
- handout of items to sort and glue (see below)
Procedure:
Students-
- Color the compost picture with the worms, titled, “The Compost Heap”.
- Cut around the flap on the front compost heap picture (see little scissors on paper).
- Put glue everywhere on “The Compost Heap” picture, EXCEPT for the section where the worms live.
- Fold the flap out of the way, then lay the page on top of the page with glue on it, sticking the two together (some kids will definitely need help!!)
- Draw items to go in the compost or use the handout below. If they use the handout they can color and cut around the items in the picture (see below) that should go in the compost heap then glue them on.
- If they want, students can draw birds, flowers, grass and worms on the top paper.
- Make sure all glue is dry before closing the flap!
Sorting items for the compost, recycling and garbage
This handout has:
- Sorting pictures for compost pile activity above.
- Sorting pictures for items that go in the recycling and items that must go in the landfill.
Start by downloading the picture below (click on it to download) and print one for each student. It is easier for students if they color the pictures first and then cut around each picture.
Ask the kids just to cut out the items that go in the compost first so they don’t lose them.
Scroll down for the recycling and landfill / garbage page.
The Recycling and Garbage / Landfill Page
Students use the remaining pictures to finish the recycling/garbage page (see image below). Click on image to download the page.
Students cut and glue all the items that can be recycled on one side and the items that must go to the garbage or landfill on the other.
Tip – print extra sorting items sheets as some students will lose a few pictures.
Buddy Activity – worm houses
Kindergarten children look forward to spending time with their older buddies. In this recycling activity all the children first listen to stories/books about worms, worm castings, and worm burrows.
Then the buddies and kindergartens go outside armed with clipboards, pencils and the worm observation handout to look for worm homes.
Compost resources:
Web resource:The Adventurers of Herman (a worm)
Books: A good introduction to the life of a worm – Wiggling Worms at Work (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System
