Teaching Kids about Recycling

Getting Them Involved in Helping Out to Save the Environment

Nov 26, 2007 Denise Oliveri

Recycling is an important job that a lot of people have to do together to make it work. Start teaching your child about recycling with these ideas.

Recycling is the right thing to do and if you have never started a recycling program in your home, now is the time to do it. It is important for your child, no matter his or her age, to learn all about recycling and how it can help protect the environment. Of course, you can take your child to your local recycling center to show him first hand how recycling takes place. You can also visit your local library where you can both read up on how to help protect the environment through recycling. Every little bit helps and you are teaching your child the right thing when you set an example at home.

Set Up a Recycling Center

One of the best things you can do when you want to teach your child about recycling in the home is to set up a recycling center. You do not even have to have a lot of room to do this. All you really need is a couple of bins that will help you sort out the various products. Allow your child to decorate and label each bin and he or she can be the recycling captain in your home. One bin should be for paper goods, such as newspapers and magazines, another one should be for cans and aluminum foil and a third bin should be used for glass products. Show your child how to rinse out the items before placing them in the bin, too.

Start a Community Event

Remember that recycling can extend far beyond your own home. You can help your child start a recycling event in your community or at school. Advertise in your neighborhood and have a collection date. You can even get everyone together to collect cans and recycle them for cash. You may not raise a lot of money, but you could put the money that you get to good use. Start a neighborhood garden or buy more recycling bins for your school. Your child will get a sense of satisfaction knowing that she or he has helped.

Don’t Forget About Clothes

Trash is not the only thing that you can recycle. In fact, teach your child about recycling clothes and toys, too. Toys that are longer play with can be given to a shelter or your local Goodwill store. This is a form of recycling, too. The same goes for clothes. Hand me downs can be fashionable and environmentally “cool”. You can also find out how to make new items out of outgrown clothes. How about making a tote bag out of an old pair of jeans, or stuffing a shirt into a pillow?

These are just a few suggestions about how you can help your child learn more about recycling. Have fun and work on it together as a family.

Read related articles on Parenting Tweens at Suite101.

The copyright of the article Teaching Kids about Recycling in Kids Activities is owned by Denise Oliveri. Permission to republish Teaching Kids about Recycling in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Teach Kids about Recycling

19 Comments

Comments

Apr 27, 2008 3:15 PM

Guest :

you can't recycle aluminum foil

Apr 30, 2008 3:52 AM

Guest :

I think teaching kids is very important as they are the future of our planet. I think these kids programmes that teach them recycling are brilliant, my two love Bob the Builder and his reduce reuse recycle!! Keep up the good work!!

May 2, 2008 4:49 AM

Guest :

as a matter of fact you can recycle aluminum foil, i just learned that yesterday at our local recycling center.

May 2, 2008 7:28 AM

Guest :

i think teaching kids about recycling is good for the comminuty because it really would help the enviroment

May 4, 2008 12:50 AM

Guest :

teaching children about the environment allows them to learn and teach their peers about the world and form inderpendent choices to have respect for the one world in which we share

May 4, 2008 8:59 AM

Guest :

Hello I link it will be good to help the environment.

May 5, 2008 5:56 PM

Guest :

we took a "field trip" to our local recycling center so she could see the vast amounts of stuff being recycled.

May 7, 2008 11:05 AM

Guest :

Did you know that wse spend more money and use more resources to recycle then it does to help the environment. There are better ways to protect the enivornment then recycling; like, don't use plastic bottles for water and if you do have them don't throw them away reuse them yourself. Take your own cloth bags to the gorcery store instead of useing paper or plastic.

May 9, 2008 3:09 AM

Guest :

use both sides of the paper for printing collect old tyres of the trucks or buses n make swing for your children in the garden or make seats with them in ur garden .

May 9, 2008 2:21 PM

Guest :

Teachin our children to recycle has got to be the most effective thing we can do. Our kids want to do everything exectly like us and they copy everything we do. Make it second nature for them to recyle and the problems we have now will be history when they are older.

May 9, 2008 6:35 PM

Guest :

It is so easy to do if you just get a system together and start doing it. Lead by example.

May 9, 2008 9:54 PM

Guest :

you can recycle aluminum foil. they smelt it down with the aluminum cans.

May 10, 2008 9:29 AM

Guest :

Giving away your unwanted clothes to a salvation army to to other people help cut down the amount of clothes in the garbage dump. Not only that if you have unwated items think about putting them on a site like free cycle and letting people know what you have to get rid of.

May 12, 2008 8:48 AM

Guest :

First, we have to try to pollute less. Then, we also have to try to recycle. I just came back from teaching my daughter's class at school about recycling, reusing and reducing. And it all comes down to RESPECT. Respect for each other, for the people we don't know, for the animals whose planet we've deteriorated and can't do anything about, for ourselves. Kids hear about respect all the time, and this goes in the same line.

May 13, 2008 6:43 AM

Guest :

it is so easy to recycle if you have friends that could help you out!!!!

May 13, 2008 5:11 PM

Guest :

Someone below mentioned reusing plastic bottles to help save the environment. While it is good to reuse, one-use plastic water bottles are not meant to be reused and should be recycled right away. Over time they leach chemicals into the water that ends up in your body. The best thing to do is stop buying water in one-use plastic bottles and instead use a home water filter and buy a reusable BPA free plastic water bottle or an aluminum bottle.

May 13, 2008 7:53 PM

Guest :

*sigh* i wish that there were more recycling possibilities where i live. We recycle aluminum, and we reuse plastic containers, etc. But as far as being able to recycle paper (other than newspaper), glass, plastic bottles, etc...there is no where to do so. it really sucks.

but you know that some of my baby's favorite toys are water bottles or his little juice bottles with something inside to make them rattle. he also really likes small bottles w/ the lids on them in the bathtub.

May 14, 2008 12:29 AM

Guest :

Do you know where I can dispose the used batteries? I guess people in the US just throw the used batteries in the trash can and I think that's really wrong way to dispose such a hazardous trash.

May 16, 2008 7:18 AM

Guest :

I've been trying to get my family and friends to help recycle and etc, i hope im making some impact but any tips on how to recycle better?

19 Comments