Teaching Children About Recycling in the Classroom

As the Environmental Education Manger for the waste and recycling department in local government, I began the school recycling education program for children in 3^rd and 4^th grades. I would lead classroom arts and crafts projects that taught the children a hands-on lesson about recycling and guide teachers in introducing environmental education into the classroom. Children learn best when they can see tangible results about the lesson you're trying to teach them. Kids love getting their hands dirty!

Today I'll tell you about two of my favorite projects: Making Recycled Paper and How to Create a Compost Bin.

Making Paper

Making new paper from old junk mail, newspaper and recycling homework assignments is a fun project for small classrooms and is best done with 2 or 3 adult assistants. The week before your paper-making class ask students to collect old sheets of paper from art projects, old homework assignments and even junk mail from home.

Children should tear up their paper into small scraps about 1" square. Sort paper into color families so they can experiment with how different types of paper mix with others to create custom colored hues. Remember that recycling white paper with black writing will actually create grey paper. Now soak the paper overnight to allow the fibers to become softened and ready for pulp making the following day. Next place the paper into a standard kitchen blender with water and let it whirl to create paper pulp. Pour this pulp through framed window screen to drain the water and using recycled newspaper as sponges to press as much water out as possible. Once the paper pulp has been drained of as much water as possible, turn the new sheet of paper out onto

Flip your screen over onto a large piece of felt on a cookie sheet so the excess water has a place to drain. You can add dried flowers, herbs or plants to your paper at this time and gently press them into the wet paper. Add an addition piece of felt or newspaper or paper towel to the top of the wet paper to help with the drying process. Let your newly recycled paper dry overnight.