10 Science Lessons Using Recycled Egg Cartons

We know that we need to reduce, reuse an recycle. As teachers, we can demonstrate this important lesson by turning garbage into learning materials and lessons. Egg cartons are one of my favorite items to reuse in the classroom. The possibilities are endless. Here are over 10 ways that you can incorporate this concept into your curriculum and lessons using old egg cartons. You'll save money and be a friend to the environment as well.

Attributes and Sorting: We know that sensory investigation and examination is the core of science. Students can practice this is many ways. Give each student an egg carton labeled with words or pictures of attributes depending upon age and sort items into the categories. You can play this as a scavenger hunt at school or at home in which students look for objects to place in each category. Sort by color, shape, size, living/non-living, wood/metal/plastic, etc.

Sensory Exploration: Use this to build science vocabulary, adjective usage, description, etc.
Taste: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter
Smell: spicy, bitter, sour, soapy, flowery, fruity
Touch: furry, fuzzy, smooth, cool, warm, hard, rough, scratchy, bumpy, squashy (malleable), sticky
Sound: squeak, ring, buzz, beep, pop, clang, snap, crackle, scrape, scratch,

Ecology: Experiment: Paper or Plastic? Use a cardboard and a Styrofoam egg carton to demonstrate what happens to both in a landfill. Place a piece from each carton in water and put them in the window. Note any changes to each over time. Use this to explain ideas about biodegradable materials, renewable resources and environmental hazards (which will kill animals?).

Geology: Use egg cartons to sort rocks. Ask students to label the sections of the carton accordingly They can sort by:
hardness (use the MOHs scale)
rock type (metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous)
mineral composition (calcite, silicate, carbonate, etc.)
uses (building, abrasion, decoration, chemistry, etc.)