Recycling has become a necessity, and the sooner we accept the truth, the better. By teaching its importance to children from a young age, you can set them and the planet on a brighter path. In addition to sustainability, recycling will teach your little one to be responsible as well.
True, recycling might not be the first activity that your child may pick, but you can make it fun for them with a few tips and tricks.
You can even make it a part of your family’s activity before you go on a picnic and enjoy some homemade sandwiches like spicy mayo lion’s mane mushroom or salami. Weekend picnics are fun if you have bonding time before devouring your deli sandwiches.
It’s easier to organise than you think. Here are some ideas that you can try:
1. DIY Toys
Most toys have a higher carbon footprint as they are made of single-use plastic. Does that mean we should keep our children away from them? No! However, there are ways to make these toys better suited to our environmental needs.
Childhood with toys, plainly put, is boring, but you can undoubtedly make toys more environment-friendly. Collect biodegradable material like cardboard, seeds, flowers and old toy parts and create a DIY toy box for your children. Let them use their imagination to build using items from the pack. This will teach them how to recycle while encouraging them to be creative.
2. Gadget Scavenger Hunt
Children today are more intelligent than ever, and technology has played a significant role in this evolution. They all have tablets, iPad and other gadgets. However expensive these gadgets may be, children reject them after a few months as they get bored quickly.
Electronic gadgets are non-biodegradable but can be repurposed and reused. Set up a scavenger hunt for your kids and ask them to find old electronic items. Some of these can be sold as well. For example, you can easily sell an iPad for some cash. This activity will help declutter the house and teach children about recycling and valuable personal financing lessons.
3. Group Recycling Drives
Organising recycling drives for children is an excellent way of getting them on board the recycling train. Children love group activity, and with your drive, you can teach them and their friends the importance of recycling.
You can connect with the teachers and other parents to organise the drive. You can run it in the school, in a backyard or the surrounding neighbourhoods. Through such campaigns, you help them identify the items that can be recycled and how they can be done. These drives will also allow them to make better choices in future.
Children are our future, and we need to teach the younger generation good habits while still in their formative years. The entire world is struggling to find better ways of getting rid of the trash. While the problem cannot be eradicated in a day, small steps toward sustainability will ease this burden. Teach your children how to recycle and reuse in a fun way and enable them to build a better life for all the generations to come.
Great ideas! It’s very important to teach our kids how to recycle but of course better in a fun way. Thank you for sharing these ideas. I will try to apply them for my children.
Such a brilliant idea! I wish schools included this in their curriculum .