Recycling is an activity that can bring the whole family together. From decorating your bins to conservation methods, it teaches you effective ways of recycling. Teach your kids how to contribute to a greener future by involving them in reducing household waste. That’s because kids who recycle turn into adults who recycle.
Here are some activities to get your family involved in waste-reduction strategies to help you recycle, reduce, reuse, and reconnect.
Plant a Tree
Planting is one of the most sustainable and easiest ways to positively affect the environment. Planting trees around your home will improve the air quality by producing oxygen. Go outside with your kids and collect seeds, pods and even nuts. If you have some old tire in the garage reuse it by making it a planter. Paint them in beautiful colors and place them in the garden. You can grow flowers or succulents in them. Planting trees near your windows can reduce the use of air conditioning at home. You can also recycle huge jars as planters. Make a hole in them for proper passage of water and plant your favorite veggies like cherry tomatoes, beans, and baby carrots.
Art and Craft
The more your kids are involved in the recycling process, the more excited they’ll be about it. Make your recycle bins interesting by letting your kids decorate it. Challenge your kids to look around the house for things that can be recycled. Plastic containers can be used as organizers, yogurt container can be used as crayon holders, or a plastic bottle can be used as a flower vase. Collect soda tabs and make an upcycled soda tab bracelet for yourself. Cartoon boxes can be used to make handmade gift boxes. These can also be used to make a birdhouse in your backyard.
Set Clear Goals
Understanding the purpose of recycling and its impact can be difficult for small kids. But involving them and showing the importance of recycling can help in better understanding. You can get small goals for your home, like minimum wastage, throwing out no more than 3 bin bags, making a basketball by reusing newspaper, etc. Keep a track of your kids’ job, appreciate them and at the end of a successful month, treat them with their favorite food. This way, your kids will work hard and look towards the recycling activity.
Teach to Conserve
Work with your kids to teach them not to be wasteful with the materials they already use. Ask them to draw on both sides of their paper or write on both sides in their notebook. You can also donate the clothes and toys that are old or outgrown to a charity rather than throwing them away. You can buy huge water barrels to collect rainwater and use it to water your lawn. Always pick reusable cloth bags rather than paper or plastic bags when you go grocery shopping.
Partner with a Community in Your Locality
Look out for a community organization to see if they are looking for volunteers they want to partner with for recycling. This way you meet new people who work together to meet goals similar to you. In fact, some organizations offer a financial refund for recycled bottles or cans. Don’t forget to split this income within the family, so that kids look forward to recycling in the future.
Spotting Teaching Opportunities
Nowadays you have plenty of opportunities to teach your kids the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. You can start with where the food comes from, how to sort household waste into recyclable and non-recyclable and how to identify and save recyclables. Switch to Laboratory sterile disposable autofill bottle top filters that perform better and are available at good price.
Children books and fun videos are available that helps reinforce the message and stimulate their interest. Science gifts like t-shirts, mugs are a good way of getting kids interested in the science of recycling.
To-do Lists
Include recycling duties in your to-do list. Just like putting garbage in the bin, tidying up the rooms is a habit, recycling also becomes habitual. Think about age-appropriate tasks that can be put up on the to-do list. Set up tasks which your kids can see you do and learn. For example, small kids can help you with sorting recyclables, taking labels off cans, picking up litter in your garden. Also, you can label your recyclable bin with a list of items that are recyclable and list of non-recyclable items in your trash bins. Use Waste disposal cans made of high-density polyethene and metal that are good for chemical or contaminated wastage. Weekends can be the day to empty food scraps into the compost heap and rinsing out cans, bottles, and cartons etc. Buy products that give you long warranties and you can reuse them easily. Although, the quality of products used for medical uses should not be compromised. Use the best quality syringes, safe sedate masks etc, but make sure that you dispose of them responsibly.
Kids look up to their parents and often match their actions – the good and the bad. Practising good habits of recycling, conserving, composting, from childhood will hopefully lead to a greener future.
Author Bio:
Ross is a blogger who loves to write especially in the Science vertical. He has written many informative Blogs. He has also written blogs in other verticals too like personal development, unique gifting blogs. He co-authored Supercharge Organic Traffic: A popular course focusing on Organic Traffic for E-commerce.