How to Teach Kids to Recycle

Practice what you preach:

Children learn by example. Make sure your kids see you recycling and engaging in environmentally-conscious behaviour from an early age. If we set an example to youngsters and normalise the process of recycling, it will soon become second nature to them.

Wise up:

It’s tricky to teach others about a subject if you’re not clued up yourself. Whilst you shouldn’t aim to lecture children, having the essential background knowledge (such as reading articles like this) can help lay the foundation for helping your kids learn.

Get crafty:

Children like to flex their artistic muscle, and engaging them in a creative project can be a really effective teaching tool. Show them the worth of household waste by starting your very own upcycling project, such as creating your very own milk carton houses or toilet roll people.

Activity: You could also make themed creations, for example, papier-mâché planet Earths.

Make facts fun:

Recycling facts for kids are best explored on an internet platform. Twenty-first century children are the most IT literate generation in history, and respond well to online resources as a way of learning.

Activity: Have them explore Recycle City, or play some games at the Kids Recycling Zone.

Create a home recycling centre:

Roleplay can work wonders with children, and having them play the part of a recycling centre operator/manager can not only make them feel important, but add a strong element of entertainment. Label boxes for each type of material, and create sorting games for your children to play.

Activity: What about a timed race to see who can sort their pile of recycling the quickest?

Take the fun outside:

Kids like to get messy in the garden, so why not establish your own outside compost heap? In addition to disposing of food waste, put some plastic onto the heap to teach children about the differences in biodegradability. Seeing the process with their own eyes, and witnessing the difficulty of plastics to break down, will give your kids insight into some of the issues surrounding waste disposal in an engaging, involved way.

Activity: Another idea is to establish a wormery; these aren’t for the squeamish, but your kids will love them.

Home improvements:

Refurbishing the home, or moving house, can be a big challenge for kids, so it’s important to inject some fun into proceedings. Often you will need to hire a skip to handle the high volumes of waste.

Activity: Get your kids to gather some waste materials to go in the skip, and inform them that many skip hire companies recycle a high proportion of the waste they collect, saving it from landfill.