Recycling Center

Learning Areas:

Engineering
Math
Art

Overview

Design and create a recycling center in your classroom using recycled materials! Make labels and sort recyclable items into the correct bins. How many stations do you need?

ECSEL Standards & Learning Goals

What skills are being enhanced & what knowledge is being gained through this activity?

Emotional Understanding

Children will be able to differentiate between their emotions about building the recycling center and those of their peers.

Emotional Identification

Children will be able to identify their emotions about recycling using Our Emotions Cards.

Empathy & Prosocial Skills

Children will be able to work collaboratively with one another and include others in the activity.

Cause & Effect

Children will be able to think about what emotion(s) are caused by the action of sorting recyclable items.

Problem Solving

Children will be able to compromise and negotiate while building the recycling center.

CASEL Standards

Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making

Materials

ECSEL Tool: Our Emotions Cards
Recycled materials for building (e.g., cardboard or cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls)
Recycled materials for sorting (e.g., plastic bottles, aluminum cans, paper scraps)
Tape
Scissors
Colored paper
Markers

Instructions:

Prepare for this activity by collecting recyclable materials for building and recyclable materials for sorting. Gather other crafting tools and set up materials in your chosen activity space.
Begin this activity by asking children what they already know about recycling, followed by a brief explanation of what recycling is and how it helps the earth. How does recycling make them feel? Have children choose a card from Our Emotions Cards that best represents their emotion(s).
Ask children what types of materials they think are recyclable? Explain that people can recycle many different things, including paper, glass, plastic, metal, and even things like clothes (lost and found or a thrift store),and electronics (phones and keyboards). Acknowledge any feelings that come up after sharing this information.
Tell children they are going to work together to create a recycling center in their classroom! Share that they will be using the recyclable building materials to make the center and the different bins. Ask children what kinds of materials they want to recycle in their center? What do you have in the classroom that can be recycled? How many stations will they need to make? Write down children’s ideas.
When you know what you’d like your center to include, ask children what part(s) of the center children are most interested in creating. Who wants to help build the bins? Who wants to make the signs? Invite children to return to their tables to craft the parts of the center they are interested in!
Make sure everyone feels included! Did everyone get to help create the center? Encourage children to perspective-take and think of ways to make their peers feel included.
Once the center is built, test it out by sorting the recyclables . Pass around some items and have children place them in their appropriate bins!
End this activity by checking in with children’s emotions using Our Emotions Cards. What feelings did they have while building the center together? What feelings do children have when they recycle items appropriately? What do they feel about helping the earth?

ECSEL Prompts

ECSEL Prompts are helpful questions & guiding statements you can use to provoke children’s thinking about emotions. These prompts are related to this specific activity.

Some friends think we really need to be able to recycle paper and some friends think we should recycle bottles. Is there a way we can compromise?

Some friends shared that they feel a little confused about recycling. Does anyone else feel that way, too? Does anyone feel something different?

When you put the paper in that bin, I noticed you jumping up and down with a smile on your face! What part of the activity made you feel so excited?

Recycling helps protect the planet. What feelings do you have about helping the planet each time you recycle?

What are some things that we can do to make sure everyone feels included?

XX has a big smile! What are you feeling right now?

Extended Learning

Use these questions & ideas to extend children’s learning!

Extend this idea by including the vehicles that bring the recyclables to the center! What types of cars or trucks bring recycling to the center? Have children brainstorm ideas then use any remaining recycled materials to build them! Have children choose roles and pretend to bring recyclables to the center.

Extend this idea with math! How many of each item did children recycle? Count each recyclable item that was sorted and make a bar graph. Which item was recycled the most/least?

Preschool/Pre-K – Recycling Center

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