Background information

With waste, it’s often out of sight, out of mind. Even though individually we may not create much waste, collectively we make a whole lot of waste!

Raising awareness about how much waste we create, teaches people to ‘rethink’ their shopping habits, by encouraging buying in bulk and buying food with less packaging. Reducing the amount of packaging we buy and use, or avoiding it altogether, is an easy way to do your bit for the environment and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

There are lots of creative ways to reduce, repurpose or reuse waste materials. They make great art and craft materials, or construction materials, you are only limited by your imagination! They are accessible, free and abundant, what have you got to lose?

Definitions:

Waste – no longer useful; unused or unproductive
Recycle – to treat or process used materials so that it can be reused.
Repurpose – to use something for a different purpose than it was originally intended or designed.
Reuse – to use again
Reduce – to contract or lessen

New words for children to learn:

Rethink
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Landfill
Compost
Waste

Activity: Trash Nest

Ages - 0 to 2

What to do:

Preparation: You will need a collection of typical waste materials (plastic bottles, meat trays, lids, containers, plastic wrappers, cartons, boxes, food, etc.). You will need to collect a week's worth of plastic containers (e.g. milk or juice bottles), you will need a space to collect them, it’s great if the children can see the collection grow day by day so think about a visible collection spot. You may want to let families know so they can contribute to your collection. It is also helpful to give the cleaners a heads up, so that they don’t remove your ‘collection’.

Talk to the children about rubbish and waste using some of the provocation questions listed below, or come up with your own based on your particular context. You can explore different types of materials, shapes, colours, textures and sounds. You can discuss what things go in which bins. What bins do you have in your service, can the children access them, are they clearly labelled, do they know what happens to the waste, where does it go?

Children can sort materials based on which bins, colours, textures, sounds or other attribute. They can make labels for the bins in the room, you could take photos of different waste materials and play a matching game with pictures of the bins.

Collect milk bottles, (or other containers) for a week and see how many you get. If you want to create an even bigger impact, you could ask families to contribute to the collection as well. Offer these to the children to use for a group construction activity. Can we build a tower using all these bottles? I wonder if we could use these bottles and make a really long snake? You could also build a nest or cubby using your bottles. How many things can you use them for? What will happen to them after you recycle them?

Provocations:

I wonder which bin this goes in?
I wonder what it is made from?
I wonder if it’s natural or human-made?
I wonder what sounds you can make with this?
I wonder which ones are smooth and which ones are rough?
I wonder how long it lasts?
I wonder what was in this?
I wonder what we could make with this?
I wonder how many of these we could collect in one week?

Possible lines of development:

Model behaviours that promote waste reduction (reuse materials; use both sides of the paper, separate your waste, etc).
Provide bins to allow children to separate waste (paper and cardboard, plastics, compost/worms, rubbish).
Track how much waste you are throwing away, notice if there is less or more and why.
Encourage the children to get involved with taking food waste to the worm farm or compost, or the recycling or waste bins.
Watch the waste collection trucks collect the waste, how does the truck work.
What happens to waste when it doesn’t go in the bin (litter).

Ages - 2 to 3

What to do:

Preparation: You will need a collection of typical waste materials (plastic bottles, meat trays, lids, containers, plastic wrappers, cartons, boxes, food, etc). You will need to collect a week's worth of recyclable material, you will need a space to collect them, it’s great if the children can see the collection grow day by day so think about a visible collection spot. You may want to let families know so they can contribute to your collection. It is also helpful to give the cleaners a heads up, so that they don’t remove your ‘collection’.

Talk to the children about rubbish and waste using some of the provocation questions listed below, or come up with your own based on your particular context. You can explore different types of materials, shapes, colours, textures and sounds. You can discuss what things go in which bins. What bins do you have in your service? Can the children access them? Are they clearly labelled? Do they know what happens to the waste, where does it go?

After you have discussed different types of waste consider collecting a weeks’ worth of recyclable materials. They may be from lunches, from the kitchen or staff room, or if you want to go for maximum impact, ask families to contribute their recyclable materials. You may want to limit your collection to one type of material e.g plastic containers, boxes, etc.

At the end of the week make a display or construction using the materials collected. Count how many were collected, sort them by colour, shape, size or weight. Make a collage or mural using your collection. Build something, a cubby, an igloo, a tower, an animal, a nest, or anything else they can think of. How many things can you make using your materials? How many times can you use them? What happens to them over time?

Provocations:

I wonder which bin this goes in?
I wonder what it is made from?
I wonder if it’s natural or human-made?
I wonder what sounds you can make with this?
I wonder how many ways we can sort these?
I wonder how long it lasts?
I wonder what was in this?
I wonder what we could make with this?
I wonder how many of these we could collect in one week?

Possible lines of development:

Model behaviours that promote waste reduction (reuse materials; use both sides of the paper, separate your waste, etc).
Provide bins to allow children to separate waste (paper and cardboard, plastics, compost/worms, rubbish).
Track how much waste you are throwing away, notice if there is less or more and why.
Encourage the children to get involved with taking food waste to the worm farm or compost, or the recycling or waste bins.
How long do different types of waste last in the environment - use the Waste breakdown flashcards to find out how long some types of waste last.
Watch the waste collection trucks collect the waste, how does the truck work.
What happens to waste when it doesn’t go in the bin (litter).
Provide opportunities for children to follow your example (a range of waste and recycling bins in the home corner).
Monitoring of waste for the service.
What are recycled materials made into? Where do they go?

Ages - 3 to 5

What to do:

Preparation: For one day collect all waste from the service (food waste, packaging, containers, etc.).

Talk to the children about rubbish and waste using some of the provocation questions listed below, or come up with your own based on your particular context. You can explore different types of materials, shapes, colours, textures and sounds. You can discuss what things go in which bins. What bins do you have in your service? Can the children access them? Are they clearly labelled? Do they know what happens to the waste, where does it go?

Place all of the waste materials you have collected on a large tarp (inside or even better outside). Have the children sort the waste into types (compostable, recyclable, paper and cardboard, rubbish). Depending on what you have collected, you may want the children to use tongs or gloves when sorting the waste.

Children can then weigh each pile and make a note of how much it weighs. You can do this several times (once a week for a term, once a month for a year, etc), and create a visual representation of your waste over time (e.g. a graph or picture = 1 gram of waste or whatever suits you). You can use the ‘Which bin does it go in?’ sheet as a visual tool to highlight how much of the different types of waste is being generated at your service. You can colour them to match the bins at your service or in your local area.

You can have a discussion with the children about how you could create less waste. What could you all do to reduce waste?

After that collect a week's worth of recyclable materials, you will need a space to collect them, it’s great if the children can see the collection grow day by day so think about a visible collection spot. You may want to let families know so they can contribute to your collection. It is also helpful to give the cleaners a heads up, so that they don’t remove your ‘collection’.

The materials may be from lunches, from the kitchen or staff room, or if you want to go for maximum impact, ask families to contribute their recyclable materials. You may want to limit your collection to one or two types of material e.g plastic containers, boxes, etc.

At the end of the week make a display or construction using the materials collected. Count how many were collected, sort them by colour, shape, size or weight. Make a collage or mural using your collection. Build something, a cubby, an igloo, a tower, an animal, a nest, or anything else they can think of. How many things can you make using your materials? How many times can you use them? What happens to them over time?

Provocations:

I wonder which bin this goes in?
I wonder what it is made from?
I wonder if it’s natural or human-made?
I wonder how many ways we can sort these?
I wonder how long it lasts?
I wonder what was in this?
I wonder what we could make with this?
I wonder how many of these we could collect in one week?
I wonder where this goes after we put it in the bin?
I wonder what happens to this when it's left in the environment?

Possible lines of development:

Model behaviours that promote waste reduction (reuse materials; use both sides of the paper, separate your waste, etc).
Provide bins to allow children to separate waste (paper and cardboard, plastics, compost/worms, rubbish).
Track how much waste you are throwing away, notice if there is less or more and why.
Encourage the children to get involved with taking food waste to the worm farm or compost, or the recycling or waste bins.
How long do different types of waste last in the environment - use the Waste breakdown flashcards to find out how long some types of waste last.
Watch the waste collection trucks collect the waste, how does the truck work.
What happens to waste when it doesn’t go in the bin (litter).
Provide opportunities for children to follow your example (a range of waste and recycling bins in the home corner).
Monitoring of waste for the service.
What are recycled materials made in to? Where do they go?

Evaluation

Complete an analysis of learning listing evidence about:

Belonging	Find something of interest
Communication	Express an idea or feeling
Exploration	Engage with challenges and persist when difficulties arises
Well being	Being involved

Embedding into daily practice

Trash Nest

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Summary

Activity Guides and Printables

Activity Details

Curriculum Mapping

Additional Info

In this activity