Recycling - being good to mother earth - Information and fun activities for kids
The earth's resources (the things we can use to make something else, for example, use a tree to make a table) is limited (there is only a certain amount) and we must conserve it (protect it and look after it).
One way that we can make sure of this is to recycle.
In nature there are some things that are recycled naturally, like when a plant or an animal dies, it is broken up into small pieces by decomposers (certain bacteria and fungi) and it goes back into the soil so that the plants can take up and use the nutrients again.
How wonderful is nature? Not wasting anything. We can learn a lot from nature.
We must make sure that there are resources left for future generations - this is called sustainable development. This means we must not use up all the resources and to make sure of this, recycling is always a good idea.
What does it mean to recycle? To use something over and over. Different materials are recycled in different ways. Some are melted and used to make new products and some can be used to have another purpose.
Lets have a look at how glass, metal, paper and plastic are recycled.
Glass - this is easy to recycle. It can be melted and made into new bottles or containers. Less energy is used to recycle glass than to make new bottles from raw material.
Metal - just like glass it takes less energy to recycle it than to extract it from the ore (the rock you find different metals in)
Paper - it is broken up into smaller pieces and reformed into new sheets of paper. This saves a lot of trees, but paper can only be recycled a certain amount of times, because the fibres becomes too short to use again, but then it can be used for fuel or compost.
Plastic - It can be recycled as fleece clothing so we use less crude oil which is running out. Different types of plastic must be sorted and this can take time.
Answer the following questions to see if you understand the work
- What is a resource?
- Why must we protect our resources?
- What is the meaning of sustainable development?
- What is the meaning of conserve?
- Explain how nature can recycle something.
- What is meant by recycling?
- What is the function of decomposers in nature?
- Why can we only recycle paper a few times and what can be done with the paper that cannot be made into paper again?
If you understand the concept of recycling, you can now have some fun and do some crafts.
Look at the following link on how you can use certain materials around the house for something else. Do as many as you like and enjoy making this. http://handsonaswegrow.com/34-recyclables-to-upcycle-for-the-kids/
"We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"
:)
This is very cool - thanks
Perhaps it might be useful to tell the kids that even if we recycle stuff, its the growing population of the world that is responsible in great part for the he depletion of our resources.....but I guess it's like telling a kid he / she is part of the problem 😳
O no I preach that in class - us humans are good at distroying and pity only some does something about it - for the rest it is the race for money
The children usually enjoy this topic, but you certainly have to approach it differently depending on the type of learners who is sitting in front of you.
Like all topics yes , very true