Our 4-H club is very “green” oriented and many of the activities I choose for our club members have a recycling or ecology theme. Some of the activities have been so popular with the kids, that we plan on using them at this year’s county fair.
So what kind of activities can you do with a bunch of recycling? You might be surprised:
Making a rod puppet from recyclables
A rod puppet, or stick puppet, is one of the simplest types of puppets to make. Most rod puppets have a head that is attached to a rod, and then the “bodies” can be made of composite material, or draped fabric.
For this activity, you will need the following supplies:
Easy-to-craft-with recyclables such as plastic pop bottles, toilet paper tubes, papers, lids, bottle caps, plastic spoons, TV trays, used aluminum foil, old tee shirts. To assemble the puppets, scissors, glue and markers will also be needed.
The object of this activity is for the kids to make a rod puppet using these materials.
Since our club is noncompetitive (yeah, we’re a dull lot), I just have the kids make whatever they want. For a competitive activity you can try some of these options:
1. Give the kids identical materials and 10 minutes to assemble their puppets. The most creative puppet can win a prize.
2. Have the kids make puppets that look like themselves. The closest set of “twins” will win a prize.
3. Write it – Do it is a Science Competition activity that I co-opted to use in our club. The object of this activity is for one child to make a puppet, write down precise instructions for making the puppet, and then have a second child follow his instructions to build an identical puppet with out seeing the original puppet. At the end of the “meet”, the puppets can be compared with a prize going to the team with the closest matching puppets.
Trash sculpture
With this fun competition, each team of kids is giving a recycling bin with a wild assortment of clean recyclables. These can include newspapers, cans, plastic milk jugs and pop bottles, yogurt containers, magazines, and the sorts of things that normally would be found in a recycling bin. The kids are given 30-60 minutes to build a sculpture using nothing more than the materials found in the bin along with scissors, glue, and string. The best sculpture wins a prize.
Water relay
For this activity you will need 48 used water bottles that are about the same size, a couple of long tables set side by side spaced three feet apart, and a stop watch.
To set up the relay, make 2 rows of 12 bottles on each table. Fill the first bottle in each row with water. With this set up, four kids at a time can play.
How the game is played:
The object of the relay is for the kids to transfer the water in bottle #1 to bottle #12 in two minutes or less, losing as little water as possible during the transfer. The water is transferred by pouring the water from bottle #1 into bottle #2, then bottle #2 into bottle #3, and all the way down the row until reaching bottle #12.
The winner is the kid who has transferred the most water without spilling in less than 2 minutes.
Decorate a water bottle
After playing water relay, those water bottles can be recycled yet again. With this activity, kids can use markers, paints, stickers, and glitter to decorate a water bottle. Prizes can be awarded for the most creative, the most innovative, and the most out-of-this-world design.
Newspaper Geodesic sphere
A geodesic sphere is made of triangles that have been welded together. This activity is really tons of fun for older kids who find it challenging to build the structures.
Materials needed are a recycling bin full of used newspaper, twine and a scissors. Using these materials, the kids are to construct a geodesic sphere out of rolled newspapers which have been folded into a “triangle” shape and then tied together with twine to form the sphere. While this could be done as a competition, it’s fun enough without having to make a race out of it.
Bonus Activity
One of my daughter’s all time favorite recycle craft is something we came up with last year. It’s called “Make a dog tag necklace” and uses colorful plastic TV trays and magazine headlines to create a personalized set of tags that describe her unique personality. This recycle craft has become so popular at her school that other kids have been seen making their own. Here is the link with pictures and instructions.
