Children always want to learn from us, and there are many ways to encourage this. One is to show them by example of how to behave in the world, and another is by talking to them about things that are important to us, like preserving the planet through home conservation efforts like the Three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
A great way to open age-appropriate discussions about the Three Rs is to incorporate them into storytime if your child is very young and discuss the content as you go.
For older kids, read the book yourself and then go over some of the ideas that you think are most feasible for your family and included the kids in participating. If you really get their attention, they may actually want to read the book themselves to come up with even more ideas for how to conserve at home.
I found the following assortment of books that I really like for their content and various levels of age-appropriate language in getting ideas across to kids from kindergarten to all the way to middle school.
WHY SHOULD I RECYCLE? – by Jen Green
This is a great introductory book to read with very young children. It has very easy language and has great illustrations that show how people recycle.
The story is about a little girl and her family that learn about recycling by noticing her teacher, Mr. Jones, recycling outside of his home. She watches him carry out a box of cans and asks him what he’s doing.
There is a great segue where Mr. Jones says that he will discuss it more with her class. The next day opens with a discussion about how garbage contains a lot of useful things that can be recycled or used again.
Mr. Jones then takes the class to a recycling center (which is illustrated) and shows the students what happens to bottles, cans, plastic, clothes, and paper products.
The story also has other great ideas for recycling and repurposing, including: taking old things that you don’t need or want to a thrift store; finding new purposes for grocery containers like empty glass jars, plastic, and aluminum coffee cans; and composting your fruit and vegetable peelings.
I really like this book for its simplicity and great ideas that little kids can participate in.
How I Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – by Robin Nelson
This is a really great book for kids from kindergarten and up. It has very easy language and is illustrated with pictures of a little girl showing how she reduces, reuses, and recycles at home.
The theme of the book is that caring for the planet starts at home. The book has some great ideas for teaching kids habits for reducing energy, including turning off the lights when they leave a room, and saving water by turning off dripping faucets. These ideas also save money, which is another big plus.
Some creative ideas for reusing home items include taking milk jugs and turning them into craft projects, like bird feeders, or punching small holes in the caps and turning them into pitchers for watering plants. Besides great for the environment, these ideas also provide kids with hours of fun in making and decorating them.
This book is also great because it shows the little girl placing cans, bottles, and papers in recycling bins so that they can be collected by the sanitation department. It also shows a picture of a truck taking the recycling materials away to a plant, where the book says they will be made into new things.
The book also has fun facts in the back, like, “Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy so that you can listen to 10 songs on a MP3 player.”
Choose to Reuse – by Lisa Bullard
This story is written from the perspective of a boy named Tyler. The book asks readers to think before they toss, and consider that trash isn’t just our problem, it’s also bad for the earth.
The book is illustrated and uses easy-to-understand language for second graders and up. It also introduces some more advanced information (that’s easier for older kids to understand) including ways that regular trash is disposed of, such as being buried in a landfill or burned in an incinerator.
The book also introduces kids to concerns about how one day we could run out of places to bury trash and how burning it dirties the air, and about how important it is to be able to reuse as many things as possible to keep them out of the trash.
The book has some great ideas about how kids can reuse things, including:
- at the start of the new school year, reusing supplies from the prior year.
- borrowing books from the library, instead of buying new books.
- giving away old clothes, instead of throwing them out.
- shopping at thrift stores to make use of things that others don’t need anymore and support the reuse effort.
- using reusable cloth shopping bags instead of plastic bags.
- taking materials (like an old shirt, pants, towel, table cloth, etc.) and using a jagged scissor to create new reusable napkins. The jagged edges will reduce fraying. This project will save money on buying new napkins, save trees, and put old materials to new use.
- repairing old things like bicycles, rather than throwing them away and getting new ones.
The book also has a resource section in the back, including the following websites that are filled with great crafting ideas for reusing old household items:
- EPA: Planet Protectors Create Less Waste in the First Place – the website lets you download and print a coloring book showing the many different ways that you can reuse a jelly jar.
- One Pretty Thing: Kid’s Craft Roundup – this website provides ideas for do-it-yourself craft projects, tutorials, activities, and has printables for kids.
Making Good Choices About Recycling and Reuse - by Stephanie Watson
This is a great resource for kids that are in about the fifth grade and up. It’s a relatively short book, with about 50 pages of reading material. I found it interesting with great facts and ideas, and a fast easy read.
The book opens by asking readers how much trash to they throw away, and that if you’re like the average American, you toss out more than four pounds of garbage every day of the year.
And, if you add in the more than 300 million people living in this country, and it adds up to about 250 million tons of garbage produced each year, according to EPA’s 2006 Facts and Figures.
The amount of garbage we produce is an eye-opening fact, and the book does a great job of explaining why it’s important to reduce the amount of waste that reaches landfills and incinerators.
Besides the sheer amount of waste that builds up in landfills, there is also the ever present issue that, “Many of the items thrown in the trash contain toxic chemical, which could drain into the water supply and get into the air,” according to the book.
The book cites another concern that while incinerators remove a lot of waste and create energy, there is the worry of releasing toxic chemicals into the air. Today, only about 20 percent of solid waste is incinerated, according to the EPA.
Besides the easiest method of recycling, which is bringing your trash out to the curb on recycling pick day, other ideas suggested by the book include:
- using local drop-off centers, especially for hazardous materials like batteries and paint.
- using deposit/refund centers that pay people for dropping off their bottles and aluminum cans.
- using buyback centers that pay cash for your old aluminum, scrap metal, glass, plastics, and newspapers.
Another section of the book that I like is called, “Creative Ways To Reuse Disposable Items,” which also has some great ideas, including:
- when you have a CD that you don’t want anymore, take it out of the case and use it as a coaster. Also, take the empty case, remove any paper and use the empty case as a desk picture frame.
- rinse out old yogurt containers, then paint or somehow decorate them and use them as pots for plants.
- cut out old pictures from last year’s calendar to make bookmarks. To give your bookmarks more weight, cut strips from used greeting cards and tape them to the backs.
Another great thing that I like about this book is all of the resource websites that it lists, which include:
- GrassRoots Recycling Network – This is a network of activists and recycling professionals dedicated to the idea of zero waste. This is done through environmental stewardship and achieving a sustainable economy by eliminating waste through practices of reusing, recycling, and composting.
- National Recycling Coalition – Members of this non-profit group are devoted to finding new ways to recycle and recuse waste.
- National Resource Defense Council – This is a grassroots environmental organization that promotes green living and finding other ways to protect the environment.
- Recycling Council of Ontario – This is a non-profit agency in Canada that teaches people how to reduce and get rid of waste in a more environmentally friendly way.
- Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society (REAPS) – This group, based in Prince George, BC, offers various forms of community outreach and public awareness, including programs in schools, garden workshops, and other educational initiatives, where people can learn about composting, recycling, vermicomposting, organic gardening, and other environmental issues.
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