As I mentioned last night, I'm going to be sharing some great resources with you about simplifying family life this week in conjunction with the incredible 2nd Annual Simplify Your Family Life Sale
Becoming Minimalist is a blog that I have recently become addicted to. I am hoping if I read it often enough I will change some of my current spending behaviors and buy less stuff... or at least start donating some of the stuff I already have! Yesterday Joshua shared 7 Common Problems Solved By Owning Less... um... I have every problem that he listed! I will be buying his ebook as part of the Simplify Your Family Life Bundle Sale
One thing that we always have too much of at our house is trash and recycling! If we would buy less, we wouldn't be sending so much waste out into the world. I have been thinking about this a lot as we have been getting closer and closer to Earth Day this Sunday (April 22nd).
Since we have so much trash and stuff to be recycled at our house, I've been working on teaching my 4-year-old (and the 1-year-old) about what we recycle. To make recycling a bit more fun, my son and I collaborated and created a special kid-made recycling bin!
Materials Needed: Trash can, Sharpie oil based paint markers, and some items that need to be recycled!
Directions:
I demonstrated how to use the paint markers and press them down while my son watched and came up with his recycling bin design on a scrap piece of paper.
Then he took over. If you know my son from reading this blog you'll have no trouble guessing what he drew... any ideas? It is his favorite thing in the world right now!
Recycling Toss:
Once the trash can paint dried, we collected lots of recyclables (and a few items we have in our reuse cupboard), and played a recycling toss game with our new recycling bin.
The toddler and preschooler got into the game.
Recyclables
Tossing them in!
Checking things out
The toddler also liked to carry around the recycling bin, toss everything out of it, and start over again... so we might not always have it easily accessible for her.
We also spent some quality time out on the curb waving at the guy who picks up our recyclables on Trash Day. He is one of my son's favorite people.
Do you have any fun ways that you teach your kids about recycling?
What have you made with recycled materials (or to help you with recycling)?
Do you have any favorite children's books about Earth Day and recycling?
Did you guess what my son drew on his side of the recycling bin yet?
I'd love for you to share your ideas in the comments!
PS- Don't forget, you only have until 8am on Friday, April 20th to grab the screaming deal over at the 2nd Annual Simplify Your Family Life Sale. 35+ ebooks about simplifying your family life for only $29 (a $375 value).
You guys are really cute, it's good that your helping her learn about recyling at a young age.
Thanks for the post we have just started recycling in our home and i was looking for a way to store it and this will be great to be able to get the kids involved.
We love to make crafts using recycled materials.