We’re talking trash with this fun and informational recycling sorting game! Let’s test your student’s knowledge and see if they really understand which bin their trash goes in! This game is a fun and interactive tool to determine if students understand which items go into the trash, recycling, or compost bin. Using this Earth Day activity as an educational source is a great way to incorporate independent work or group work!
Let’s learn about recycling with this game to bring awareness of the importance of environmental care.
Here’s exactly how we play the recycling sorting game!
Recycling has changed so much over the years and continues to change! This is important because recycling contamination is one of the number reasons why recycling is struggling in the United States. This is in addition to an unreliable market for recycling items. I talk all about 6 painful recycling truths in this blog post here if you’re interested in learning more about our recycling program in the United States.
Earth Day is a perfect time to present this recycling sorting game with your students! I created an activity packed with sort materials that you can use as a waste sort. Let’s chat more about this printable educational game!
Recycling
With your students, talk about what recycling means! To talk about recycling with younger students, I typically start more broadly, talking about our Earth. I ask questions like
- What are some things we do on the Earth that are good for the Earth?
- What are some things we may see or see others do that are not good for the Earth?
Of course, if necessary, give some examples of things that are good or not good for the Earth. Some of my favorites to talk about are
- Turning off the faucet when you’re brushing your teeth – good for the Earth
- Picking up your dog’s poop (kids always get a kick out of this one!) – good for the Earth
- Only flushing pee, poo, and toilet paper (another round of kiddie giggles!) – good for the Earth
- Picking up litter – good for the Earth
- Recycling – good for the Earth
- Leaving lights on when you leave the room – not good for the Earth
- Throwing/leaving trash on the ground – not good for the Earth
- Throwing away stuff items that you should be composting or putting in the recycling bin – not good for the Earth
I also like to bring in items to use to talk about recycling with the kids! For example, I’ll bring various items like plastic bottles, paper, aluminum cans, snack bags, food packaging, etc., and talk through each of them with the students. I use storytelling to discuss how these items are used in our everyday lives and the resource types that make these items.
I love using this book to talk about recycling! It’s great for 1st grade – 3rd grade. Michael Recycle teaches about recycling on a level that children can understand.
For older kids (middle school and high school), consider watching the movie Wasteland. I’ve included some discussion questions for the movie here. Here’s a trailer and you can watch the full movie here.
For older kids, I use a similar narrative about each of the items in my bin, but I may add more complicated items. In addition, I go into more depth about natural resources. I talk about how glass is made from sand, plastic from oil, paper from trees, etc.
Next, I’ll discuss why recycling is so important to our planet and model what recycling looks like!
You can even assign each student one of the items from your bin and ask them if is it recyclable and have the kids come up and place it in the correct bin. Remember, there are different rules of recycling depending on where you may live so double-check what is recyclable in your city before this activity.
Trash
I love talking trash! The reason the topic of garbage, or waste management is so interesting to me is because once we throw an item away, we seldom think of it again!
Explore what happens when we throw our trash away. Where does it go? Who takes it? Where do they take it?
For older students, I pose the question, does our trash really go away? I combine this concept with the video from The Story of Stuff Project. You can check it out on YouTube here. I also like this video from them about Where Does Your Trash End Up.
For younger kids, if you’re okay with a little Blippi, this is a great video about Garbage Trucks. This is a great way to facilitate a conversation about garbage!
Compost
I love composting! Composting is the recycling of organic material. The material breaks down or decomposes, to form rich soil.
I have a full blog post all about Making Composting Understandable For Kids. It’s one of the most popular blog posts on my site so if you’re interested, definitely check it out!
I even mention an extension composting activity I use as well as the special needs for good compost. Discussing compost is a great way to bring food waste into the conversation and talk about what items are appropriate to be recycled into healthy and fertile soil through decomposition.
Here are the videos I love to use to discuss composting: Peppa Pig for younger kids and One Small Step Video for older kids.
Recycling Sort Activity
After you introduce the terms and concepts, let’s start playing this recycling sorting game!
I am one of the TPT sellers so I offer this printable game on my Teachers Pay Teachers site! While the game is focused on Pre-K – 5th grade. It can even be used with middle school students. I love using this activity as a center game, but of course, it can also be used for independent work as well.
- Download and print out the resource. You can even print on white cardstock for longer-lasting products!
- Personally, I would recommend laminating the recycling sorting game because it makes it so much easier to reuse from class to class and year to year. I am in my laminate era! We put so much work into making these resources, we might as well preserve them to cut back on the prep time later on, right?!
- Make sure you cut out the different sorting pieces so the students will be able to sort the different objects according to the following mats. For this Earth Day sort, depending on your students’ level of understanding you can always take out certain items that may be too difficult to explain and leave in easier items.
- I’ve included fun items as well as practical items in this sorting game to help students develop their recycling skills and understand that certain items go into certain bins. Students may also realize that a different item can go into many different categories.
- Depending on the age of your students and what activity you’re teaching, there are several different trash sorting maps:
- Compost sorting sheet: nitrogen (greens) or carbon (browns)
- Compost versus Trash sorting mats
- Compsot versus Recycling sorting mat
- Recycling versus Trash sorting mat
- On the second worksheet, you’ll find 42 different icons that can be used as a sorting image. Each unique page in the bundle of sorting mats will work as a game board for the students.
- The icons have both digital images and real words to make it a product for many different age levels. Set a timer and have the students sort the items in the appropriate category.
- If your students were working in groups, go over the recycling sorting game board as a class. How did the students do? Were they able to place the right icons in the right spaces?
Don’t forget to incorporate this recycling sorting game into your lesson plans! Your students will LOVE this composting activity for kids! With this bin sorting activity, kids will be able to complete a recycling sort, a compost sort, a trash sort, and combinations of each! To make the activity reusable, simply laminate the sheets and use velcro on the icons.
This can be used over and over again! Use this activity to reinforce the types of items that can be composted and whether they are carbon or nitrogen items. Your kids will love learning about what goes into the right bin and how to recycle right. This reycling sorting game education activity can be used for students in pre-k to 5th grade. This hands-on Earth Day activity is completely done for you! It is perfect to incorporate into center time! Just print and cut with the option to laminate for longer use.
This recycling sorting game includes:
- Compost sorting sheet: nitrogen (greens) or carbon (browns)
- Compost versus Trash sorting sheet
- Compsot versus Recycling sorting sheet
- Recycling versus Trash sorting sheet
- 42 icons to mix and match for the sorting activity
- general answer key
I hope you loved this blog post all about this recycling sorting game!
Looking for an online version of this game? Check out this electronic recycling sorting game that your students can use on their Chromebooks!
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