KidTip: Teaching reuse via recycled art

Yesterday my 6-year-old marched off to school toting a very large paper grocery bag filled with recyclables. No, I was not making her run errands for me. It was for a school project. With Earth Day right around the corner, her kindergarten class was soliciting recyclables to use for their big Earth Day art project. Is your school doing this too? You've probably seen this kind of art. You've probably made some of it. If you're looking for ideas, Savvy Source has a huge list of craft projects made from reuse items.

While it's unrealistic to expect our young'uns will create true, museum-worthy masterpieces working with toilet paper rolls, bottle caps, polystyrene trays and egg cartons, I like the underlying message that these art projects teach: things can be reused. Even if they are created for one-time use: the egg carton, the bottle cap, the toilet paper roll, and yes, the foam tray. These "recycled art" projects plant the idea that using a big empty yogurt container on the beach as a sandcastle form is all you really need -- instead of buying a special plastic sand castle building bucket. Aside from a little text on the yogurt container, they're really the same thing: cheap plastic buckets. Reuse where you can. Make "precycle" the first step in any new purchase consideration. If your kids can learn this from a young age, maybe "retail therapy" will die a premature death.

If you're not in the mood for arts and crafts, or you're looking for other kid-sized projects to celebrate Earth Day, Savvy Source also lists a few eco-friendly activities for kids, along the lines of our KidTips.

Now go off and make your egg-carton caterpillar, or hug a tree, for crying out loud! It's almost Earth Day.