Family Fun Ideas from the
Meeting House Nursery School

Creating Fun Using Recyclables

            Children learn best when they can involve all of their 5 senses when playing.  The items listed allow children a hands-on way to create fun using everyday items that would be put in the recycling bin or thrown away.  As you go about your daily routines, keep your eyes open for new materials to use—produce trays from the grocery store; pizza rounds from frozen pizzas; scraps from a construction site.

            We have organized the activities into 3 categories—Sense of Touch; Sense of Sound and Sense of Sight.  It is our hope that you will use the ideas shown as a springboard for creating other items!  Have fun!!

 

Using Our Sense of Touch

• Create structures using small boxes (bandaids, soap, mac &cheese) and tape.  Tape the boxes together—how high can you build?  The tower could also be painted when complete.  You can use yogurt cups or other empty containers to create towers.
  
  
• Hammer (a plastic child’s hammer!) golf tees into Styrofoam (packing from an appliance or insulation foam).
  
  
• Sprinkle grass seed into a container of soil (plastic cup; empty eggshell; flowerpot).  Water lightly (don’t let it dry out or get too wet).  When the grass grows use small scissors to cut the grass (it smells so good!). You could decorate the container to look like a face and the grass becomes the “hair”!
  
  
• Create lacing cards out of Styrofoam food trays(baked goods come on them).  You can remove the sides of the tray to have a flat piece of foam and poke holes using a hole punch or golf tee.  Use a shoe lace to sew in and out of the holes. You could punch the holes into a shape or perhaps the first letter of your child’s name.
  
  
• Collage, collage, collage!! Create a box of “treasures” to use to create collages and games—milk jug lids; buttons; corks; ribbons; spools.  Use glue and your collection to create beautiful art. 
  
  
• Make a space shuttle control panel.  Use a piece of cardboard (the side of a packing box?) and glue items on it to represent all the buttons that astronauts push to control the shuttle.  You can hot-glue a light switch; add an inexpensive compass, decals or other embellishments.  The cardboard could also be covered with foil before adding buttons to give it a “space feel”.

 

Using Our Sense of Sound

• Create a guitar by stretching several rubber bands over a Styrofoam food tray and strum. 
  
  
• A drum can be created by covering one end a coffee can, large yogurt container or oatmeal box with a piece of acetate fabric (like that used in the lining of jackets). Secure the fabric to the container using a rubber band.  Make a solution of equal parts water and white glue and paint it all over the fabric.  Let dry.  Add another coat or 2 until it feels like a drum head. (You can add food coloring to the glue to add color to your drum.).  Use your hands to tap out a rhythm.  (If the fabric starts to lose its tension, you can re-apply more glue.)
  
  
• Rhythm sticks can be made out of old broom handles cut to size, old chair legs cut to size.
  
  
• Create sound shakers using empty plastic baby food containers filled with rice, pasta, beans or other items.  Tape the lids closed to prevent spilling.  If you create pairs of shakers with like items inside, children can shake them and match them by sound.
  
  
• Go on a “sound parade”.  Go around your yard or neighborhood and gently tap things with a spoon—trash cans, chain link fences, street sign poles, etc. 

 

Using Our Sense of Sight

• Create an “I Spy” jar:  Fill a plastic jar with a lid (peanut butter jar works well) with rice.  Drop small objects in and shake to “hide” in the rice. Tape the lid closed.  As you hold the jar and shake it around see what things you spy!  You can use items from your junk drawer (birthday candle, penny, paper clip), small toys (a use for those birthday goody bag items!) or objects from a vacation (sea shells, small souvenirs, etc.)
  
  
• Fill small water bottles with water and food coloring.  Tape the lids closed.  Toddlers love looking through the colored water to see the world in a different hue!
  
  
• Create your own puzzles using cereal or cracker boxes.  Cut the front panel from a cereal box.  Cut it into a few pieces and add magnetic craft strip to the back. You can cover the pieces with clear Contact paper to prolong the life of the puzzle. Use a cookie sheet or the refrigerator door to stick the pieces back together.  You can also create puzzles using photos (blow up a vacation photo to 8 x 11 and cut it into pieces).  Puzzles can be made more difficult by cutting the picture into more pieces.
  
  
• Use egg cartons to create a myriad of items!  Cut a 3-egg section of the carton and make a caterpillar by adding pipe cleaner antennae and coloring or painting it.  Use single sections cut apart to create a bouquet of flowers by coloring or painting each section and adding a pipe cleaner stem.  (Put them in a container with a ribbon handle and hang it on a friend’s door for a May basket!)  Use a whole egg carton as a nature treasure chest—place found nature items (rocks, shells,) in the sections.