Many preschool programs have state, district or site-specific science standards that they follow to help prepare students for kindergarten. When you teach students about recycling, you can include components from the science standards.
Young children are known for being excited about learning new ideas. When you implement a recycling theme, you can get them excited about taking care of their planet. This could also help encourage enthusiasm in their families as they try to implement the recycling ideas that they learn at preschool in their own homes.
Preschool students learn best when they are able to have a hands-on approach to learning. When using a recycling theme, you can have guest speakers from your city's recycling program. Ask them to bring examples of recyclable materials that students can inspect and examine. Students will also enjoy seeing how a trash or recycling truck works, and inspecting hard hats and other parts of the uniforms. Or, students can tour a waste plant, recycling center or landfill. Many of these organizations have programs or tours for students.
Earth Day is April 22, but students can work on recycling projects throughout the year, too. When you prepare a recycling theme in the preschool classroom, you should also plan activities that keep students engaged while they learn about recycling. Have them create a recycling poster. Cut out the letter "R" and paste it on a poster board. Ask them to look through magazines and find pictures of things that they can recycle. After they cut the pictures out with safety scissors, they can paste the pictures on the "R" to create a poster that shows recyclable items. You can also encourage students to create a plan for recycling at home, too. Provide a hand-out for parents that includes several ways the students can recycle at home, and ask parents to help their child with at least one activity. Some activities could include taking plastic bottles to the recycling center, using scrap paper for drawing or reusing empty toilet paper rolls for crafts.