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Teaching Your Preschooler To Recycle
By Marie-Helen Goyetche
"Our community has the blue-box program," adds Sofia. "Many children also knew this from home. They separated the garbage from the items that can be placed in the blue box and sent to where they can be used again or refilled again."
In their daycare, the teachers have the blue box, a laundry basket for arts and crafts, a garbage pail for the recyclable (plastics/tins/glass) and a small pail with a cover for composting.
"We know what goes where but it's our responsibility to guide the children and ask them questions," says Sofia. "For example: 'Jonathan, what can you do with your yogurt container -- can it be placed in the composting pail? Can it be placed in the paper basket? Can you clean and dry it to place in the plastic basket for arts and crafts or in the blue box?'"
Parents have participated in helping their children reduce, reuse or recycle home items too. Old stationery and office papers were brought in to the daycare for the children to draw on. One child came in with over 20 egg cartons for art and crafts. Twice a year in spring and fall, the daycare has a clothes drive. Parents bring in clothing they no longer can use (especially children clothes). The clothes are set out on tables for parents to go through and take what they can use. The rest of the clothing items are put in boxes and taken to the local parish. A few parents have also benefited from the compost bin.
"Will we save the world?" asks Sofia. "I don't know, but we trying. We are also giving the children tools and knowledge that things do accumulate and we need to think further how we'll use the items rather than filling up our landfills."