Recycling is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Did you know that the average American makes about four pounds of trash a day? But it can be easy for families to starting thinking green. We at Small Hands Big Dreams preschool Kirtland Ohio love to live green and hope these ideas will help you get started! Here are few fun ideas how to get started recycling:

1. Use old cereal boxes (or other square boxes) to make puzzles. Cut out the entire front portion of the box (this should be a square or rectangular shape). Next turn it into a puzzle by cutting the front portion into smaller pieces. For a toddler friendly puzzle, cut it into four or six pieces and for preschoolers cut it into nine or ten pieces. Older children may want to have even more pieces!
2. Old crayons seem to be one thing that everyone has lying around, here is a way to make them into something new! Find all of your old crayons and take the paper off of them. Next break them into half inch pieces and place them into cooking spray coated muffin tins. Place tins in preheated oven at 275 degrees for 7-8 minutes (oven times vary). Be sure to watch carefully to decide when they are melted. Remove from oven and let cool. Once they are cooled they can be removed and used as new!
3. No need to buy sand box toys, take old plastic yogurt containers (and other types) and use them in the sandbox. These are especially great for encouraging pouring and measuring.