Earth Day Blog Hop- Recycle!

Earth Day is just around the corner!

I'm super excited to be participating in this wonderful collaborative effort

on Earth Day books and activities today! Please make sure to hop on over and

check out all of the great books and activities being shared!

The book I am choosing to share is called, Why Should I Recycle?

This book is a wonderful way to get children thinking about social responsibility

through reusing and recycling! The book is a little long,

but with creative reading and storytelling,

you can shorten the story for younger listeners :).

We recycle A LOT!

Today, I'm also recycling posts...

Here are a few of our favorite activities where we

"reused" "recycled" or "upcycled"

We love to recycle our own paper.

We have a wonderful multi-day non-electric process for recycling our paper.

It is a great process to engage the children in.

We have re-purposed laundry detergent bottles into butterflies for our rock garden!

I made a bunch of butterflies and flowers out of aluminum cans too!

We recycled old magazine ads into wallpaper!

We recycle our old marker caps into all kinds of things

like fairy bridges, puppets and necklaces!

We recycle our dried out markers into all kinds of things!

The insides can be used to make homemade liquid watercolors!

(This is by far our most popular recycling idea! It's gone viral since

I originally posted about it in August of 2010)

We made old fashioned tin punch ornaments by recycling old juice can lids.

We have recycled all kinds of containers to use on our sand and water wall.

Our mud pie kitchen is filled with items we have re-purposed!

And, our music area is made completely from re-used/re-purposed materials!

I could go on and on and on.....

We re-purpose A LOT! If you are interested in more, feel free to check the archives!

There are a lot of Earth Day books along with fantastic ideas being shared by some other bloggers today! Stop by and bookmark or even go ahead and pin them all :).

Teach Preschool : Child Central Station : Living Montessori Now : Aunt Annie's Childcare : The SEEDS Network : Flights of Whimsy : Pre-K Pages : Kreative Resources : I'm a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here! : Share & Remember : Music Sparks : little illuminations : Greening Sam and Avery : Putti Prapancha : Early Play : 52 Days to Explore : Little Running Teacher : Look at My Happy Rainbow : Rainbows within Reach

Do you have a great Earth Day book or activity to share? We'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment or link up below!

Easter Egg Caterpillars!

OOOPS! This post has moved, please click on the photo to be redirected!

I learned a hell of a lot from Dan Hodgins. He was mentor, a friend, and a "bone shaker" for many of us in the field of Early Childhood Education. He was and will always be a champion for children, and protector of childhood. I have so many great memories of time spent with him, it just doesn't seem like we had enough time. Dan died this past Saturday. Interestingly enough, Dan and I talked about death quite a bit. It is one of those topics that isn't talked about all that much in our field, but is super important. All living things eat, all living things poop, and all living things die. Dan and I recorded a podcast for awhile called "Shaking Bones." Dan was always shaking bones, even before I met him. To say I was honored to be asked to be his co-host would be putting it lightly. I loved recording with him. He was never afraid to touch on topics that were a bit edgy, or issues that sometimes weren't talked about much at all. We even...

A Few Ideas With Marker Caps (As Promised)

Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them...

Marnie @ Carrots are Orange said…

Wow, what an awesome list of activities. I love the idea of recycling markers. We try to keep track or caps and replace them but you know how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration!

April 8, 2012 at 6:38 PM

ShareandRemember said…

I love all the ways you repurpose at your center! You outdoor cooking area is awesome!

April 8, 2012 at 9:43 PM

Nic. said…

Wow! I'm loving all your garden ideas. I have a mudpie kitchen happening already but I'm so stealing the music idea. Awesome stuff! Thanks heaps for putting it out there.

April 8, 2012 at 10:33 PM

Roopa said…

Love all your ideas for recycling things!! And your music area is awesome:))

April 10, 2012 at 10:49 AM

Anonymous said…

I need to remember your marker tip. JDaniel loses maker caps all the time.

April 11, 2012 at 7:17 PM