Kids Care
Decorate a Garbage Can
Tired of the same poster contests every day? Here’s your chance to break out of the mold and let your group get down and dirty. The concept is simple. Use a garbage can as your sites’ canvas to tell its anti-litter story. Place the children in small groups of three or four so they can think of the design or idea they want to contribute to the can. Then, throughout the week, insert the garbage can design activity into your daily activity list so that each group has ample time to create. Once a group has its design ideas, it can go about creating them. Whether they use splatter or finger paints, glued-on elements, or a poem, participants are encouraged to use their imaginations to develop their best anti-litter concepts or ideas for the future.
All this activity takes is a trash can, art supplies—including paints, glue, and craft materials—and a ton of imagination. Together, the site will create a free-form commentary on litter, complete with personal experiences and ideas for the future. Once the can is complete, display it onsite to serve as an anti-litter reminder and a point of pride for all involved.
Recycled Crafts
Who said you couldn’t turn a frequently littered item into a musical instrument and a flower vase? Well here’s how! Materials for this activity are easy to use and already available, so don’t worry about it being too complicated. Kids will love the opportunity to see how something that is usually thrown away can turn into a treasure for them and their families. Note: Some activities involve small parts not suitable for young children.
Rain Stick
To make a rain stick, all you need is a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll, a piece of cardboard, tinfoil, popcorn kernels, glue, markers, and scissors. Start by tracing twice around the end of the tube onto a piece of cardboard. Cut around the circles, and glue one of them onto one end of the tube for a cap. Tightly roll pieces of tinfoil into a long snake about twice as long as your tube and about 1/2" in diameter. Push the tinfoil snake into the tube zig zagging it back and forth to fit. Pour 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels into the tube. Cap off the remaining end, and decorate the outside however you wish.
Flower Vase
Crafting a flower vase is just as easy. For this project, all you need are three plastic or paper cups, glue, tissue paper, and a little bit of sand or pebbles. Start by placing a cup on a table and filling it halfway with the sand or pebbles. Next, glue a second cup to the first, top to top. Then, glue a third cup to the second, bottom to bottom. Finally, it’s time to decorate! Encourage the kids to use anti-litter themes to decorate their vases.
These are only a sampling of the many items that you can make out of recycled or discarded products. If you don’t have the materials necessary for these, feel free to use what you have to carry out this anti-litter theme. Other ideas for this project include plastic bottle door stops, butterflies, mobiles, and birdfeeders. Cardboard tube binoculars, bracelets, and napkin rings are also possibilities, along with countless others.
