Earth Day for Preschoolers - Recycle Plastic Bottles into Preschool Fun

This Earth Day, look around the house and see what kinds of items you can recycle into fun. A good pick is plastic bottles - the kind you get soda pop in. Here are some of my favorite uses for those bottles when I want to help save the earth and keep my preschoolers busy at the same time.

Sprinkling Water Bottles Poke some holes in the bottom of a plastic bottle. Show your preschooler how to fill it with water, then have fun watching water sprinkle out of the bottom, and onto the sand table or water table.

Bumpy Marbles Game Use 2 clear plastic 2-Litre bottles that have bumps on the bottoms. Cut off the top halves of the bottles with a craft knife. Count how many bumps is on the bottom of one of the bottles, and put that amount of marbles inside. Put the other bottom on top of the first one, and tape them together to make a kind of “ball” with marbles inside. Your preschooler can try to get the marbles into all the bumps on one side of the ball.

Let’s Bowl! Set up several 1 or 2-Litre plastic bottles. Use a large rubber ball to roll at the bottles and try to knock them down.

Stack ‘Em Up For this project, you’ll need several 2-Litre plastic bottles with the labels removed. With a craft knife, cut off the top and bottom of each bottle. Keep the middle section, and trim off any rough edges. You can decorate these cylinders with stickers, if you want. Your preschoolers can create buildings by stacking the cylinders on top of each other.

Poppin’ Popcorn Cut off the top halves of two clear plastic 2-Litre plastic bottles with a craft knife. Trim off uneven edges from the bottom halves. Fill one of the bottom halves with 1/4 cup popcorn kernels and a few pieces of popped popcorn. Put the other bottom half on top of the first, and tape them together. Roll the ball across the floor and shake it to make the corn “pop.”

Roly-Poly Oly Follow the instructions for Poppin’ Popcorn, but instead of putting popcorn inside, just add a small toy or golf ball. Roll the ball across the floor.

Melissa Pedersen is a preschool teacher who likes to turn everyday activities into preschool play. Visit her at the Free Preschool Activities blog for more fun and educational activities you can do with your preschooler.

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