48 Days 'Til the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day: Tips for Classroom Recycling

Today marks day 48 until we reach the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! To give you ideas on how to celebrate, we're giving you some activities you can use with your students to inspire entrepreneurial thinking about recycling and caring for the earth. 

1. Memes and PSAs

Have your students create recycling/sustainability memes. Use PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides to use text and images and save slide as a .jpg. Make talking memes with the ChatterPix app that your students will definitely love. Download here for Apple and Android.

2. Recycling Competition

Host an earth-friendly competition with your students by splitting them up into teams and seeing who can recycle the most in a week or month. You can do this challenge in your own classroom or against other classrooms. 

3. Create posters or PSAs

Let your students get creative and design their own posters or PSAs. Have them go the extra mile and create the posters using recycled or reusable materials only! Display the posters around the classroom or school and they'll feel good about their messages and creations being seen. 

Here is a quick PSA video you can show your students to give them an idea about what they can say.

​4. Reuse materials for projects

Whenever you do a crafty project in your classroom, encourage your students to bring in supplies from home like yogurt cups, unused paper or magazines, egg cartons, or cardboard. This teaches them to be more mindful of what materials they use. 

5. Host a toy and book trade

If you teach younger grade levels, you can host a toy and book trade. Students may have toys and books at home that they don't use. They can bring these items to school to swap with other students. This is much better than having these items end up in a landfill. 

Now, put on your entrepreneurial thinking cap and consider some ways you can inspire your students to find solutions to the world's problems.