How to Make Recycling FUN for Kids | DIY Recycle Bins

It’s Earth Month! Today I’m sharing How to Make Recycling FUN for Kids with tips and these adorable DIY Recycle Bins. This post is sponsored by PepsiCo Recycling. All opinions are my own

How to Make Recycling FUN for Kids + DIY Recycle Bins

There are days when I am just in awe of my 7-year-old son. He’s met and surpassed his reading goal for the year. He received the Citizenship Award for his class. He’s above grade level in all of his subjects. And lately, he’s been my little helper. Helping to empty the dishwasher, make his bed, and take out the trash are all on his list of daily chores. Maybe it’s the draw of buying yet another Lego set (the kid has goals!), but I also know that my son is just an amazing kid.

April is Earth Month, which is a great time for my little helper to learn more about loving our planet. Check out my tips to make recycling fun for kids, including this adorable tutorial for DIY Recycle Bins that match your home decor!

Make It a Game

Nothing brings out the smiles like a great game. To help get my children excited about recycling, we love lining up our plastic bottles for a little recycling bowling! Just line up your bottles and let your kids roll a ball to knock them down. After playing, be sure to drop your bottles off into your recycling bin. I’ll tell you what, I have NO problem getting my kids to put the bottles into the bins when I suggest our favorite clean-up game 🙂

Read About It

My kids LOVE their story books. There are days when I cannot pry them away from books (I know, proud mom over here!). So naturally, learning about recycling, the importance of conservation and taking care of our earth for Earth Day is easily soaked into their brains through a great story. Grab a great book from the library, head to the bookstore or download an enticing book for your little readers.

Personalize Recycle Bins

We recently upgraded to JUMBO sized recycle bins for curbside pick-up. And when I say jumbo, I mean both of my kids can stand up inside this thing. It’s huge. While I appreciate the size for all of our weekly recycleables, it’s a pretty hideous bin to have inside of the house. Wanting to create kid-friendly bins that also fit our home decor, I saw these clearance storage bins and wanted to “spruce” them up a bit. So we made these adorable bins for our living room cubby holes. Ready to make your own DIY Recycle Bins?

Here’s what you will need:

• Storage Bins (I found these on clearance – score!)
• Twine
• Chalkboard Tags
• Hot Glue
• Chalk

Directions:

Taking the twine, I wrapped the handles of my storage bins. I used hot glue to secure.

Use your chalkboard tags to write out what you want your bin to store – plastic, paper, cans, bottles, etc. Let your kids help you decide Use twine to attach your labels to your bins.

Then store in your cubby holes for your kids to fill! My kids LOVE running to the bins now that we have cute and handy bins inside our home.

Earn Rewards

There’s nothing like getting rewarded for doing a good deed! And what better way than with FREE rewards too! The Pepsico Recycle Rally is the perfect way to get your kids excited about recycling. This FREE nationwide recycling program provides great resources, incentives and smiles that directly benefits K-12 schools across the nation, all while helping our earth be a better place. What better place to learn about recycling and start healthy habits, right? Win-win!

By registering for the FREE Recycle Rally, your school will directly benefit with FREE activity ideas, lesson plans, printable certificates, and more to help promote recycling right at school. This is a great way to get everyone from students to teachers to administrators involved in a school-wide project. Over 2000+ schools have already participated in this campaign.

To help bring even more excitement to this campaign, the Recycle Rally offers frequent promotions for your school to earn prizes for doing simple acts towards recycling efforts. AND your school can also earn points in their personal online account to redeem for even more goodies like recycling bins, school supplies and more! There are prizes and rewards just waiting for your school to redeem. So let’s do this.

Sign up your school for FREE and join the efforts to recycle this Earth Month with the PepsiCo Recycle Rally.

How do you make recycling fun for kids?