Recycled materials as a pedagogical approach

The possibilities are endless when it comes to children’s creativity and imagination regarding working with sounds. By giving children access to recycled materials, you can help stimulate their creative potential, strengthen their sensory skills, while also teaching them about sustainability and environmental awareness.

By providing children with access to recycled materials, you can encourage their ability to explore their own ideas and create something new. This gives them the opportunity to experiment with different materials and techniques, think outside the box, and develop their problem-solving skills. It also helps to build their confidence and self-esteem, as they are able to express themselves creatively and make something meaningful with their own hands.

Experimenting with the different materials, should also content experimenting with the sound of the different materials, so the children can use the most appropriate materials for their instruments.

It can also help foster a positive attitude towards recycling and sustainability, which they can carry with them throughout life, teaching them that things do not need to be new in order to have value.

By working together on the task, the children can also develop their social and emotional skills.

 

Using waste with children to learn how to recycle

Working with recycling teaches children to see the potential in something that others don’t need anymore. In this way, it becomes natural for them to sort waste.

If you want to make the idea of recycling a part of children’s education, a project lasting a couple of weeks is not enough.

Sustainability must naturally be part of the entire childhood. You can do that by sorting all waste and use as much of the waste as possible to creative work.

 

Creating instruments from waste with children

We have been working with children at 8-9 years old in this project. We had a creative day and used 4 lessons.

The children brought different kinds of waste from home. They brought toilet paper rolls, jars, cans, cardboard boxes, cardboard rolls and plastic containers.

 

The schedule for the day

  • Idea
  • Choose materials
  • Draw a working sketch
  • Build
  • Try to play
  • Maybe make adjustments and play again

 

Key outcomes

  • Recycled materials can stimulate children’s creativity and problem-solving skills.
  • Recycled materials can teach children to work with different materials and techniques while developing their problem-solving abilities.
  • Recycled materials can teach children that things don’t need to be new in order to have value.

 

Resources

 

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