Have a Recycling Relay Race!

Did you know that you can help your students learn about and practice recycling through a simple relay race? Here’s how:

Gather some recyclable and non-recyclable materials and split your class into appropriately sized teams. Have each team form a line at the start line and give each team a selection of recyclable and trash items (each team should have the same total number of items). Put a trash can and a recycling bin an equal distance away from each team. For the relay, a team member from each team will have to select an item, run to the trash/recycling bins, place the item in the appropriate bin, and run back to and cross the start line before their next team member can take a turn. As the relay takes place, make sure that all trash and recyclable items have been placed in the correct bin. If an item is sorted incorrectly, a team member must take an “extra lap” to run out, identify the item that was incorrectly sorted and run back to their start line with it so another team member can run back to the bins and sort it correctly.

The relay will continue until all of the teams have sorted all of their items correctly. The team that completes the task in the shortest amount of time will win! You can complicate the relay in a variety of ways, such as having the last student “shoot” the recycle/trash item into the appropriate bin from a certain distance away (like basketball), adding a “reuse” bin for objects that do not have to be recycled after just one use, etc.