KEY STAGE 1 ACTIVITIES
MARVELLOUS MATERIALS
Length of Session
1 hour
Group Size
30 children
Aims
To identify and describe common materials
To learn what can be recycled how recycling benefits the environment
Summary of Activity
Show children some common waste items e.g. plastic bottle, yoghurt pot,
scrunched up newspaper, glass jar*, aluminium can*, scrunched up kitchen
foil* etc. Check that the class can name the materials/items. Put all of
the materials into a feely bag and invite one child at a time to place a
hand inside, feel one of the objects and describe it to the rest of the
class. The class can guess which material and object they think is being
described.
*Take care with glass/sharp edges on metal items.
Look at the materials and discuss what happens to them when they have
been used. Can they be recycled?
Check here for a full list http://www.suffolkrecycle.info/what-can-irecycle/ If so, what can they be made into?
And what happens to them if they are put in the bin?
http://www.greensuffolk.org/recycling/where-it-goes/energy-fromwaste/
To aid this discussion look at the facts and figures for each material on
this website.
The class then act out the journey a glass bottle takes from the glass
bottle bank through the recycling process. Children can make appropriate
movements/sound effects!
Glass Bottle Recycling Journey –
See Viridor’s educational video for the majority of the process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnzQl-EIs4
Another glass recycling video here - http://www.recyclenow.com/factsfigures/how-it-recycled/glass-bottles
Bottle tops are removed (to be recycled separately), and bottles are
emptied and washed. They are then taken to the local bottle banks. The
bottle banks are emptied into a big truck recycling and taken to the
processing centre where they are washed and labels and metal rings are
removed. Bottles are then sorted by glass colour (clear and brown glass is
kept separate and blue/green glass is put together). The glass is then
smashed to form glass cullet which is taken to the glass factory. Here it
is heated in a furnace (sand, soda ash and limestone added) and then
reshaped to form a new bottle/jar. These are then transported to a
factory to be filled and labelled and finally off to a shop to be sold.
Finish the session by asking children to sort and stick pictures of
recyclable items onto a recycling bin picture (the colour of the recycling
bin can vary depending on where you live ). This could be mounted on scrap
card and a magnet added to form a fridge magnet.
Resources
 Feely bag and selection of clean waste
 Picture of landfill
 Recycling bin and recyclables pictures
 Scissors
 Glue sticks
 Magnets
 Cardboard
 Coloured pencils/felt tip pens