What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Ohio Standards
Connection:
Science and Technology
Benchmark A
Explain why people, when
building or making
something, need to
determine what it will be
made of, how it will affect
other people and the
environment.
Indicator 2
Explore new uses for
familiar materials through
play, art or drama (e.g.,
paper towel rolls as kazoos,
pan for a hat).
Related Benchmark
Benchmark B
Explain that to construct
something requires
planning, communication,
problem solving and tools.
Indicator 3
Use familiar objects to
accomplish a purpose,
complete a task or solve a
problem (e.g., using
scissors to create paper
tickets for a puppet show,
creating a ramp for a toy
truck).
Indicator 4
Demonstrate the safe use
of tools, such as scissors,
hammers, writing utensils,
with adult guidance.
Lesson Summary:
Children will invent new uses for discarded materials in an
effort to see how the reuse of materials can be beneficial to
both people and the environment. A Science and
Technology Museum will provide space and materials to
explore, extend understanding and display the children’s
creativity.
Estimated Duration: 90 minutes
Commentary:
A teacher who used the lesson stated, “The opportunities for
critical thinking are tremendous. This lesson had many
components that reached all children through activities,
creativity, language, working with others and following
directions. Teachers could extend and adapt this lesson to
individual and community needs.” A selection of books on
re-using, recycling, and making new products from existing
resources would be beneficial to have available in the
classroom for reference.
Pre-Assessment:
Engage
 During circle time or with small groups of children,
provide a set of disposable (consumable) materials and ask
how the material can be reused or substituted for other
common items (such as a plastic margarine tub for a drum
or hat, a block of wood for a toy car, cardboard tube from
wrapping paper or paper towel tube for a telescope, ball
bat, or building material, etc.).
 Encourage children to act out or pantomime their ideas
and talk about the new use of the items.
Scoring Guidelines:
Acceptable Response: Child uses original thinking and states
or demonstrates a use for the object that is clearly different
than the original use for the object.
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Related Standard
Scientific Ways of
Knowing
Benchmark A
Recognize that there are
different ways to carry out
scientific investigations.
Realize that investigations
can be repeated under the
same conditions with
similar results and may
have different
explanations.
Indicator 1
Offer ideas and
explanations (through
drawings, emergent
writing, conversation,
movement) of objects,
organisms and phenomena,
which may be correct or
incorrect.
Post-Assessment:
 Provide a variety of common items that can be used to create
or make something. Ask children to select and talk about how
items can be reused, for example:
1. What can be used as a cup?
2. What can be used as a toy airplane?
3. What can be used to build with or used as shovel to play
in the sand?
 Allow children to think freely without directing their ideas.
 In addition, provide opportunities for children to use words or
pictures to describe what they created with reusable/recyclable
materials from the classroom Science and Technology Museum.
Materials offered and used for creations should be those teacher
and children have collected within the classroom and from the
home.
Scoring Guidelines:
Acceptable Response: Child uses original thinking and states
or demonstrates a use for the object that is clearly different
than the original use for the object. The use that the student
gives is appropriate for the material that is provided.
Instructional Procedures:
Day One
Explore
1. Gather small group of children to a comfortable area and share a collection of disposable
materials collected within the home. Items collected might include:
a. Paper towel cardboard tubes
b. Used pipe cleaners
c. Aluminum foil
d. Water bottle caps or jar lids
2. Tell the children that you were going to throw the unwanted items away, but instead,
thought it might be interesting and helpful to reuse the materials, but in a new way.
3. Facilitate a discussion on the reuse of materials and why it is desirable to reuse materials
rather than throw them away. Through discussion and questioning, build an awareness of
the environmental issues resulting from disposing everything and the need to reuse
materials.
Sample questions for children:
 If we don’t reuse this _______, what should we do with it?
 How can we use this in another way (individually or combined with another item(s)?
Can you show me?”
 What center can we put this item into for our play?
 How is it helpful to reuse some of the things we might throw away?
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
4. As the children brainstorm and share, create a list of their ideas. Accept all responses.
5. Discuss your desire to provide food for hungry backyard animals. Share the idea/thought
of using the materials to create a birdfeeder for the birds. Ask the children to share
opinions if this would be a possible and helpful use of the materials collected.
6. Collect ideas from the children on how the items might be specifically used to create a
birdfeeder. Build oral language and children’s vocabulary as they engage in
conversations, with probing questions such as:
 What can we use to hold the birdseed? How does it need to be shaped to hold the
food? Do we need to change the shape of the material in some way?
 What can we use to keep the feed from falling out the ends of the feeder?
 How will we hang the completed feeder?
 Where might be a good place to hang the feeder? Outside the home? Outside the
classroom/school?
7. As the dialogue unfolds, draw a diagram/picture of the idea and how the birdfeeder will
look when finished. Share the drawing that will serve as a plan or blueprint for
completing the task.
8. Begin to model the creative or new use of disposable/used materials, with the assistance
of the children. Using the children’s collective ideas and blueprint, construct the
birdfeeder. Provide opportunities for children to assist in the process. During assembly,
refer to the plan and engage children in retelling how each of the items will be reused for
the purpose of constructing the birdfeeder.
9. The following is an example for construction of a birdfeeder:
 Cut a cardboard tube lengthwise so it is concave in shape. Make a small hole in the
middle of each side of the cut tube.
 Have children assist in attaching water bottle caps or jar lids to the ends of the open
tube.
 Bend a pipe cleaner in half and insert each end through the hole in the side of the
cardboard tube trough to use as a hanger. Add birdseed to the birdfeeder.
 Hang the feeder as recommended by the children.
Instructional Tip:
While the birdfeeder is assembled to model the use of one collection of unused and
disposable materials, provide ample supply of the same materials placed in area of room
accessible to children for their exploration and creative use. Collaborate with the art teacher
to access unused or reusable materials for use with this lesson.
Explain:
10. As the birdfeeder is constructed, ask children to share what parts of the birdfeeder came
from reused materials. This can be done orally, or completed through a shared writing
experience using Attachment A, Our Birdfeeder.
11. Get their ideas on where the extra (unused) materials might be placed for further
exploration and used in their play.
12. Enrich children’s conceptual understanding of recycling or reusing materials and items
by sharing a children’s book (storybook or informational text) that includes or
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
demonstrates new and different uses of unused or disposable materials (e.g., group of
children creating snowmen, using items and materials found inside the home and outside
in the environment). Following the reading, engage children in creating a list of the
materials and how they were used in a different, creative way. Extend the discussion on
how materials could be used beyond the use illustrated within the story or text.
13. Ask children to share what they have learned about reusing materials instead of throwing
away old or disposable items.
Day Two
Explore
14. Create a list of recyclable materials with the children. Have available and ask children to
bring in to class items on the list that are clean and unbreakable. Some materials might
include:
 plastic margarine containers;
 aluminum foil;
 popsicle sticks;
 paper (newspapers, magazines, construction paper scraps, writing paper, cardboard,
paper bags, etc.);
 wrapping paper, toilet paper, paper towel cardboard tubes;
 cardboard food containers and cereal boxes;
 string, yarn, pipe-cleaners;
 styrofoam packing peanuts;
 wood scraps;
 juice cans (no sharp edges);
 paper and plastic milk cartons, water bottles;
 plastic tubing (straws, pvc piping, garden hose sections);
 baby food jars;
 plastic milk or water bottle lids;
 fabric, carpet scraps;
15. Place all materials in sturdy bags or boxes. Instruct children to observe how much
“garbage or junk” they have saved. Emphasize that their so-called “junk box” contains
many items that can be reused and will contribute to limiting the amount of garbage that
collects in landfills (garbage dumps).
16. Encourage and assist children in sorting and placing the materials collected into
containers. Sorting categories used should be meaningful and offered by the children.
Encourage children to wash hands with disinfectant soap after the sorting activity.
17. Place items in a learning center titled: Science and Technology Museum. Allow sufficient
time for individual and small groups of children to visit the center to explore and create
new uses for the materials (models, pictures, structures, etc). The center should provide
the materials and space for planning, construction and display of creations. A wellstocked art area will provide materials and supplies needed to assist with children’s
constructions.
18. Encourage children to make blueprints or plans prior to their constructions. Engage in
conversations with children during their explorations to build oral language and
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
vocabulary. Provide assistance with their constructions and utilize scaffolding strategies,
when appropriate.
19. Interview the students when each has completed his or her new-use item. Ask them to
talk about what they have created and explain how they chose the materials to make the
new items. Serve as scribe or enlist volunteers or older students to document their
explanations using Attachment B, Look What I Made.
Explain:
20. When all students have made at least one new item, place what is left in a sturdy bag or
box and make a visual comparison of the amount of materials they started with compared
to after reusing.
21. Revisit the environmental issues related to re-use/reduce/recycle.
22. Assist children in discovery that one someone’s “junk” can be transformed into “beautiful
items” when reused in creative and new ways. Share this discovery with others by asking
peers and families to visit the museum displays.
Instructional Tip:
Examine all items, brought to class to share, for safety and cleanliness. Provide tape or glue
for attaching parts. Monitor the safe use of all materials and tools as students are creating
their new items.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs, to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
 For children with cognitive challenges and hearing impairments, support discussions with
many concrete objects and visuals.
 Children may work independently, in pairs or heterogeneous groups during construction.
 For children with communication delays, use techniques to stimulate language such as
self-talk, parallel talk and expansion. For nonverbal children, encourage use of symbol
board and appropriate communication devices to support and provide language.
 Allow children to draw pictures or use words to convey their ideas.
 Modify fine motor and art materials with elongated, enlarged, modified grips, knobs and
handles, modified scissors. Provide hand-over-hand assistance, when appropriate.
 Children may be challenged to invent more uses for combinations of materials, create
models, and/or design solutions to problems.
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Extensions:
 Ask children to think about the things they consume and then make a class collage
representing these things from recycled magazines.
 Demonstrate the use of toilet paper or paper towel tubes as an “I Spy” tube. Facilitate the
game by saying, “I spy something (describe, but do not name the object). What do I spy
with my tube?” Have children use their tubes to find and name the thing you’ve spied.
Ask children to continue leading the game. Children can decorate their tubes with the
recycled materials, if desired.
 Encourage children to reuse materials to create a musical instrument (e.g., flute, drum,
guitar, etc.). Provide time for children to share instruments and form a parade or band.
The following is an example for construction of a guitar:
1. Compile needed materials: paper towel tube, tissue box, rubber bands, sturdy
toothpicks (or alternative item) and tape.
2. Attach the tissue box at the end of the paper towel tube with tape.
3. Push toothpicks into the paper towel tube near the top end.
4. Push toothpicks into the tissue box near the end.
5. Place a rubber band around each toothpick on the paper towel tube and connect each
rubber band to a toothpick in the tissue box.
6. Pre-punch small holes in the paper towel tube and tissue box for students for ease of
placing the toothpicks. Caution children to be careful with sharp toothpicks, not to
place them in their mouths or on other students. Close supervision will be required
when using these materials.
 Have materials available to make snow globes, if desired.
1. Use baby food jars or small water bottles.
2. Have available or ask children to bring in small items to glue on the inside of the lid.
Items should be small enough to fit inside the lid and tall enough to see when the
bottles or jar are inverted.
3. Hot-glue the object on the lid for each child.
4. Have children fill the jar up with water and put in 1 small drop of food coloring and
one-eighth teaspoon of glitter.
5. Assist the children when tightening the jar lid. (may use a little hot glue)
6. Invert the jar and shake.
7. Instruct children to make observations and infer why the glitter floats slowly down to
the bottom.
 Create a paper-making center. Build a wooden deckle with removable screen for use in
the process. Ask children to gather discarded materials for recycling of paper. Materials
can include such things as old newsprint, cardboard cartons, writing and drawing paper or
all colors. Bits of yarn, thread, seeds, grass, etc. can add interest and different textures to
the paper).
 The recipe and procedures for the process are:
1. Have children tear sheets of paper or cardboard into small pieces less than two inches
in diameter and put into a large basin.
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
2. With supervision, add water and laundry starch in proportions of one tablespoon of
starch per one cup of water to the torn paper. Beat the mixture with an egg beater
until the pulp is the consistency of a very light gravy.
3. Dip the deckle sidewise into the pulp mixture until the screen is completely coated
with a light layer of pulp.
4. Remove the screen and wet sheet of pulp from the deckle and place between two
pieces of blotting paper of paper towels.
5. Have children press out the excess water with a rolling pin or pipe and allow to dry.
6. Peel the “recycled paper” from blotting paper and trim to size.
Homework Options and Home Connections:
 Have children explore their homes for things that are usually thrown away but could be
reused or made into new items for other purposes.
 Have children bring in objects from home to make into new items and be placed in the
classroom Science and Technology Museum.
 Have children encourage parents / siblings to explore new uses for old or disposable
materials.
 Have children use old / disposable items to make new items such as pencil holder, bird
feeders, and/or musical instruments.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
English Language Arts
 Acquisition of vocabulary
Benchmark A: Use context clues to determine the meaning of new vocabulary.
Indicator 1: Understand the meaning of new words from context of conversations, the
use of pictures that accompany text or the use of concrete objects.
Writing Processes
Benchmark E: Edit to improve sentence fluency, grammar and usage.
Indicator 5: Dictate or produce “writing” to express thoughts.
Communication: Oral and Visual
Benchmark C: Follow multi-step directions.
Indicator 3: Follow simple oral directions.
Mathematics
 Data Analysis and Probability
Benchmark A: Pose questions and gather data about everyday situations and familiar
objects.
Indicator 1: Gather, sort and compare objects by similarities and differences in the
context of daily activities and play (e.g., leaves, nuts, socks).
Social Studies
 Geography
Benchmark C: Explain how environmental processes influence human activity and ways
humans depend on and adapt to the environment.
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Indicator 7: Explore the ways we use natural resources found in our environment (e.g.,
water to drink, dirt to plant).
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher:
For the students:
Cardboard tubes, water bottle caps or jar lids, birdseed, hole punch and
scissors.
Disposable, used materials collected in the classroom or brought from
home. Materials and tools available from well stocked art center.
Vocabulary:
Vocabulary will be dependent upon storybooks and nonfiction texts shared, children’s
responses and items collected and available to children. Key words to explore and use might
include:
 disposable
 environment
 reuse
 throw away
Technology Connections:
 Children will observe, communicate and design new uses for old objects using a variety
of simple technology such as paper, tape, pipe cleaners and scissors.
 Children, with media assistance, may use available computer technology to do their
writing activities or a digital camera to record their work.
 Library Tip:
1. Consult with the school media specialist for children’s books and/or audio-visual
materials on recycling and the environment.
2. Arrange extra media center time with media specialist to assist with a writing activity
incorporating the use of digital pictures as in Attachment B, My ______.
3. Consult with the media specialist for Web site connections.
Research Connections:
Marzano, Robert J., Pickering, Debra J., Pollock, Jane E. Classroom Instruction that Works
Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria: ASCD, 2001.
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Nonlinguistic representations help students think about and recall knowledge. This
includes the following:
 Creating graphic representations (organizers);
 Making physical models;
 Generating mental pictures;
 Drawing pictures and pictographs;
 Engaging in kinesthetic activity.
Using nonlinguistic representations to help students remember information about their
learning.
Tomlinson, Carol Ann. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All
Learners. Alexandria: ASCD, 1999.
General Tips:
 Compile materials prior to teaching this lesson so that ample supplies are available.
 Access materials for construction of the birdfeeder: two liter plastic soft drink bottles
could also be used in addition to the cardboard tubes.
 The art teacher on staff may have many materials that are capable of being used for
something else for this lesson besides the ones listed here. Children are given the
opportunity to brainstorm and think aloud to help each other to see the possibilities.
 Throughout the school year, take opportunities to reinforce the grade-level indicators and
benchmark in the lesson during student play times with simple building materials
provided in the pre-kindergarten classroom.
 The center (access to materials and time to create) should be available to children
throughout the year. This will provide multiple and diverse opportunities to sustain and
extend children’s understanding beyond the lesson.
 In addition to the Science and Technology Museum, as materials are collected from the
home and class environments have children place items in other areas or across interest or
learning centers to be used creatively in their play (e.g., dramatic play, sand and water
table, block area, etc.).
 Children’s books (storybooks and informational text) relative to recycling should also be
available for the teacher and children to reference.
Attachments:
Attachment A, Our Birdfeeder
Attachment B, Look What I Made
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Attachment A
Our Birdfeeder
This is how we made our birdfeeder from parts that came from something else.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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What Else Can We Do With This? – Grade Pre-Kindergarten
Attachment B
Look What I Made
My Name _____________________
Share your sentences to explain how you made your ________ from parts that
came from something else. Your teacher can record your sentences on the lines
below.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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