Recycling Lesson Plans
Our recycling lesson plans and classroom activities have been developed for students in Grades 1 – 6. Complete with detailed lesson plans, instruction, and downloadable worksheets.
Word Search
Grades 1-3 and 4-6
This activity is a fun way to get students thinking about recycling and the environment! Students will practice their attention to detail to look for letters and patterns and will familiarize themselves with different words and phrases commonly used when talking about recycling and the environment.
Waste Audit
Grades 5+
This activity is educational and eye-opening for everyone! A school waste audit measures how much waste is being generated in a school. Students will learn how much of their waste can be placed in other bins for further use like recycling, reuse, and compost and learn the importance of disposing waste correctly, and how it can make a difference.
GHG Emissions
Grades 5+
This lesson plan teaches students about greenhouses gasses that are emitted from landfills, how these emissions are harmful to the environment, and about green waste and why it’s important to reduce food waste. The activities will allow your students to learn the importance of composting, and how they can make a difference by reducing food waste sent to landfills.
Carton Recycling
Grades 1-3 and 5-6
These lesson plans teach students the importance of carton recycling using standard-based math, science, and language arts worksheets developed by Carton Council Canada and Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba. The activities will allow your students to learn how they can have a positive impact on the environment.
Your Recycling Journal
Grades 2-4
The Recycling Journal gets the students active and involved in recycling both at home and at school. Use the Recycling Journal as its own lesson or partner the journal with other recycling lesson plans as a way to document questions, learnings, recycling records, etc.
Colour me Blue
Grades 2-4
This is an easy and educational exercise that is loads of fun! Have students cut and colour their blue bin, filling it with recyclables such as newspaper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum and steel. Bring recyclables from home or cut and colour provided cutouts.
Don’t be a Litterbug
Grades 1-3
This lesson gives students the chance to get creative with recycled goods. Emphasizing the “reuse” component of recycling, students will combine recyclables such as newspaper, plastic water bottles and other recyclable materials to make “bugs”.
The Good ‘Sort’ of Recycling
Grades 2-4
This activity gives students the basic understanding of recycling using items brought from home, or collected from a recycling clean-up of the schoolyard.
