Children at The Cottage at Coomera learned about sustainability and recycling by seeing how paper is made and by creating a paint pendulum out of recycled materials. Both activities were hands-on, informative, creative and had us using lots of new words. It left us wondering how other things are made and what else we could create out of recyclable materials.
Making paper
As part of our sustainability focus, we decided to look at how paper is made. It is simple invitation which provided the children with rich sensory play while they learnt about the process involved in recycling paper.
Firstly, we had a big chat and talked about where paper comes from and how important it is for us to recycle paper as many times as we can to save more trees from being cut down. We watched a clip-on YouTube about commercial sized paper recycling. We saw lots of awesome machines which kept everyone watching and engaged.
We’re always talking to children about wasting less and trying to use more of what we have around the house/kindy. For us, this paper-making process was educational and eye-opening for children to see. While they’re used to having paper ready to use when they need it, they now know that it’s quite a process to make it as well.
The best part about this paper-making process is that it shows the children that even items that are as simple as paper, really do take time and effort to create. It also led to good discussions about recycling and the importance of doing what we can to help the Earth as well.
These are the supplies we needed to make our paper: Old paper (newspaper, printer paper, junk mail), mesh, large bowl, whisk (the bigger the better), rolling pin, dish towels, and baking paper.
Painting pendulum
To continue with our recycling journey, we made something super fun….a pendulum paint swing using recyclable materials including boxes, plastic bottle, paper straws, string, and masking tape.
The reason we made this is so that we could get creative in creating beautiful pendulum paintings as we have been learning out sustainability. All the children had input into how we could make it, and it was lots of trial by error until we got it correct.
The children filled the container with paint and then pushed the metal bowl back and forth along the paper below.
Through this activity, the children learned about the forces of motion and gravity with a new painting technique by exchanging the paint brush for a swinging pendulum. This engaged the children with the combination of art and science for a STEAM learning activity. STEAM is the combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
About The Cottage at Coomera Early Learning Centre
The Cottage at Coomera welcomes families from Upper Coomera, Coomera, Willowvale and Oxenford. Located at 180 Old Coach Rd Upper Coomera, “The Cottage” is a stunning refurbished Queenslander that feels just like home. With large sweeping verandas on over an acre of land in the heart of Upper Coomera, The Cottage has 10 rooms with three oversized beautiful playgrounds. Each age group is housed in their own bespoke Cottage – Fiafia, Aroha and Amaroo where the names reflect the rich tapestry of cultures in and around the local community.
For enrolment enquiries, please contact Trish Low at (07) 5502 8989.
Email: [email protected]
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For information regarding our childcare and kindergarten service go to: The Cottage at Coomera
