Sort Your Recycling Worksheets

Help your kids learn how to sort recyclables with these sort your recycling worksheets. While it’s wonderful that Earth Day comes once a year, to make a difference, we really need to think about taking care of the earth year-round. Here are some ideas (and resources) for doing just that!

If you love these worksheets, don’t forget to check more activities like this in my Earth Day Activities for Kids blog post.

Two Sort Your Recycling Worksheets on a table

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What is recycling?

You may remember learning about recycling as a kid with the fancy “3-R” method: reduce, reuse, and recycle. This is certainly a start to recycling, but there is much more involved in this process. For starters, the overall goal of recycling is to convert waste materials into new materials and objects. Without this process, landfills would constantly fill up and overtake the earth.

There is also a scientific aspect to recycling. Before an item can be used to create something else, the original state has to be considered. If it can be used from its original state, then it’s got to be used.

Recommended Recycling Books for Kids

Teach your kids the importance of recycling with any of these recycling books. Start a junk bin that you can use to make crafts from to reuse the garbage that would otherwise be thrown out.

You Are Eating Plastic!: An Interactive Children’s Book About Recycling, Sustainability and The Environment.The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle (What Do You Know About? Books)Human Footprint: Everything You Will Eat, Use, Wear, Buy, and Throw Out in Your Lifetime (National Geographic Kids)Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials: 60 Cool Projects that Reimagine Paper Rolls, Egg Cartons, Jars and More!What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting our Planet Recycle and Remake: Creative Projects for Eco Kids

A Sort Your Recycling Worksheet on a table

Sort Your Recycling Worksheets Supplies

Printer (I have this one)
Paper
Pencil
Crayons

I have the HP printer 8710 but it’s not available anymore. It’s still running well for years now. Look for another HP Instant Ink-ready printer so that you can use their program to send you ink cartridges whenever your printer gets low on ink.

Recommended Recycling Activity Kits

These kits provide a hands-on approach to teaching children about the importance of recycling and how it can help protect the environment. Start your child on the path to eco-friendliness today with our recycling activity kits!

Waste Management Recycling Truck Toy with 3 Trash Cans AITING Kids Push Toy Vehicles Garbage Truck’s Trash Cans Fisher-Price Wonder Makers Design System Lift & Sort Recycling Center LEGO Friends Recycling Truck Toy 41712 with Garbage Sorting Bins Plus Emma and River Mini Dolls Waste Management Recycling Green Dump Vehicle with 4 Trash Cans and Recycle Sorting Cards for Little Kids Fun Express Learn to Recycle Activity Boxes – 54 Pieces – Educational and Learning Activities for Kids

How to Teach Recycling to Kids

Use worksheet activities

We want to raise awareness with our kids but we also want to turn their awareness into habits that will carry on. Get your kids involved with recycling with science worksheets (grab them below) for a start. My “Sort the Recycling Worksheets” will help teach your kids about the different things that can be recycled and how to sort them.

Make it a hands-on project

To make recycling a hands-on project, have your kids take a look around the house and gather items they think should be recycled. Discuss what items can be recycled and which ones need to be trashed. Be sure to make separate piles to help with sorting.

If you don’t have much that can be found around the home, consider cutting out the images I’ve provided on the first page of the worksheet resource and sort them into the appropriate boxes. You or your kids can draw in your own items as well. This is why I left a huge space for trash so your kids can come up with their own ideas if they want to add to it.

Watch videos about recycling.

Thanks to our technologically advanced world, you can find a number of educational videos about recycling. Here are a few to get you started:

How Recycling Works

Field Trip to a Recycling Center

Why Recycling is Important

What Happens to Your Recycling After It’s Collected?

Recycling Facts for Kids

What’s included in the Sort Your Recycling Worksheets?

The Sort Your Recycling Worksheets provide a hands-on activity for individuals to learn about proper recycling practices. This worksheet encourages participants to cut out different materials and sort them into their appropriate boxes. The sorting boxes include categories such as glass, metal, plastic, paper, or garbage.

Benefits of Teaching Recycling

It doesn’t take much thought to consider the benefits of recycling. Teaching kids the benefits can help them see the importance of why it should be done. Here are a few to share with your kids:

It benefits the environment.
Recycling creates jobs.
Recycling helps raise awareness about taking care of the environment.
Recycling reduces the energy used to manufacture goods.

By using these sorting worksheets, you can make recycling a fun and engaging activity for you and your family. Not only will you be helping to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution, but you’ll also be teaching valuable lessons about sustainability and responsible consumption.

So why not give it a try? Print out these sorting worksheets and start sorting your recycling today. Together, we can make a positive impact on the planet and build a more sustainable future for generations to come.

Download the Sort Your Recycling Worksheets below:

Add more activities to your environmental science lessons or learn more about Earth Day on April 22nd.

>> You’ll love these Earth Day Worksheets for Kids.

If you are looking for fun printables to teach your kids about the earth’s crust, mantle, and core, I have these awesome layers of the earth worksheets for you.