INTRODUCTION
“Play is the highest form of research.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN
When my daughter was in preschool, we started encouraging her to craft with recycled materials by playing with them and seeing what she could create. It later became very clear that this early focus on playing and learning led to her independent creativity in school. For example, she built an intricate town that contained an entire cardboard playground, made only from recyclable materials, for a school project.
When my middle son was three, he was obsessed with trains and slowly advanced to building intricate railway systems, tunnels, and bridges. He would spend hours organizing his trains by name, color, and size. What I didn’t know at the time was that he was learning while playing! Did you know sorting is a precursor for early math? When building tracks, he was also cognitively developing. Now ten years old, he can now build the most intricate recycled cardboard mazes and can operate 3-D printers to make his own creations. I’m convinced his focus on play at a young age led to his creativity and love for building at a later age.
My third child, currently three years old, started fine motor play at a very young age by making simple recycled projects such as paper tube pompom drops. Our early focus on fine motor play led to him expertly pouring, scooping, and measuring ingredients at an advanced level. He’s now able to create decadent baked goods in the kitchen.
Welcome to Recycle and Play
Hello and welcome to Recycle and Play! My name is Agnes Hsu, and first and foremost, I am a mom to three playful children, ages three, ten, and twelve. I wanted to share these personal stories about my children because I am passionate about starting play at a young age but also have the advantage of seeing its positive impact firsthand with my children. In this book, you will find fifty playful learning projects for preschool-aged children, with a focus on no-waste, recycled ideas.
I’m also the founder of a kids’ creative craft website www.hellowonderful.co, founded eight years ago, and am the co-founder of the popular Recycle and Play Instagram community @RecycleandPlay. We showcase the very best recycle and play activities and, as a result, have a great understanding of the most fun and engaging recycled projects for little ones.
Why You Need This Book
Did you know that young children learn while playing? Play is a crucial part of a child’s cognitive development and is fantastic for exploring senses, building creativity, and discovering how things work.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play is important because it helps the mental, physical, and social well-being of a child. It’s also a wonderful way for parents to engage with their children and encourage early learning.
This book is about playing and learning with your kids. It’s about having fun through creative process-oriented projects and not worrying about having the perfect craft material on hand. That’s why you’ll only find common recyclable household materials here such as paper tubes, cardboard, plastic bottles, egg cartons, and lids.
The Harvard Graduate School of Education notes that play comes in many different forms. There is social play with others, independent play during which kids make-believe or play with various toys, and guided play where children play in the context of a scene parents have set up. Although the projects here do have a guide toward a finished activity, we hope that our instructions are loosely guided tools for you to create, play, and learn with your child. Also, we invite you to set up invitations with the projects made by adding resources readily available at home to provide a richer learning experience. An example would be to make a box maze with a different configuration or provide sensory items like colored dyed rice or beans to our egg carton truck for additional play.
In this book, you’ll find the focus is not on a finished craft but on the process of building a meaningful project with many learning iterations you can add on your own. We offer tips on how to extend play and learning for each project. But the possibilities are endless, so we encourage you to engage with your kids to come up with fun additions.
By using recyclable materials, we’ve also tried to keep this book accessible, low-cost, and no-waste so families can focus on creating and get started right away. Although we provide a framework for projects, they can be adjusted to your child’s interest. Instead of a seal ball-and-cup paper tube game, why not create a shark if your child likes them better than seals?
I’ve combined my decade of experience as a mom and creative to bring you these unique and playful recycled projects. I know these activities will lead to precious bonding time with your kids but will create wonderful learning experiences, too. Happy playing and learning!
Find more playful, creative learning projects at www.hellowonderful.co.