5 Crafts & Experiments using Recycled Soda Bottles

We know you save every empty shoebox, paper towel roll, and soda bottle just in case the right class project or craft comes along.  So let us help you put those hoarded 2-liter soda bottles to work! 

Start by removing the labels and the sticky residue left behind. The trick is soaking the bottles in warm water, which will get most of the label off, and then using either white vinegar or peanut butter (yes, peanut butter—smooth, not chunky) to remove the sticky residue.

Worm Farm 
You will need a 2-liter bottle, 16-ounce water bottle (empty), sand, dirt, rocks, worms, tape, and black construction paper. Cut the tops off of the two bottles.  Be sure to save the top of the 2-liter bottle. Put about one inch of rocks with a little dirt in the bottom of the 2-liter bottle, then place the smaller bottle inside the larger bottle, and begin layering sand and dirt around the smaller bottle.  Once you have the dirt filled most of the way to the top, add three to five worms, and tape the 2-liter bottle’s lid back on top (remove the cap). Now, you’re ready to watch the magic happen. Worms work best in the dark, so cover the bottle with the black construction paper and check back in to see their progress. Encourage students to keep a journal to record what they see and discover.

Punctured Plastic Bottle Experiment
This experiment demonstrates how air pressure controls the flow of water. To demonstrate this, you will poke a hole near the bottom of a 2-liter bottle, cover the hole with masking tape, and then fill the bottle with water and put the cap on the bottle. Click here to download this experiment and activity from our Hands-On Experiments books.

Classroom Activities for All of April

Plan ahead with these fun activities and free downloads to get you through April Fools, Earth Day, and National Poetry Month

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3 April Fools Jokes to Play on Your Students

• Give your students this "pop quiz". Use our April Fools pop quiz <free download>. Tell your students, "Be sure to read all of the questions before beginning, but the first person to complete the quiz with all of the answers correct will win a candy bar!" The questions on this April Fools quiz are obscure, but the last question instructs the students to not answer any of the questions, just write their name and turn in the quiz. Success will be based on how well your students follow directions.

• At the end of the school day say to your students, "I'm very disappointed in how few of you turned in your essay that was due today! You may make up the assignment by writing five additional pages on the original topic and turn the entire essay in to me, tomorrow." Enjoy the students' reactions and choose how far you take it from there before you yell "April Fools!"

• Write every students' name on the board with random information next to each name, for example dates, letters (A-F), vocabulary words, and/or numbers. Do not explain anything to the class. If a student asks what it's about, simply say, "I'll tell you after lunch." Watch your students squirm and sweat all morning in anticipation. At lunch remove the names and write "April Fools!" on the board.

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Earth Day Activities

Trash-less Tuesdays
Try having a "Trashless Tuesday" each week of the month of April. Do this by encouraging your students to bring reusable containers to lunch on Tuesdays and to avoid bringing anything that needs to be thrown away (i.e. no prepackaged food) to help cutback on waste.

Two Recycling Activities
For the next two activities have each student bring in one clean, recyclable item to class: glass, plastic, paper, or metal. You should also bring in a few items for those students who will forget, and to add to the mix.

Use the students' items to work on graphing skills. Either give each student a blank graph <free download> or put one on the board to complete. Ask students who brought a glass item to raise their hands and count them; add that number to the graph. Do the same for the other categories. Now have students create a bar graph, line graph, or pie chart using the information you've gathered.

Now, it's time to recycle. Turn recycling into a classifying game. Have students trade their item with another student in the class, as they may already know in which category their item belongs.  Put four boxes at the front of the class labeled: glass, plastic, paper, and metal. Then, have students take turns putting items in the correct receptacle.

Activity Book Suggestions

• How We Impact the Environment

• Managing Waste & Recycling 

• Climate Change 

• Our Trash

More Recycling Tips for Your Classroom

•  Math Activities Using Repurposed Magazines

• Crafts & Experiments Using Recycled Soda Bottles

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National Poetry Month
For some quick tips on where to get started with poetry in your classroom, use our Teacher's Guide to poetry <free download> in the classroom pulled from our Writing Basics Series: Writing Poems, which gives students lots of practice writing traditional forms of poetry such as couplets, quatrains, and haikus as well as the non-traditional free-verse form.

Read Poetry
Read a poem to your students every day of the month. After each poem, ask students:

• What do you think the poem is about?

• Where did the poem take place?

• Who is the speaker in the poem?

• How did that poem make you feel?

• Why do you think the poet wrote the poem?

By asking these questions (and more) after each poetry reading, by the end of the month students will begin analyzing poetry without your prompting. Also by listening to you read poetry, students will better understand the rhythm and flow of poetry.

Write a Ransom Note Poem
Have students write a poem (the shorter the better with this activity). Then let them rummage through magazines to find the words from their poem. Encourage students to make the more important words or words that need more emphasis to be larger. Then, have them cut and paste the words and letters onto a piece of construction paper. It's a colorful way to display your students' poetry.

3 Kid-friendly Poets Include:

• Shel Silvertein

• Valerie Bloom
  

• Fred Sedgwick
  

Free Download
Smilies & Metaphors activities from our Writing Basics Series: Writing Poems

5 Math Activities Using Repurposed Magazines

Before you toss your TV Guide, People, or Every Day with Rachael Ray in the recycle bin, read these tips for repurposing old magazines.  That pile of magazines has great activities to support your math lessons!

Magazine Math

1. Have students cut colorful pictures from magazines and paste them onto a piece of construction paper use this template <free download>. Underneath the collage of magazine clippings have students write a math word problem related to the picture they’ve created. Have students carefully proofread their work for errors. Also have them answer the word problem and write the answer on the back of the activity. Then have students share their word problem with a classmate to solve. Post the colorful word problems on your bulletin board for an eye-catching math board.
   
2. Go on a magazine scavenger hunt! You can modify this concept for any subject, but for the sake of math related activities, focus on your current lesson plan. For example, have students find: a line longer than two inches, a number in words, a percent, a pie chart, a bar graph, a date, a cylinder, a right angle, and so on.  Instruct students to find an example of each in a magazine, cut out the example, and glue them to a piece of construction paper. This would also make for a colorful math bulletin board!
   
3. Start clipping and saving the recipes printed in magazines for your next fractions lesson. Provide each student with a recipe. Challenge students to double, triple, or cut the recipe in half.  For a hands-on approach, give students only three measuring cups, for example: ½ teaspoon, ½ tablespoon, and ¼ cup.  Have students determine how to make the recipe with just those measuring tools.  If the recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, how many ¼ cups will you need?


4. Local city magazines are typically free and easy to find, plus they are always packed coupons to local restaurants. Provide each student with a coupon and ask them to identify how much they must spend in order to redeem the coupon and if they spend x amount of money, how much will they save by using the coupon?  To give students a hands-on experience, give each student different amounts of play money. Have them deduct the coupon’s discount amount from their stack to see what 10% looks like versus deducting $10.
   
   Real estate advertisements are also common in local magazines. These advertisements often market a square foot price (i.e. $0.50/sf). Ask students to determine how much a building would cost of if the square footage was 7,000 sf. Or if the square foot price and the total price are listed, ask students to determine the size (sf) of the building.
   


5. Save the postcard-size blow-ins that sell magazine subscriptions. See example below. Give each student a postcard.  Ask students to find, or determine using math, the following information from the postcard: magazine name, regular subscription price, single magazine price, number of issues, and special subscription price.  Have students determine the savings per issue, the price per issue with savings, the annual price of the in-store magazine versus the subscription price, etc.