Sustainable toys and teaching/art materials

The whole school had a book exchange day, there were also books for us teachers to exchange. A big success even if the books for the oldest pupils were too few. 

Ideas to replace toys, art materials, games etc with more sustainable alternatives:

• Use small white boards instead of paper for writing we don't need to save.

• When pupils want to draw, do not use paper sheets but give them their own drawing pads that they can use every time.

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• The leisure time centers use waste material from the handcraft lessons when they build things.

• Outdoor/indoor mathematics: use natural materials for counting, sorting, etc.

• We use paper we get from our Recycling resource center for schools, to make folders for our pupil’s artwork.
  
  

• Make new things from old clothes in handcraft lessons – shopping bags is one example.

Create toys or art/school material from waste or natural materials:

Our youngest pupils use material from the nature to learn the letters in the alphabet.

Easy to make faces of salt dough (flour, salt, water and vegetable oil). Use materials from the nature for the details. Leave them on the tree, they disappear when it rains and do not harm the trees.

Faces (self portraits?) made of waste materials.

How to make a fun and simple thing of natural materials: a stick from the forest and old wooden curtain rings that are not used anymore. The trick is to get the ring on the stick, do you think you would make it?
Another benefit is that the making takes part outdoors and the pupils learn how to handle a knife in a safe way.

Learning an old craft: Lena shows how to card wool and then felt it to an animal, a ball or something else. This time she felted with a needle, but you can also use soapy water. Pupils enjoy this activity.