Published September 8, 2025 Written by [email protected]

Early years activity: Recycling – junk play

Modelling with recycled ‘junk’ can encourage children’s creativity, collaboration, problem solving and sense of achievement. This activity can also be used to support children’s awareness of recycling materials and repurposing items that are no longer in use.

Recycling junk play learning aims

Introduce principles of recycling
Be curious and creative
Introduce vocabulary
Work collaboratively
Develop fine motor skills.

Resources you will need for this activity

A selection of ‘junk’ items, e.g. empty boxes and tubes, bottles tops, etc.
Resources to stick models together (glue, sticky tape, split pins etc.)
Selection of paints and brushes.

Recycling junk play activity outline

Invite the children to explore the range of recycling you have gathered and introduce the purpose of recycling. Enable children to share their home recycling processes
Talk about how we can re-use items to create something new. Ask the children what they think they could make from all these objects, remember to focus on the creative process rather than the final outcome
Offer children the choice to work alone or to work with their friends to create something together
Support children’s ideas and problem solving as they create, offering alternatives if needed, for example, “What else could you use to hold the boxes together?”
Ask children if they would like to take a photograph of their finished creation and create a display of their work
Celebrate children’s creative ideas and imagination.

How to extend this activity

Recycle old socks and create sock puppets using scraps of material to create individual characters.

NDNA products to support you with this activity

Expressive arts and design nursery training – Face to face training

Back to myNDNA

Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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