This is a fun, hands-on way to better understand the need to reuse and recycle.

First, use masking tape to make a long line on the floor or draw a chalk line down your sidewalk. Mark the line in increments of 2-4 weeks, 1-6 months, 1 year, 10 years, 100 years, 500 years and 1000 years.

Now, give your children the following: a plastic grocery bag, a cigarette butt, an eraser, a banana peel, a cotton cloth, a milk jug, a piece of wood, a pop can and an apple core.  Ask them to place the items along the line where they think it will take the item that long to decompose.

Discuss what this means in terms of our dumps and what can be done about it. Have them find some more items of their own and first guess, then research to detemine how long it will take them to decompose. Were they close?

Answers to above items: apple (2-4 weeks), banana & cotton cloth (1-5 mos), cigarette butt (2-5 yrs), wood (10 yrs), diaper (25 years), plastic (25-30 years), can (200-400 yrs), glass bottle (1000 yrs!).

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