The ABCs of Easter Egg Recycling

By Lynn Moore

As Easter approaches, the candy and plastic egg stock at the stores grows. Soon the aisles will be the scattered remains of what is left after preschool shopper parents are finished. What happens to all of those plastic Easter eggs after Easter? Here are some quick and easy preschool adventure ideas for Easter egg left-overs.

Reduce

Consider the Easter candy purchases that you will be making. Perhaps pre-wrapped candy will be a way to fill most of the basket or as much of the egg hunt loot.

Reuse and Recycle Ideas

Arrange eggs in order from smallest to largest or from largest to smallest.

Begin with simple counting skills. Put some eggs on the table. Count the number of eggs with your preschooler.

“Cook” with the eggs – Add them to your preschooler’s pretend play toys.

Donate the eggs to charity.

Educate your preschooler about the word plastic. It is important that we use it again or that we recycle it.

Find matching numbers. Using a permanent marker, write the same number inside both parts of
an egg. When the parts are separated, have your preschooler match the numbers that are the same. Also try this activity with matching dots and numbers, with shapes or with letters.

Guess how many eggs are in a brown lunch bag. Start with a group of ten eggs for the activity. If you put some into the bag, have your preschooler guess the number in the bag.

Hatch some eggs. Cut out pictures of animals that hatch from eggs. Place one in each egg for a mini educational adventure with eggs.

Incubate the eggs. Use a few of the eggs to talk about how mother (or father) birds keep eggs warm. How do we keep warm? (Blankets, jackets, heat vents, sit in the sun) Place the eggs in a small brown bag that has been cut down to look like a nest. Look for warm places for the eggs.

Juggle an egg on a large, plastic spoon. Preschoolers will enjoy seeing how far they can go without dropping the egg.

Keep the eggs for next year. Using them again is economical and environmentally- friendly.

Leave a few eggs in unsuspecting places. Your preschooler will be delighted to find some surprise Easter goodies after the big day.

Match the egg halves by color and design.

Nest the eggs. Talk about smaller and bigger as you put small plastic eggs inside of larger ones.

Offer your eggs to a preschool or daycare to use for the ideas listed here.

Play seek-and-find. Relive the Easter egg hunt again and again. This is great fun and builds problem-solving skills.

Quiet please! Use an egg as a quiet reminder when you are in public. (The baby bird is sleeping, so we need to be quiet.) When you take out the egg, it is a gentle reminder to use a quiet voice without ever having to say a word.

Recycle the eggs in your household recycling container.

Sort the eggs by color, design or size.

Toss-the-egg game. Pretend that the egg is real and uncooked. Toss the egg back and forth with your preschooler. Move a little farther apart after several tosses. How many times can you toss the egg without it breaking?

Underwater eggs are great ways to get a preschooler to put her face in the water. Fill several eggs with a heavy weight and use them in your pool for a quick and easy water adventure toy.

Very easy “duck pond” game. Use eggs to create a game for your spring festival. Using permanent marker, write a number on each egg. These numbers will coincide with the prizes for that game. Place the eggs in a wading pool with water. Preschoolers will pick an egg from the water so see what their prize will be.

What is missing? Place three or four small objects on the table (such as a marshmallow, chocolate chip, gummy candy, grape). Ask your preschooler to hide his eyes as you place one of the objects in an egg. Can he tell you which object is missing?

X-ray the eggs. Preschoolers enjoy pretend play! What kind of baby will they see inside? Talk about the animals that hatch from eggs.

Yellow egg match. Many things are yellow in the spring and summer. Go on a search for yellow things with your preschooler. As you search, each of you should have a yellow egg as a reminder of the color. (Repeat with other colors.)

Zoom egg race. Play this game with two preschoolers. Each preschooler will be matched with a different color egg. Place three eggs for each preschooler in an obvious place around the yard (on the deck, next to the tree, by the fence post). Then have a race to see who can get all three eggs first.

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