Hobbies And Interests
Track Paper Usage and Play Recycling Word Search Puzzles
PBS Kids' Fetch character guides kids though several interactive games. Paper Caper asks kids how many pieces of papers they used this week, Trash-Free Lunch asks how much trash was in lunches this week and It's in the Bag counts the amount of paper bags families use from stores each week. These games include worksheets to record data, which then can be entered online, identifying student's states of residence. Students' data are added to state and national tallies, which are then displayed online.
Another way to learn about recycling is to sort through virtual trash, separating recyclables at Ollie's World. You can also play interactive recycling slider puzzles and memory games, as well as interactive recycling word search puzzles at this site.
Recycle City and Dumptown Virtual Worlds
Play Recycle City, an interactive game hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency. Players click on different areas of a virtual town and find out about different recycling projects going on in that area of town to improve the environment for everyone. Inside buildings in Recycle City is information about recycling, reuse and waste reduction. Players can highlight individual rooms of places like City Hall to follow the work path of environmental projects all over town.
Dumptown, a sister city game that requires Flash, shows a town at its worst when recycling and other waste management programs are not instituted. Kids learn how to assess their homes and be active in their communities by becoming educated about waste reduction and recycling in Recycle City.
Packaging Man and Recycling Roundup
Help Gus sort through virtual garbage in trash cans at a local park while playing National Geographic Kids' Recycling Roundup game online. Items such as cans, bottles, cell phones, compost, paper items and non-recyclables, such as disposable diapers and an empty toothpaste tube, are sorted into appropriate waste reduction containers, while teaching kids how to reduce waste in their own lives. Packaging Man, an online game similar to Pac Man, tells a story of forests being destroyed to make paper packaging.
Free the Beach and Clean Up Your World
Michael, Michael, Go Recycle prompts players to help Michael pick up litter and put it in its appropriate containers while playing against the clock. Drop and drag items from a virtual scene in Clean Up Your World while Free the Beach has a similar premise with players picking up litter on the beach, sorting it and placing it in appropriate containers. You can play these games as well as a recycling game that helps dinosaurs save the earth at FunSchool.