New Beginnings for Old Resources

Recycling is starting early at the New Beginnings Pre-School.

Art teacher Libby Hopkins has been making used of reusable materials from Waste Exchange to help her young charges create and learn. Wooden windscreen frames have been turned into a puppet theatre and used for carpentry, allowing the children to develop their understanding and skills in measuring and building, and cardboard has been used in art classes.

A project Libby and the children worked on recently was the production of large drums, and to get started Libby went straight to the Exchange listings to see what suitable materials might be available. Looking through the listings Libby came across the ideal items to turn into drums – large cardboard cylinders. “They were ideal - strong and clean” says Libby.  “The children did all the measuring and helped saw them in half. Then the kids helped decorate the drums with paints, and we polyurethaned them to seal them. I bought goats’ hide for the tops, and we made soft-headed drumsticks out of cardboard rolls, covered with woollen fleece and material to minimise damage to the drums and keep the noise down to a comfortable level. It was great for the children; they got to use practical skills in measuring and cutting the drums, as well as their artistic skills. And of course, then they got to use an instrument they had made themselves.