Earth Day has always been an important holiday to me. It’s a reminder that each of us impacts the world every day, and it gives us a bit of a push to make positive impacts, however small.
This year, I decided I needed to do something special with my students. They all can recite the words Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but how will they actually do it?
A little bit of internet research and I found my project: the jump rope.
There are two ways you can do it.
- Cut off the handles and bottom of the plastic bag, knot pieces together, and braid to make a thick rope, like in this video. I only advise you use this method if you have thin plastic bags, otherwise it gets very difficult to braid tightly.
- Cut the plastic bags in half, knot them together, and braid to make a much thinner rope (see directions below).
I divided my class into groups of two or three with at least one “expert” braider per group. Some groups had trouble braiding tightly enough at first, but they all had fantastic jump ropes in the end!
Since Earth Day, my students have played with their ropes every day before school, nearly every day at recess, and a few have even made ropes with their families at home to play with.
What fun projects have you tried for Earth Day? Please comment and share below!
By @SGroshell
Education Rickshaw 
I love this idea! It’s great for getting children working together, for working out and keeping fit; for looking after the Earth and themselves at the same time. The jump ropes are a wonderful way of reusing, reducing and recycling. Years ago, my mum braided a hat for me out of plastic bags, It was great too – put together much the same way as a straw hat.
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Thanks for the comment! @SGroshell really liked making them with her kids this year.
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