Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

In Tanzania, we can't always find everything we need for our school. Sometimes, we get stuff sent to us from our friends in other countries. Sometimes, if we can't find something we make it ourselves. We also want to protect our environment. So, instead of throwing everything away we reuse what we can and make new things out of old things.

Recently we made bookboxes for all of our readers.

These are the bookboxes we made out of cardboard boxes.

We had a big donation from a company called DHL (a company that sends packages all over the world). They sent lots of things in big cardboard boxes. We decided to use the boxes to make something, rather than throwing them away. We cut up the boxes and made them into holders for our readers. We used strong tape and nails to hold them together. Then we painted our new bookboxes red, yellow, blue and green.

George putting paint onto the bookbox.

Mariam painting her bookbox blue.

We had a lot of fun making the bookboxes. We think they look great! Now, we can find the right book easily.

George and Maimuna were very quick and they painted two bookboxes each.

Maybe you should try making something new out of something old.

Our finished bookboxes on display in the classroom. Each morning we choose a book that is just right for us from the correct bookbox.

Questions

What colours did we paint our bookboxes?
How did we make the bookboxes?
Why did we make the bookboxes?
Why is it a good idea to reuse things rather than just throwing them out?
Have you ever made something new out of something old? If yes, what was it? We would love to hear about the things you have made.