A lot of children today are familiar with the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle” – I’ve heard it many times in children’s songs and programs like Bob the Builder. Besides just knowing the phrase however, it is more important for children to really understand what this means and how to implement the idea.

One idea I loved involving the “reduce” part of the equation comes from my friend Sally Baldwin, who came up with a creative idea for party favors for her 4-year old daughter’s birthday party. You have to admit, some party favors are full  of items that kids either don’t really use, or that they play with for 5 minutes before they’re discarded. For her daughter’s friends, Sally burned “party mix” CD’s with favorite children’s songs that her daughter helped pick out. Then she made her own play dough (which her daughter helped with) making it extra fun by adding sparkles to the dough! She put clumps of the play dough in individual-sized baggies for each child. Both of these items can be used over and over again and brought continual enjoyment to my children. Not only did she avoid buying a bunch of stuff destined for landfill, but her daughter also got to participate in making thoughtful gifts for her friends.