A group of third-graders at Columbus Elementary School honored this year’s Earth Day by using materials in their homes to create toys -- and exhibits for a Recycled Toy Museum.
During spring recess, students and their families created toys for display. While not a permanent fixture, the Recycled Toy Museum was set up in the school’s auditorium on April 22. Classes throughout the school visited and asked questions about the projects.
The inspiration for the Recycled Toy Museum came from the book “Galimoto,” by Karen Lynn Williams, which tells the story of a young African boy who made a toy vehicle called a galimoto out of wire. Through this project, students learned about sustainability while developing skills in engineering and creativity. The goal of the Recycled Toy Museum was to inspire students to repurpose items that might otherwise be thrown out, which is a good practice to bolster Earth Day’s message of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” throughout the year.
