Junk modelling with recyclables & news of how you can meet the star of kid's book "Munch and the Funny Tummy"

My youngest daughter loves anything arts and crafts-y and regularly poaches materials destined for the recycling bins for her projects. She can see potential art in almost anything!

In our area of Britain the council has supplied us with four separate bins - one for waste food (not much of that in our house!), one for garden rubbish, one for general recycling like plastic milk bottles, cardboard, clean foil, glass and paper and then a final bin for stuff that really can't be recycled.

We have two bins in our bathroom, one for recyclable things and one for general rubbish and it astounds me how quickly we accumulate cardboard toilet roll inners. Luckily my daughter loves using them in her model-making.

This week we acquired some shoe boxes along with the usual mountain of everyday packaging. I normally refuse the boxes if we are buying shoes from a shop but these came to us holding pre-loved trainers. Crafty girl was overjoyed!

As the rain poured down this weekend she assembled a collection of rubbish  art materials and informed me she planned to make a cat. All she needed on top of her recyclable stuff were some pens and some glue.

She started off making a face for her cat then made his body and finally added toilet roll legs. He's almost as big as our real cat but has far fewer fleas!

Making crafts from recyclable stuff is one way of teaching children about making the most of resources and hopefully encouraging them to make recycling and taking responsibility for the environment a way of life for the rest of their life.

Waste management company Veolia has cleverly found another fun way of engaging children on the subject of responsible waste disposal is by introducing them to Munch, a friendly recycling truck who is the star of a book "Munch and the Funny Tummy" written by Veolia employees Patrick Guihen and Alessandro Kenningdale.

The book, based in the fictional town of Greentown, tells the tale of Ricky and Rachel and their friendly recycling truck, Munch. Together they make up the ‘Greentown Recycling Team’. The book aims to teach children about the importance of recycling, empower children’s natural curiosity about waste and champion the recycling team of tomorrow.

The authors were inspired to write the book (aimed at children aged 5-7) after years of collecting recycling from schools in Westminster. 

Veolia have created educational resources for schools to use alongside the book including a lesson plan, in-class story sheet, a PowerPoint and waste cards for in-class discussion. All of the materials are available for free and can be downloaded HERE.

This half term, The O2 Centre in North London (on the Finchley Road, NW3) is inviting children and families along to meet the star of the book, Munch the truck.

On October 27^th at 11am and 1pm, the centre will host a real-life Munch truck and offer fun and educational story time sessions from the children’s storybook as well as offering free copies of Munch and the Funny Tummy for all little ones who attend. (subject to availability)

Following each story time session children will have the chance to watch Munch in action and feed him his favourite recyclable materials.

The O2 Centre and Veolia, the borough's waste and recycling partner, are organising the Munch event with the aim of engaging children on the importance of recycling and looking after the environment, in support of the centre’s ongoing waste management and Energy Reduction Plan.

Jason King, Centre Manager of the O2 Centre, said: “The team is really looking forward to having Munch visit the centre and we hope to inspire the local community to learn about recycling and how to look after our streets and parks."

“Not only will this help make our borough cleaner but it will make it a happier and safer place to live and for our young people to grow up in."

Russell Griffiths, Senior Contract Manager at Veolia Camden, added: “The Munch and Funny Tummy story has been written especially to help engage children and get them interested in recycling so we can support a sustainable future for everyone."

“We are very proud of our crew members, turned authors, and really hope the locals that come down will enjoy the event!”

I'm sure I am not alone in being keen to find fun things to do during half term and with a choice of 14 eateries, a Vue cinema, and tons of shops at The O2 Centre, you could maybe take the family and enjoy the free Munch event as part of a whole day out then come home and make some crafts using materials from your recycling bin.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.