World Refill Day | EYFS & KS1 Activity Ideas

**Note: This page is for educational inspiration and is not officially affiliated with World Refill Day. World Refill Day is a global day of action organised by the non-profit City to Sea. It is celebrated annually on June 16th. The day aims to get people to think about how they consume and dispose of single-use plastic, encouraging them to switch to reusable options. It promotes the simple idea of refilling reusable bottles, cups, and containers, making it easy to live with less waste. For official information and details, please visit the website: www.refill.org.uk/world-refill-day.

Understanding World Refill Day in EYFS & KS1

Let's learn how to be super waste-reducing heroes on World Refill Day! 💧♻️

For early years settings, nurseries, preschools, childminders, and Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms, this day provides a wonderfully practical and crucial theme for exploring the environment, recycling, waste reduction, sustainability, and understanding the world. It’s about empowering children to feel they have a role in protecting our planet and teaching them that making small, positive choices can make a big difference. This day offers planning ideas and inspiration for engaging activities that truly resonate with young minds, making learning about waste reduction and caring for our world both essential and wonderfully hands-on!

Why Is Learning About 'Refilling' Important for Young Children?

Integrating World Refill Day and themes of reducing waste and recycling into your practice with young children (aged 0-7) helps develop sustainable habits and builds a lifelong connection to nature.

• Fosters Environmental Responsibility: Teaches children that their actions have an impact on the world around them.

• Encourages Practical Action: Provides simple, tangible ways for children to contribute, like using a reusable water bottle or lunchbox.

• Introduces the '3 R's': Helps children understand the concepts of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

• Builds Community: Shows children the power of working together with friends and family to make a positive change.

• Sparks Creativity: Inspires children to think about how they can reuse materials in new ways (e.g., junk modelling).

Engaging 'Refill' & Recycling Activities for World Refill Day (EYFS & KS1)

Let's become little environmental heroes and celebrate our wonderful world for World Refill Day with these planning ideas and activities perfect for EYFS and KS1 children. The focus is on appreciating our planet, understanding waste, and learning how we can all help by reusing and refilling! Many of these early years and year 1 activities can be supported by our dedicated ‘Recycling’, ‘The Environment’, and ‘Water’ resources.

Here's some inspiration for celebrating World Refill Day in your setting: (Please use your own discretion and knowledge of your children to ensure appropriateness of each activity and safety concerning any materials given and activity undertaken. Emphasise respect for nature and responsible actions.)

Activities using our printable resources:

• Exploring Waste & Recycling:

  • Set up a 'Recycling Centre Dramatic Role-Play Pack' for interactive learning.

  • Use 'Sort Recycling Cards Activity/Game' to help children categorise different materials.

  • Get children to create something new out of old materials with 'Junk Modelling Challenge - Design A...Sheets'.

  • Use 'Recyclable Materials - Word Cards' to introduce recycling vocabulary.

  • Use 'Cut, Sort And Stick Recycling Activity' for a practical, hands-on activity.

• Reducing Plastic:

  • Discuss the impact of plastic bags with ''Don't Use Plastic Bags!' Poster' and ''Don't Use Plastic Bags!' Colouring Poster'.

  • Inspire creativity with 'Design A Bag For Life'.

  • Discuss how plastic waste can harm the ocean with 'Keep Plastic Out Of The Oceans! - Posters' and 'Keep Plastic Out Of The Oceans! - Posters (Colouring)'.

• Identifying Materials:

  • Use the 'Find And Draw' sheets for different materials to help children identify fabric, metal, paper, plastic, and wood. This helps them understand what can be reused or recycled.

• Connecting to Our Earth:

  • Use 'Earth Game' to introduce the concept of Earth as a home for all.

  • Create artwork or playdough creations with 'Earth - Our Home! Multimat - Playdough, Loose Parts, Art & Crafts'.

  • Practise alphabet skills with 'Earth Upper & Lower Case Alphabet Puzzle Game'.

• Creative & Fine Motor Activities:

  • Use 'Recycling Symbol - Fine Motor Control Sheets' for a creative and fine motor skill-based activity.

  • Engage in creative play with 'Recycling Symbol - Multimats'.

Additional 'Refill' Activities & Ideas:

• "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" Song/Rhyme: Teach children a simple song or rhyme about the "3 Rs" (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Focus heavily on "Reuse" for this day.

• Reusable Bottle/Cup Decorating: Encourage children to decorate their own reusable water bottles or cups with stickers, markers, or paint. This makes their reusable items special and encourages them to use them.

• "Refill Station" Role Play: Set up a pretend "refill station" where children can "refill" their empty toy bottles or containers with water, beads, or other safe materials. Discuss how real shops are starting to have refill stations.

• Plastic Pollution Awareness (Age-Appropriate): Show children pictures of animals that can be harmed by plastic litter (e.g., birds tangled in plastic, fish eating tiny pieces of plastic). Emphasise that by choosing reusable items, we are helping to keep animals safe and their homes clean.

• "What Can We Reuse?" Scavenger Hunt: Look around the classroom or home for items that can be reused instead of thrown away. Examples: empty toilet rolls for crafts, plastic containers for storage, old clothes for dress-up.

• Crafts from Recycled/Reused Materials: Provide clean, empty plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, fabric scraps, and other "junk modelling" materials. Challenge children to create something new from them, demonstrating that old items can have a new purpose.

• "Water Saving" & "Tap Water Tastes Great" Discussion: Talk about the importance of drinking tap water to stay healthy and how it saves plastic bottles. You could even do a simple taste test of tap water vs. bottled water (ensure hygiene!).

• Story Time about the Environment: Read picture books that highlight environmental themes, looking after the Earth, or reducing waste (e.g., "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss, "Somebody Swallowed Stanley" by Sarah Roberts, or "Clean Up!" by Nathan Bryon).

• Litter Picking (Safe & Supervised): If appropriate and with strict supervision, undertake a very small, supervised litter pick in a safe area, focusing on plastic items. Discuss how these items can be reused or recycled. Always wear gloves and use appropriate tools.

Explore More:

To explore our extensive catalogue of resources on these themes, please visit our ‘Recycling’, ‘The Environment’, ‘Water’, ‘Ocean’, ‘Forest School’, ‘Gardening’, ‘Habitats’, and ‘Wildlife’ pages.

These activities offer great inspiration for making World Refill Day a memorable and impactful experience in your early years and Key Stage One setting, fostering environmental awareness, sustainable practices, and a lifelong passion for protecting our planet.

To explore ideas surrounding additional early years events, please visit our 'Special Dates Calendar' page.

Printable resources to support teaching & learning surrounding: ‘World Refill Day’

Additional Pages you may like to explore which cover relevant &/or Connected themes

More Early Years Event Pages for June

Explore special dates (including awareness dates, festivals, celebrations & events) relevant to your EYFS & KS1 children

Browse our ‘Special Dates Calendar’ page using the link below. You’ll find calendars for every month of the year to aid your planning!

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Disclaimer:
This page is for educational purposes only and is intended to support early years and primary practitioners with ideas and resources related to 'World Refill Day'. We are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by City to Sea, which organises this annual event. We do not claim any rights to specific trademarks or official materials associated with this event. For official information and details, please visit the City to Sea website: www.citytosea.org/worldrefillday.