Helpful School Collection Tips - Ways to get kids involved and engaged!

8/17/2018

Thanks to Blue School in New York City for compiling these awesome tips. So many great ideas for school collections!

Have your students make posters advertising the toy drive. Then, have the students hang up the posters around the school.
Have your students make flyers for the toy drive. Make photocopies so there are enough for every student in the school. Have a few students go around to different classes, explaining the toy drive and handing out the flyers for them to take home.
Place boxes on each floor of the school for the collection. Be sure that there is a poster on each box and make sure there is a box in the school lobby!
Have the students present and share information about the toy drive at an assembly or school meeting.
Read books about recycling to your class. Engage them in conversations about what we can reuse or recycling and why it is important.
Read books about toys and play around the world.
Generate excitement as toys begin to come in.
Connect the toy drive to other units of study in the classroom. For instance, have the students sort and count the toys in groups of 10 to connect to a math unit on place value.
Teach your class songs about recycling and planet Earth.
Have your students take ownership and care about the project. If there are not enough toys, ask them what they can do to help generate more. Make them feel like they are making a difference and feel proud of their accomplishments.
Run your toy drive for about 2 to 3 weeks. Be sure to give enough notice before beginning so families have enough time to go through their children’s toys.