Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Albuquerque, NM

Last week my son and I watched an episode of Word World where Pig taught Duck all about recycling.  Since all the objects in Word World are made from words, recycling there is fun and easy.  They just add some new letters to the old word and suddenly a can turns into candy or a candle (which came in handy, since they were making a birthday cake for Frog).  Ta-da!  Something new from something old.  Recycling can be fun at your house too, here are some ideas for using items that otherwise may be considered junk. 

• Use junk mail as pretend mail and play mailman with your child (a shoe box can be easily turned into a mailbox).  Take turns delivering the mail to each other.  Create "mail" from cut-up cardboard boxes as well.
• Turn empty toilet paper tubes into I-Spy spotters and use them for a game of I Spy.  Race small cars down empty wrapping paper tubes.
• Use old catalogs and magazine to create a color book.  Staple blank pieces of paper together and fill each page with items of a certain color.  An alphabet book could be created using the same technique.
• Gather all the above items (and others as well) and practice sorting.  Sort the objects by color, size, or shape.  Your preschooler could also order the objects from largest to smallest. 

Once everything is ready to be recycled for good, you'll want to take advantage of Albuquerque's curbside recycling service.  It varies depending on where you live, but this service is available in most areas.  You may have a separate bin for recycling, or you can just leave your recyclables in a clear plastic bag at your curb on your regular trash pick-up day. There are also 22 recycling drop-off centers.  For more information, and to see guidelines regarding what can and cannot be recycled, visit the city's website.

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It's time to announce the winner of the Global Wonders DVD giveaway.  I used random.org to choose a random number and lucky winner is commenter #4 -  Bonggamom!  Congratulations, and be on the lookout for an email from me.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  If you didn't win, don't fret, there are many other giveaways going on at Savvy Source, feel free to enter them all!  Also, I hope to be able to offer more giveaways in the future.

Atlanta - Membership to emealsforyou.com
Pittsburgh - Global Wonders DVD
Toronto - Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintendo DS