Plastic bottle eco-brick

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

Following a week of singing and dancing with children at Jujurha pre-school in Bulungula, this song emerged as a focus for dealing with the present plastic crisis that affects us all, everywhere. Effective management of our everyday waste requires the same attention as other basic daily

needs, and the children were quick to see how the eco-brick could be one solution towards helping address this. Made into a fun song, the task of pushing plastic scraps into the 2 liter bottles became surprisingly meaningful and satisfying, especially when done as a group initiative with a view to using the bricks for a building project for the school (never mind that it's a perfect activity for developing fine motor co-ordination, bilateral motor co-ordination, praxia and a host of other impressive developmental tasks for small digits).

Watch the following link to find out more about eco-brick activity in Makahanda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ZrkhmJbvg

This clear, informative sign was posted at Buccaneer's backpackers, Chintsa:

Any or all parts of the following song can be used in different combinations, depending on the ages of the children involved. The bottles were taken home to be used as a bin for plastic/ foil. And this is only the start as we find ourselves at the critical point where our daily toxic rubbish needs to be beaten into building blocks for our future (as swords too can be beaten into ploughshares) before it swamps our environment.

You pick-a-pick a bottle and you pick-a-pick a stick
and you pick-a-pick-up rubbish and pick plastic
and you stick it in the bottle and you stick it with your stick
You push it and you stick it and you make a plastic brick
(do this bit slowly, story-telling style, while introducing the bottle/stick/ plastic idea. Use drama to pick up plastic scraps and feed them into a bottle)

A plastic bottle eco-brick - it's a plastic bottle eco-brick
A plastic bottle eco-brick - it's a plastic bottle eco-brick
(this is simple version with no passing, make up rhythm patterns on bottle)

Pass the bottle - pass the stick - make a little beat going tic-tic-tic
Pass the bottle - pass the stick - make a little beat on the eco-brick
(a passing game, and a useful way of distributing the bottles round a circle)

The rubbish that we drop gets caught in the trees
It blows in the wind and lands in the sea
It tangles with the turtles, gets swallowed by the fish
Lands up in the food on your your very own dish
(lead this line by line, children copying your words and actions)

The video recording for this song is not intended as a backing track or for listening entertainment: it has been simply and clearly recorded so that teachers can learn it as easily as possible. It can be sung with no accompaniment except the bottles for percussion. Optional guitar can be added but is not essential.

Further songs that are useful with the bottle theme:
- 10 plastic bottles sitting on the floor (a la 10 green bottles sitting on a wall)
- Building up a house (part of the Stones Hill Song collection)

The song came about at Jujurha pre-school in Bulungula, in the Amathole district of the Wild Coast, South Africa. The school is one of the several community projects run by the Bulungula Incubator - a rural development NGO https://bulungulaincubator.org/

Explore the collection of Stones Hill songs-and -dances for children listed below - share them with people whom you know will use and enjoy them. Please acknowledge source and composer if piece is used for public performance - copyright Liz Campbell, Stones Hill songs. Feedback would also be appreciated - how the song works for you, how you may have used it: liz.jessam@gmail.com

CONNECT - song and dance for children

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Plastic bottle eco-brick

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