During the winter break, families at the Temple Sholom Selma Maisel Nursery School were asked to put aside cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, empty plastic bottles, yogurt containers, and other recyclable materials for a large project in the making.
Little did they know these materials were going to provide the foundation for the launch of a green-friendly makerspace – a dedicated classroom to complement the school’s STEAM Lab – as a way to foster upcycling, ingenuity, imagination and creativity.

The initiative got underway just before Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the “New Year of the trees” and is closely associated with the environmental movement.
“We drew inspiration to create the room from our teachers who have been using recycled materials in their classrooms for years,” said Director of Schools David Cohen. “Teachers who embrace an…