Chopstick Games–The Best Ways to Recyle Chopsticks
I’m always mulling recycle ideas for kids. We’ve made toilet paper roll crafts, puppets from discarded packaging, and a dollhouse from shoeboxes.
My latest challenge is chopsticks. And my solution? Chopstick games!
Ubiquitous Chopsticks
An astounding 80 billion disposable chopsticks are produced annually in China. That’s a lot of trees.
These chopsticks end up in our Chinese takeout bags, at Japanese restaurants, and anywhere Asian food is served. For health reasons, it’s best not to reuse them. Instead, play chopstick games.
Can Your Child Use Chopsticks?
Educators tell us that learning to use chopsticks improves hand skills in young children and offers other learning benefits. I even found a post by a dad explaining how he taught his two-year-old to use chopsticks and how it has acellerated his toddler’s development.
If you and your child are not chopstick adept, learning to use chopsticks may be your first game: You’ll find lots of videos on YouTube, such as this one: How to Use Chopsticks–in About a Minute.
The Chopstick Games
Wash used disposable chopsticks and let dry; then you’re ready to play a chopstick game.
Pick Up Sticks Chopstick Game
This game is for two or more players and all you need is a bunch of chopsticks. If you’ve played pick up sticks as a child, you already know the rules.
What you Need
- Washed, used disposable chopsticks
How to Play
Grab a bunch of chopsticks in your hand with the base touching a table, then let go so they fall, helter-skelter. Take turns picking up the chopsticks without disturbing the pile. When the pile is disturbed, the next player takes a turn. The player who collects the most chopsticks when all have been picked up wins the game.
Make it Better
Kids can paint the chopsticks different colors with acrylic paint. They can assign points for the colors to add to the complexity of the game and to practice math skills. Red chopsticks are 10 points and yellow are 5, for example.
Another recycle game: Fun with paper airplanes
Marshmallow Chopstick Game
This game is for two or more players. The more players participating, the larger the marshmallow bowl should be to give each player enough room.
What you Need
- A set of washed, used disposable chopsticks for each player
- Bowl to hold marshmallows
- Bowl for each player
- Marshmallows (mini for kids experienced with chopsticks; regular size for beginners)
How to Play
Use a table that gives all players equal access to the marshmallow bowl. Fill the marshmallow bowl with marshmallows. Give each player a bowl to collect marshmallows and a pair of chopsticks. At the “go!” each player tries to take the most marshmallows from the bowl and put it in their own bowl, one marshmallow at a time.
The game is over when all the marshmallows have been removed. The player with the most marshmallows wins.
Make it Better
You can play with just one player at a time, using a stopwatch to determine who can transfer all the marshmallows the fastest.
You can also play this as a relay race, with marshmallow bowl at one end, and teams on the opposite end. Each team’s player rushes to the marshmallow bowl with chopsticks, snags a marshmallow and returns to their team, dropping the marshmallow into their collective bowl, sending the next teammate forward.
However, people can get hurt running with pointed sticks, so this version should be done with older children and with a caveat that no running is allowed.
Another fun game: scavenger hunt.
Chopstick Sheath Puppets
Not a game, but here’s another use for disposable chopsticks. Make puppets from the paper sheath that the chopstick comes in. I did this at a Japanese restaurant to quiet a fussy Miss T as a toddler.
Wondering how I could entertain her with no toys handy, I tore off the chopstick paper, drew faces with a pen, and put the “puppets” on my fingers. She was intrigued.
What you Need
- Paper sheaths from chopsticks
- Pen
How to Play
Cut or tear the sheath so it fits on the fingers. Draw faces.
Make it Better
To make it a game for an older child, draw the faces of monsters or wrestlers on the paper sheath. Each of your wear a puppet on your thumb, and fight a thumb war.
Other Ways to Use Disposable Chopsticks
I always keep a few washed, used disposable chopsticks on hand for various uses:
- Support small plants
- Train climbing seedlings
- Use as stakes for plant packet IDs
- Use to apply glue in small spaces for craft projects
- Use as a holder for painting objects, such as styrofoam balls. We painted the balls to make ice cream cones for a pretend ice cream shop
- Use as a holder for stick puppets
- Turn into magic wands
- Use to stir paint
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