Recycled Robots

3rd grade creation

So I took on a 2nd grade/3rd grade Art Club for the month of May.  Not a lot can be accomplished in four short sessions so I focused on something I could not do in a regular classroom setting without a great deal of planning and hoarding.  I decided to turn to recycled materials.   For weeks I searched and hoarded things from home and the art room in preparation for the project.  Old glue stick containers - check, paint brush handles with no brush - check, pencil nubs - check, mint containers saved and begged - check.  The list could go on.  I made a quick trip to the Dollar Tree for some unusual miscellaneous things to add to the growing pile and then allowed the group to pick, chose and create.  I was excited to find small bottles of Tacky glue at the Dollar Tree as well that were used to assemble everything.   One can of silver spray paint was purchased to applied once the bot was created.  (20 robots - one can of spray paint)  Finally the feathers, googly eyes, buttons, and chenille sticks came out to add embellishments.  And yes, this is not my original idea...I saw it somewhere and just ran with the idea.  So here are a few of the finished masterpieces.  Really proud of these kiddos and so thankful to the staff that they pitched in to find the recycled materials!

3rd grade

very creative 2nd grader

3rd grader

3rd grader

3rd grader

2nd grade

2nd grade

2nd grade

Confession of a stubby penci hoarder

Echinimunculus (2003) 

I have a problem, I admit it, I save stubby pencils.  I've been doing it for awhile.  I save them for the possibilities.  I know there is something there and one day my creativity will hop in with the solution.  So for now, I have contatiners, and contatiners, and more containers of stuibby pencils.  Recently there was a post on Facebook by a fellow stubby pencil collector wondering what could be done with her collection.  I am not alone in my obsession.  There were lots of post and photos for suggestions on how to renew the pencil collections of art teachers from all over the county.  One Art teacher posted this link and I quickly hopped over to check it out.  Thank you Shelly Sampley Dent .  There are five (5!) porfolios of pencil sculptures.  Most were very interesting, to say the least and I scroll thorugh each and every image.  But you know how you feel when a work suddenly speaks to you?  I felt that delight when I viewed this little gem   There ;is something pretty delightful about this sculpture.  I search for the definition of the word Echinimunculus quite unsuccessfully.  I'm sure it would add insight into the artist intent.  For now, I will just appreciation the pure delight I feel as I view this little gem. AND...I'll keep hoarding those pencils, cause , you never know, I might have a Echinimunculus in my future,

Recycling for the Kids during Spring Break!

A few (82 to be exact) recycled marker caps, two markers and 12' of rope and I've got a great gift for the kids for use at recess.  This jump rope was created by stringing on the marker caps with the addition of two marker bodies to create handles.  Students have been tying together two smaller jump ropes for group jumping.   As I watched them jumping, I knew just what I would be doing during spring break.  I just wish I had brought home more dead markers so I could have strung together two.  I started by taping the caps side by side in a row using wide masking tape and then wedged them as a group into my clamp.  They drilled out fairly quickly and easily using a drill bit that was slightly larger than the nylon rope that I already had; left over from another project.  I could have taken the time to create a pattern but chose to just add the caps on in a random fashion.  By removing the end plug of the marker body, I was able to string one on each end and hide the knot inside of what would now become the handle.  I put the end plug back into place once the knot was securely tied.  Melting the end of the nylon rope insures that the knot will not become loosened.  I'm looking forward to having the 3rd graders give it a test run on Monday!

Making Home Made Liquid Watercolor NOT using old markers

I really love using liquid watercolor with the little ones in my school.  It is so convenient and easy, especially when you are not needing to use a multitude of colors.   Yesterday my 2nd graders were doing a watercolor/crayon wash with blue and I knew I did not have enough precious liquid water color to do the job.  My options were limited: 1-only give them a small amount and hope it was enough,  2-water it down some more and dilute the color, or create a choice 3.  Here is how I came up with choice #3!  I always have those trays of watercolor where the little oval only has a little paint left in it but being the thrifty one, I just can't bear to toss them out until the last little bit of paint has been used.  Hearing lamenting students: "But Mrs. H, the container is empty."  I gathered up a couple of those almost but not quite empty ovals and dropped them down into a jar of warm water and SHAZAM liquid watercolor!  And yes, it was great!  The color was vibrant, it painted just like the stuff I had previous bought and you could not tell the difference!

You can bet, I'll be stockpiling those "almost empty" containers for now on and tossing them into a jug of water.  Oh, and the little ovals from the paint, saving those, too!  The art club is planning to create with recycled materials next week.  I can't wait to see what they come up with using those things.  I'll be sure to post something and let you know.

Let's Recycle!

Here we are in the final weeks of school and I have so much cleaning out to do!  My room became the catch all space for some really cool recyclables this year so when I was trying to come up with a final project for a class of second graders, recycled materials came to mind.  I had a huge pile of thin cardboard that a stamp collector had passed on to me as well as some cool ovals cut from mat board.  I pre-cut all the cardboard into 2" x 2" squares and gave students the option to use as many as they wanted but with a minimum requirement of five squares for each sculpture. First we reviewed how to slit the squares on each side so they could slide and lock together to form the structure.  Students experimented with what they sculpture might look like and determined how many squares they would need.  They also could cut anything into a small size if they wanted.  As soon as they had a plan they disassembled everything and painted the pieces in colors of choice adding designs and patterns as they wanted.  Once everything was dry, sculptures were reassembled and I used hot glue to attach them to the base.  This was a very successful project, the students really enjoyed it and it was all recycled!!

Fourth grade connections with Writing and Art

Voices of children
Whir of wings
Bright with the sheen of the dew
Flashed like the plane-tree
Beautiful

Under the stairs
In the coat cupboard
Hiding place
I can't wait to tell

Pop
Bushes cracked
Frightful
I was terrified
Just wait
I heard another shot






These are some recent works by fourth grade students.  I had scrounged some old book discards from the school library and approached the writing teacher and asked her to collaborate with me on this project.  She worked with students to create the emotion poems.  In the art room we discuss how they might illustrate the feelings and the artwork happened with me.  I've been extremely impressed by many of these and would really love to share them all!  You can check out additional postings here and here.

Today I threw a wrench into the 6 minute draw

I've shared about the 6 minute draw with you in the past.  You can check the previous post Here and Here.  I love the 6 minute draw.  It helps students to transition into my classroom and into an art state of mind and it gives me a few minutes to prepare for the next grade level.  Today I really did throw a wrench into things but I am intrigued by the outcome and plan to do it again!
Here is what happened:   I have been following all the pins and post on recycling or up-cycling of books and have been thinking about just how I might want to do that in my classroom.  I had used books last year with my fourth grade classes and posted that as recycling old books last spring.  Today I made a trip into the school library to see what was in the discard box.  I primarily was looking for books with more text than illustrations to use in collage or for illustration.  As I disassembled one of the books it occurred to me that the pages were about the same size as the paper I used for 6 minute draw.  I wondered what my students would do with the pages if I substituted the pages for their paper without any explanation.  When the 4th and 3rd grade students came in today, I did exactly that.  A helpful student in each class quickly informed me that the paper had writing on it.  I responded that I was aware as I had put the paper on their tables and they should begin their 6 minute draw.  I was very curious how they would handle the paper; if they would draw across the writing as if it wasn't there, incorporate it into the design or try to manage around it.  Here are the results and they did all three!  I loved the outcome and I will definitely be throwing that wrench in with my other school tomorrow!  I'm thinking about maybe giving them color pencils or markers to embellish next week.  This unplanned creativeness may turn into something really amazing!

Recycling old books

I am always on the lookout for ways to incorporate recycled papers into student work. It is very appealing to me personally to incorporate what is being thrown out into something refreshed and new. When the librarian recently cleaned out shelves and placed some books in boxes for students to take I knew I might have found the idea for a new project.  I selected four of the discarded books that were easy reads with little illustrations.  I primarily picked up books of poetry.  After disassembling the books with my handy dandy exacto knife, I was left with some great illustrated hardback covers and piles of pages just waiting to be chosen for a new project. I'm saving the hardback covers for another project to be determined!

Here was my inspiration.  I have been recently following the works of a watercolor artist from Oklahoma who uses dictionaries for her art papers.   They really speak to me and I know I will purchase one of her prints for my own soon. You can check her blog, flying shoes art studio, here.  She chooses subject matter based on a word from the page.   I knew I could probably do something similar with my book pages and fourth grade students.

I allowed each student to select a page of their choice.  Yes, they had to read some poetry first and decide what was most appealing to them personally.  Then, they were challenged to illustrate over the words with their drawings being driven by the passages they had read.  I'm please with the way they have approached the challenge and most seemed to really enjoy the opportunity to draw on a page of a book.    Here are some finished works.