Create your own thing from recycled materials @WBCL

I never know what will appear on my doorstep to use in this class or what will strike the kids imagination but with several bags of goodies and a bit of glue we began. Milk cartons and spools were like gold tonight. Upper right corner--a cow complete with udders. there were games, a cart that rolled, a bird feeder, a pond with a waterfall and so many more cute ideas. I ask "who brought their imagination tonight?" and all hands went up. I think they are right.

Creating critters from paper egg cartons @WBCL

We started off our month of recycled projects with an egg carton project making bunnies and chicks. I did cut and preprint the cartons so the kids could just create instead of dealing with paint at the class. Some of the chicks are in eggs, some of the bunnies have egg carton ears and some don't. Fun to do this one.

Creating art from rolled paper @WBCL

This  is a project I did at school last year and once you get the kids going making paper rolls they can see all kinds of possibilities. I cut up pages of ads and magazines so we had lots of bright colored material to work with. I suggested that the rolls bend or can be lined up to make frames and let them create.

Drawing and Painting trees @ WBCL

It is always a gamble to try to get kids to paint trees. You mostly have very thick trunks with what looks like a hand coming out the top and pompom tops. This was a "Paint with Me" project so the kids could follow along and achieve a more or less tree-ish tree. We got better pompoms but a good distribution. a few kids added squirrels and birds and knots on the tress. Super fun project.

Making kites @WBCL

Tonight we learned a bit about kites and then made and decorated one complete with tails. Some of the tails got quite long. I did discuss with the kids that this kite probably would not fly but they could put braces in it at home and try running it. Lots of plans going on there.

Using pastels to create a mountain at sunset @WBCL

Chalk pastels are so much fun to use and SOOO messy but the results are always worth it. We first did a pencil outline of our mountain then worked on our sky and sunset so as not to muddy the sky. once the sky was to our liking we went on to make the mountain with textures and streams, grass, etc. Love how beautiful but varied they are.