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Category Archives: recycled art

Cardboard Shape Art Project

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Cardboard Shape Art Project

Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a relaxing and restful holidays and are ready for the new year. Today I have some cardboard shape pictures to share with you that my 2nd graders created. We first looked at the artist Marcus Oakley and his cardboard shape pictures for inspiration. Students could create an abstract picture or a picture that represented something. We used pre-cut shapes as well as shapes the students cut on their own. Thinner cardboard … Read more… →

Found Object Puppets

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Two colorful cardboard face masks with yarn hair, painted features, and button decorations on sticks make charming found object puppets.

My 1st graders had a blast making these found object puppets from recycled materials.  We read this book by Hanoch Piven. To get the full lesson plan with materials list, parental note, background info and student reflection sheet visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop to download.

Fairy Houses and Gnome Homes- Drawings & Sculptures

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Illustrations: 'Fairy Houses' text with a mushroom house, flower tower, and a fairy with long hair and colorful dress.

What could be more fun than fairy houses and gnome homes?  I don’t know, but let me know if you find out!  I’ve discovered that kids love 1) Open-ended projects  2) Getting to choose from a huge pile of random, colorful materials  3) Miniature things   4) Using their imagination.   This project is a winner for all of these reasons. I saw a question on an art teacher Facebook group which reminded me of this project my 4th/5th grade students did … Read more… →

3-D Bedroom Constructions and Perspective

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3-D Bedroom Constructions and Perspective

Student-directed vs. teacher-directed and choice vs. “cookie cutter projects”  (I hate that phrase, it’s so annoying) are big discussions with art teachers online lately.  This is an example of how teacher-directed projects (perspective and interior models) can include lot of student choice and opportunities for creativity. When I went to the Art Institute of Chicago this Spring, I was lucky to be able to see the traveling van Gogh bedroom paintings exhibit.  My friend Dawn told me that she used … Read more… →

Making an Assemblage & Learning about Louise Nevelson

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Learning about Louise Nevelson and making an assemblage with children

  I have seen variations of this project many times but have never tried it with my students.  I am pleased with how our assemblages turned out!  This was a great opportunity to clean out the junk in the classroom and teach about using found objects. My Primaries (or first grade) learned a little about American sculptor Louise Nevelson.  There is a short clip on YouTube that explains about her artwork. I put a call out to families to donate … Read more… →

Found Object Faces– 1st grade

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A child's artwork of a face crafted with ribbons, flowers, buttons, and other craft items on paper, signed "Norah" at the bottom left.

(these are the projects I burnt my fingers on!)  USE LOW TEMP GLUE GUNS!!! Anyways, these are really charming and fun projects. The 1st graders learned about recycled art and how to use unconventional materials in art.  We read 2 books by Hanoch Piven, which feature portraits made out of objects. The children brought in objects from home that represented aspects of themselves and we assembled the parts into faces in art class.   We used foam board and matboard for … Read more… →

Scrap Faces

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A simple face drawing featuring yarn hair, a bow, and colorful paper for eyes and mouth on a white background.

 The 1st graders learned about recycled art and how to use unconventional materials in art.  We read 2 books by Hanoch Piven, which feature portraits made out of objects.  The children brought in objects from home that represented aspects of themselves and we assembled the parts into faces in art class.  I had three 8th grade volunteers who helped hot glue everything.  We used foam board and matboard for the base of the faces.   Scroll down to see more examples … Read more… →

Scrap Faces

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A simple craft project featuring scrap faces made with colorful fabric and paper on a paddle stick.

To connect with the Science, the Primaries are learning about how artists can use recycled and cast off materials to make art.  We are watching a video about an artist who goes to the scrap and junkyard to find art materials.  We are making our own mask made out of scraps:  bottle caps, wood pieces, plastic parts.  Reading Rainbow Stay Away From the Junkyard  hilarious!  We used these donated medicine lids.

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.