It has been 8 years since I wrote a blog post about gluing recyclables onto a big piece of cardboard and inviting my art students to mix their own colors and paint the structure up on the wall. Since then, I have added this project to my book, Carboard Creations, and seen hundreds of art…
Recycled
Homemade Upcycled Crayons
The idea for these homemade upcycled crayons came from a search I was doing for my newsletter. I was trying to find some fresh sources — blogs that I didn’t know about (which is hard to imagine since I’ve been blogging for 12 years and blogs are becoming a dying breed), but guess what? I…
Still-Life Cake Paintings
I’m back with another community event at our local library, and this time, I made cakes from recycled materials and set up the table for still-life paintings. Children used oil pastels and liquid watercolor (my favorite combination) to draw and paint what they see! Supplies needed for Still-Life Cake Paintings: ~ Recycled cakes (I’ll go…
Recycled Collage Making with Preschoolers
Last month I was invited into a local preschool’s Makerspace to do a project with their 4 and 5yr olds. I decided to use the materials they had collected for the space, which was lots and lots of recyclables, plus I brought in a few of my own goodies and we made recycled collages! Let…
Celebrate Earth Day! 40 Ways to Use Nature and Recylables in Art with Kids
Earth Day always sneaks up on me and sometimes I even miss it! But this year I am here to help you get organized and be prepared to celebrate Earth Day all month long, with 40 ways to use nature and recyclables in art and creative play with kids! The very best and most simple…
Cardboard Circus Tents
One of my all-time favorite art camp projects we made on the very first week of summer art camp I ever did were these Cardboard Circus Tents. The theme of the week was Join the Circus and we made clown masks, trapeze mobiles, ice cream cones, and lots of cheery bunting. These circus tents were…
Cardboard Faces
Sometimes it takes me a while to write about a project, especially since this whole pandemic! I’ve been focusing on our Learning Guides and have neglected writing new posts. But today I am pulling myself together and writing about these cardboard faces we made last Spring in our weeklong Recycled Materials Camp! I was so…
Cardboard Bird Sculptures
Ah, my old friend cardboard is back with a new but familiar look! Today I want to share these amazing cardboard bird sculptures that my art campers made. I got the idea for these from the IG account @marymakingart, and we were also inspired by the artist Clare Youngs, who is an incredibly talented cardboard animal artist…
Giant Recycled Egg Carton Village | A Process Art Collaboration
A few weeks ago in my Spring Break art camp, I created this giant recycled egg carton village by gluing almost 50 egg cartons into a huge box. My art students loved this process art collaboration because there were no rules (other than don’t splatter paint on people) and they could really use their imaginations…
Earth Day Signs with Repurposed Materials
It’s almost Earth Day! We made these Earth Day signs with repurposed materials just in the nick of time. I’m hoping my art students will do a little march around their neighborhood on Monday 🙂 I save many of our old clothes that have ripped or are just worn out and I cut them up into…
