Earth Day Recyclable Art

Earth day is on Saturday and I am full of ideas for exploring conservation and natural resources! Today I wanted to share an opportunity for open-ended recyclable art.  Earth day is all about re-using materials instead of throwing them away, and using recyclables as materials for art is great way to encourage children to look at common objects in new ways and flex their imaginations. It's also a fun way to  explore three dimensional art since recyclables lend themselves to sculpture.

The key to open-ended art is to make sure that the children have all of the materials that they could need, and let them use them in any way they would like.  Recyclables can present their own challenges because there may be sharp edges or cleanliness issues to consider before presenting these items to the children.

Some recyclable items that are best suited for this particular experience include:

• Empty water bottles
• Plastic grocery bags
• Paper towel tubes
• Empty food containers
• Plastic lids
• Newspaper
• Magazines
• Cardboard boxes

There are also some supplies that are especially helpful to have on hand to attach all of these items to each other:

• Hole punches
• Craft wire
• String or yarn
• Tacky glue
• Sticky tack
• Pipe cleaners
• Masking tape

All of these items are things that children don't typically get to use, so to offer them for an open ended experience can get the children really excited about art and inspire some serious creative thinking!