Cool Shadow Puppets!

http://www.hvanrossum.com/cutouts.html

Creative, Easy DIY Crafts Using Balloons

http://www.stylisheve.com/creative-easy-diy-crafts-using-balloons/#.VAytKHi9LCR

Credit: Stylisheve.com

How Does the Brain Learn Best?

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/08/how-does-the-brain-learn-best-smart-studying-strategies/

Credit: Ingfei Chen

Educators and Urban Youth Show How Afterschool Arts Programs Can Succeed

http://www.wallacefoundation.org/view-latest-news/events-and-presentations/Pages/VIDEO-Something-to-Say-Success-Principles-for-Afterschool-Arts-Programs.aspx

Credit:  The Wallace Foundation

33 Activities For Kids That Cost Under $10

http://www.kaixinfun.com/article/detail/310/33-Activities-For-Kids-That-Cost-Under-$10

Credit: http://www.kaixinfun.com

The World Sends Us Garbage, We Send Back Music!

Need a little inspiration? Landfill Harmonic is a youth orchestra that plays instruments made from the trash that litters their own communities…

Thanks to Corinna for sharing this cool video.

Learn more about Landfill Harmonic here: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/04/landfill-harmonic-an-upcoming-documentary-about-the-recycled-orchestra-in-cateura-paraguay/

 

Get Ready for Earth Day with April’s Supply of the Month!

Get ready for Earth Day on April 22^nd with these project ideas for growing plants in recycled containers, Earth Day activities, and more!  Any of these activities would be great, hands-on projects to introduce into your class if you are reading stories, writing plays, making puppets or doing other art activities that have to do with the environment and recycling.

April’s supply of the month is egg cartons, which make great planters! We have bean plant seeds for your students to plant as well.

A tip from my friend Frank: bean plants are great for kids to start with because they tend to be more successful and if planted next to other plants, they provide extra nitrogen for them.

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2012/04/seed-starting-tips-for-beginner.html

Here’s an example of an egg carton seed starter from the blog Crafty Crafty:

http://www.craftycrafty.tv/2011/04/starter_craft_egg_box_seedling.html

Free Kids Crafts has step-by-step instructions for using egg cartons to plant seeds:

http://www.freekidscrafts.com/seedling_pot-e678.html

I love this example of a planter in an empty CD case from the Austin Creative Reuse Pinterest website. What a wonderful way to see how things grow!

Here is an example of a planter made from a 2-Liter soda bottle. This would be a really fun, crafty science project to introduce an environmental or recycling theme into your class!

http://containergardening.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/growing-in-a-bottle-debbie-kong-greenroofgrowers/

If you don’t want to get messy planting seeds, here are a couple of other Earth Day related crafts inspired by egg cartons!

http://crafts.kaboose.com/egg-cup-insects.html

http://www.makeandtakes.com/earth-day-recycled-art

Earth Day Resources:

This coloring page comes from Austin Creative Reuse on Pinterest. Check it out for some great Earth Day project ideas and resources: http://pinterest.com/austinreuse/earth-day/

And while you’re on Pinterest, check out the Earth Day Kids Activities board where you can find beautiful examples of all kinds of crafts, story book suggestions (like The Lorax or The Great Kapok Tree), and more to inspire your students on Earth Day!

http://pinterest.com/tiffanymoore2/earth-day-kids-activities/

Pinterest also led me to discover this adorable “litterbug museum” craft using recycled materials:

http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/2011/04/litterbug-museum.html

DLTK’s Crafts for Kids site has all kinds of worksheets, coloring pages and other activities for Earth Day! This picture is from a coffee-filter globe activity where students color a coffee-filter to look like the earth, and then spray it with a little water to get this really neat watercolor effect:

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/earth/index.html

Happy Spring!

Thanks to Corinna for sharing!

March Supply of the Month: Make a Kite!

Making Amazing Kites with Recycled Paper!

If you were at the Zilker Kite Festival this past Sunday, you won’t be surprised that March is kite month! To celebrate our Supply of the Month for March is a donation we received of colorful paper and cardstock from marketing materials that were going to be recycled or thrown out, but can be transformed into beautiful paper kites. Check out these resources for making paper kites with your students, and pick up some recycled paper from the Supply of the Month bin for your class projects!

Here is a really simple paper kite craft with easy to follow instructions!

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Paper-Kite-for-Kids/

Here is another example of a beautiful paper kite craft from Creative Jewish Mom:

 

http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2012/06/butterfly-kite-kids-craft-with-straws.html

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/howto/ideas/paper_kites.html

Here are some really funky kites made from paper sacks!

 

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/paper-kites.htm

Check out these gorgeous examples of kites made from grocery sacks from the quarterly magazine Rhythm of the Home:

 

http://rhythmofthehome.com/2010/07/homemade-kite/

Thanks to Corinna for sharing!

Recycled Art: Weaving Projects!

Weaving with Recycled Materials, by Corinna Archer

As a textile artist I was excited to share some ideas for weaving projects using recycled materials at our February Skill Share about recycled art projects to use in the classroom. Besides making gorgeous wall-hangings to bring home to their families, students can weave pieces of fabric to use as placemats, carpet squares, pouches and bags, costume pieces, quilt squares and more. Students can make individual weavings, or you can plan this project as a group activity where everyone contributes to an art piece that represents their collaborative efforts and shows off the amazing things you can do with recycled materials in the community.
Weaving materials can include yarn, ribbon, paper, plastic bags cut into long strips, rope, cardboard, etc.

Resources and Inspiration:

The Crafty Crow, a children’s craft website, is another great resource for weaving and textile craft project ideas to bring into the classroom. These beautiful circular weavings were made on CDs.

http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2012/01/weaving-on-cds.html

 

A great example of a cardboard loom: simple and so fun! From the Craft Sanity Blog.

http://craftsanity.com/2009/08/craftsanity-on-tv-cardboard-weaving-looms-a-table-loom-introduction/

Weaving on plastic six-pack holders:

http://laplaza.org/~jnichols/sixpack_1.html

I love these examples of a collaborative weaving project by the students of Evergreen Elementary School in Washington:

http://evergreenart.birdsong.org/taxonomy/term/43

Here is a great example of a weaving project for kids using plastic bags: http://ydtalk.com/jdispatch/2011/03/01/students-weave-the-seasons-with-recycled-products/

I also came across an inspiring community project called The Vision Weave Project, where community members participated by writing a message about their vision for “a peaceful future” and then weaving them into these stunning tapestries that became permanent community art installations. you can find more information about this project here: http://www.moonrain.ca/VisionWeaveTable.html

Weaving Project Tutorials:

Making a cardboard loom:

1. Find a piece of cardboard, this can be as big or small as you like!
2. Cut 1/2” slits along one side. For thinner weaving materials (yarn, string), make the slits closer together (1/8 inch). For thicker materials (ribbons, plastic bags), make slits further apart (1/2 inch). If you are using a box top, cut the slit so that it goes ½ inch into both sides of the box edge. Along the vertical side, cut across all of the slits so that you can pop out a little flap for each one.
3. Repeat along the other side, making sure that each slit is across from one on the other end.

Photo from http://www.kraftykid.com/ribbon-weaving-pouch-craft-kit

To Warp (Set Up) the Loom

1. Warp your loom (set up the vertical strands) by starting at a slit on one edge and wedging your weaving material into the slit so that the end is hanging out the back.
2. Pull your warp strand across and into the opposite slit, keeping it taught. Your strand will now be coming out the back of this slit. Looping around the back, pull the strand up to the front through the slit immediately next to it. Then, pull across to the opposite end like before.
3. Repeat until your weaving is set up to be slightly wider than you want your fabric to end up.

To Weave:

1. Weave through the warp strands by starting and one end and pulling your weft (horizontal strands) material over, under, over, under, across the whole row.
2. When you have finished a row, use your fingers to comb the row down to the bottom of your weaving. As you weave, you will want to pack each row down tightly against the last. Be careful not to pull too tightly at the edges or they will start to “suck in” and your weaving will narrow in the middle. This can also be avoided the more tightly you warp your loom.
3. When you are finished weaving, you can either pull the loops off the ends and tie off the beginning and end strands, or you can cut all of the warp strands leaving enough to tie fringe along the edge of your weaving.

You can also weave with old t-shirts that have been cut into loops by cutting horizontally across the shirt on a giant “pot holder” loom made from a wooden frame and nails. The important thing is to make sure the nails are aligned when making this kind of loom. Here is a really cool example of an elementary class weaving project done with tie-dyed t-shirts:

http://preschoolpatti.blogspot.com/2009/06/weaving.html

Weaving newspaper baskets:

1. Roll a sheet of newspaper, long-ways, and flatten, so that your roll is about an inch wide.
2. Weave a square 4-5 pieces wide, then fold up the rest of the newspaper strips to create the sides of your basket. Clip 2-3 ends together so they stay up.
3. Then, begin weaving around your basket with more strips of rolled up newspaper, making sure to crease the corners well.
4. When you are about 2 inches from the top of each side piece, stop weaving and tuck each end down into one of the last rows on the inside.
5. Students can decorate with paint or markers, and use their basket to hold a puppet, other art projects, or just to take home and enjoy!

Recycled Art: Wind Instruments

Making Wind Instruments from Recycled and Household Materials

One of our teaching artists, Aaron Goldman, shared some techniques for making instruments  at the Recycled Art Project Skill Share this month.

Making a horn with a straw:

1. Flatten the end of a straw and cut into a pointed triangular tip.
2. Play into the straw and cut the other end to adjust the pitch.
3. Roll a piece of poster board or heavy paper into a cone, with the straw fitted into the smallest end. This will amplify the sound!

Making a bass wind instrument:

1. Cut off the end of the thumb of a plastic glove.
2. Fit a small piece of plastic tubing into the opening and use the cut-off piece as a rubber band to hold it on by cutting a slit in the top.  Make sure the seal is airtight.
3. Attach the opening of the glove around a large recycled cardboard tube and triple wrap a rubber band to make that seal air-tight.
4. Play your instrument by pulling the glove down (hold the top of the cardboard tube around eye-level) and blowing into the end of the small plastic tube.