Kindergarten Recycled Flowers

LOVE THE GLUE CAP!

As mentioned in an earlier post about Green Art, I LOVE Earth Day. Kindergartners made these beautiful flowers out of all recycled materials. I did this project previously during my long term sub job and they turned out a little better with them because I took two classes just to paint (I saw them twice a week) but I still love how they turned out. I got the original idea from this post via pinterest but per usual turned it into my own thang! The picture below is from the first time I did the project and did two days of painting. You can see how much stronger they are with more painted colors.

No I CAN statement was posted for the project because I don't post them for kindergarten but my objective was for them to create a flower using only recycled materials. Some didn't end up looking like flowers, so I guess I had some that did not meet the objective....(and I thought it was too simple of an objective!)

Day 1: Started a discussion by asking students if they knew what holidays were in April. Easter is always the first guess but eventually I give them enough clues or someone actually knows that Earth Day is in April too. I make the comparison of taking care of the earth like families take care of their kids and then it all starts to make sense to them :) I found this GREAT YouTube video to show them too. BE CAREFUL. ITS CATCHY!

After the video we talked a little bit more about what they saw in the video and then I showed them my example of what we were going to be making. They had to guess what all the recycled materials were that I used. The rest of the time was spent using watercolors to paint a full sheet of newspaper. The idea was to just cover it in paint, however, some of my more artistic kiddos needed more control and actually created designs and patterns (but most loved just being messy about it!).  I split the classroom into half warm colors and half cool colors and explained that if they stayed with one set they would mix really well and get new pretty colors and if they used both they would get browns and colors they probably didn't want. I really liked separating into two groups like this, I think it is important to change up the classroom sometimes and not have them sit in their usual seats, it provides enough of a level of excitement to keep them more engaged. Some got tired of painting so I made it more interesting by making them go "hyper speed" or "slow motion" every now again. Again, that extra excitement can be really engaging for them. Best part about this is they can be stacked on top of each other, cool in one pile, warm in the other and they will dry, so my drying rack doesn't get full!

Day 2: Watched the video again as a reminder to what we were working on. Then, because I wanted more color on the newspaper but did not want to paint for another class, we used texture rubbings to add more "umph" to our newspapers. Did this for about 15 minutes and then as a group we folded our newspapers back up and into a rectangle. On their own, they drew petals and cut them out and glued them to a small piece of square cardboard. I showed them how to overlap and glue the petals around in a circle to make them more realistic. Last step was to choose a cap to be hot glued as the center of the flower.

Really happy with this project once and glad we did the additional crayons. Some still could of used more color, might end up doing two days of painting with another activity built in just to make sure they are more vibrant. 

They got displayed with a project that 1st grade did that I will be posting on shortly...

McDill Elementary...

Jefferson Elementary...

Kennedy Elementary...

Collaboration with Green Art

One of my ABSOLUTE favorite types of art is Earth Art or Green Art. As someone who uses everyday objects that are given to me/thrifted in my own personal work, it hits close to home so you can expect that I would share Green Art with my students.

Kelsey Lapin. 2013.

Close up

Around Earth Day, a favorite holiday of mine, I always try to do a project with at least one class that explores Green Art. When I did my long term sub job, I made these great flowers with Kindergarten and did again this year, more to come on those later...One thing I love almost more than Green Art is when teachers ask me to do collaborations with them. What I love more than both of those things is the COMBINATION OF THOSE THINGS! One of our 5th grade teachers at Jefferson School, who has been a great support this year, came to me, in plenty of time before hand, and asked me if I could do a project with her students using all of the "junk" she had been saving up. With a few quick convos before and after school, we came up with the idea group sculptures and then writing about the sculptures. I asked her to put the groups together to make sure I had the right personalities and to ensure groups getting the project done on time :) It was that easy!

I CAN statement for this project: WE CAN create a Green Art sculpture that sends an environmentally conscious statement. 

Day 1: Showed them a PowerPoint I put together with an AMAZING video intro. The title page of the PowerPoint was an html link to it on youtube. Here is the video. It is so good I have to embed it right here.

Here is the PowerPoint via GoogleDocs presentations. I loved it so much and Green Art, I actually showed it to all my 2-6 classes on Earth Day :)

Back to the project...

I didn't have to talk too much about what to build. Just to use what they were learning in the classroom and what they knew about the Earth, to send a message about the Earth through their sculpture. The rest of the time was spent exploring the materials and figuring out what they were going to do through sketches and laying out materials.

Day 2: Had a hot glue gun heated up for each group when they came in. Reminded them of proper hot glue gun use before they got to work. Many already knew exactly what they were going to do from last class but some had trouble remembering how they were going to assemble. All the groups got pretty far but none finished.

Day 3: When they came in we talked a little about artist statements and communicating vital information about their sculptures. Then they got to work, glue guns were ready again at the start of class and students finished building. I had a lap top checked out for each group and when they finished their sculpture they started writing. A lot of groups did not finish writing but their classroom teacher finished up the writing in the classroom. I wish I could of spent more time working on artist statements with these during class but I couldn't take another day without getting them too behind on other 5th grade projects.

So very happy with how these turned out. Thanks to all the donations from their teacher and other Jefferson families!

Recycle symbol with surround "earth colors"

Recycling robot, inspired by WALL-E

Polluted ocean

Car on a road

Airplane

Grandfather clock (the earth is running out of time!)

Recycling bins

Ocean #2