2nd Grade Recycled Sculptures

Due to storage issues, my students don't get a lot of 3D experiences. I want to work on this! For the last big project of the school year, my 2nd graders made sculptures using recycled materials- cardboard tubes and egg cartons. I showed the students several examples from my Recycled Projects Pinterest board to give them ideas on how to manipulate and attach the materials. The students did most of their building on the first day, using masking tape to attach things, and painted on the second day. I used my hot glue gun to attach things like buttons and google eyes for students on day 2. 

Things I learned

• Don't assume that 2nd graders know how to tear masking tape off the roll.
• You have to remind students to look at their sculptures from all sides when painting.
• You need more google eyes than you think. Students will ask to put them on everything.

 I showed an example of a rocket and it became the most popular choice. I was glad to see some students taking ideas from the examples and doing their own thing, like with the jet below.

The cat (above, right) was made from toilet paper tubes. The student found some yarn that had been crocheted into a long strand and used that to wrap the body of her cat. It made it kind of chubby, especially on the toothpick legs. :)

 Two students made owls and asked if their projects could be photographed together in addition to the individual pictures for Artsonia.

Not as many students made projects using egg cartons, but some did, or combined the different materials. We found that a section of egg carton worked pretty well as the tip of a rocket.

These students used the lids of the egg carton in addition to other materials.

I told you that storage was an issue... This was the only solution I could come up with- a big piece of cardboard to form a shelf on top of my picture frame box. It worked out until a student bumped it and knocked the pieces over throwing off the class organization. It just took a little extra time to sort out. I'll be in a new classroom in the new school year that I think will allow for a lot more 3D storage.

Egg Carton Ants

I have a bunch of egg cartons.  Like a lot.  I save them and have lots of donated egg cartons.  I had been saving and saving them but didn't know what I wanted to use them for.  The specials teachers at one of my schools are in charge of organizing the baked potato lunch this Friday for Teacher Appreciation Week and our librarian thought of a picnic theme.  They were talking about decorations so I said I could have one of my Kindergarten classes make ants.  I needed a one day project to get everything straightened out after the schedule changed so it worked out really well.

At the beginning of the class, I asked the students what they know about ants.  The Kindergarten science curriculum starts to talk about insects, mammals, etc. so they were happy to tell me all about the 6 legs and 3 body parts as well as ant-specific things.  I had pre-painted and pre-cut* the egg cartons so I gave each student a 3 section piece that was already brown.  I showed them how they could cut strips of paper and glue them to make legs.  I stressed pinching the paper to the egg carton for a few seconds to make sure the liquid glue would stick.  I let them add any details they wanted with scrap construction paper and crayons.  We even used the circles of paper out of the hole punch for eyes.  I really like how they all have personality.  Even my 3rd grade students who saw the ants drying asked if they would get to make them!

*Is there some magic trick to cutting egg cartons?  I had a really hard time.  I ended up using a paintbrush to apply water to the cardboard cartons where I wanted to cut and letting it soak through a couple times to make it a little easier.  I also had better luck with short scissors than my bigger pair.  It was time consuming.  Any tips you would like to share?

I didn't want to use a plain background for the photographs and luckily I remembered seeing this table cloth in the teacher's lounge!  I thought it looked picnic-y and decided to give it a try.  I wrote the students' names on small pieces of paper and put them off to the side so that I could crop out the name when I published the work on Artsonia.

Use for Egg Cartons

If you are like me and can never turn down materials, even if you don't have an immediate idea for them, you'll probably like this project!  I was really excited to see this today when I checked out the Artsonia lesson plans of the week.  It says the goal of this project was for students to learn about different color schemes.  I had never thought of using egg cartons as a canvas before!  I had only thought of using them as more of sculpture ingredients. (One of my Kindergarten classes made some funny ants that I'll have to post later!)  This project was completed by a 7th grade student but I think it could easily be adapted for younger kids.  I don't always find something I'll use in the lesson plans of the week but I think I'll give this one a try!  If you are registered on Artsonia, you can view the lesson plan here: http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/lessonplans/plan.asp?id=4540

...and if you're not and want to be, it's really quick to register and get started!  Go here: http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/register/schooltype.asp