Recycled Paper Ornaments

Mrs. Taylor over at School at St. George Place shared this awesome idea for ornaments made from recycled magazine pages!!! I decided to try it out with my 4th and 5th graders who were finished early with their painting unit, and oooohhh it turned out so great!!!

We used our massive collection of bottle caps to trace circles of various sizes and glued them together with glue sticks. A few students even glued them to large plastic lids to make them more sturdy! Also, some students glued them onto a square of colored paper instead of making an ornament - that looked great too! Check out the whole lesson plan on Mrs. Taylor's site... Thanks for the great idea!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Recently (or almost!) Finished Art Units using Recycled Materials!

Find out more about these recent GREEN works of art made by the talented students at Briargrove. Check them out here on the Briargrove Art Blog!

4th Grade - Birds made from recycled materials!!! (images of finished birds soon to come!)

5th Grade - Animals made out of cardboard food boxes!!!

2nd Grade - Toilet Paper Roll Garden!!!

Kindergarten - Clouds made from cardboard and other recycled materials!!! (Finished clouds coming soon!)

3rd Grade - Plants made from paper scraps!!! (Will post finished plants this week!)

Great work! The students are loving it and really making an impact on their environment!

Abstract Composition using Bottle Caps

For the past two weeks in the art room, all grade levels have been working on these beautiful abstract compositions.

This is our first unit of the year using recycled materials, and in this case we were using them as tools. We traced a variety of our collected bottle caps to create the circles in the compositions. We have been collecting the caps for other projects later in the year, but this was a fun way to make art with them in the meantime. To keep the bottle caps clean (so we can use them later), each table shared a Kleenex to wipe the marker off after each tracing. To be green, each table shared ONE Kleenex, and often the same Kleenex was used for multiple classes, until it was so warn out we had to dispose of it. (We made sure everyone knew not to use it for blowing noses or anything like that!)

At clean-up many students had marker on their hands, and many of them wanted to wash it off. To keep from wasting the water and paper towels, I told the students we would not be washing hands. Marker is messy, but not dirty - a distinction the students could understand. Your hands might not look pristine, but they don't really need to be washed (unless you are about to eat.) The students did, however, get a squirt of hand-sanitizer as they left to help get rid of any germs since they were sharing so many materials and handling the bottle caps.

Visit the Briargrove Elementary Art Page to see more examples of the artwork and to learn more about the art concepts incorporated into the unit!

More Kinds of Bottle Caps to Collect!

So bright and colorful... 

Play-Doh Lids!!

Prize Canisters! (Bring the whole thing in - the clear part is cool, too.)

Lids from cans like whipped cream (the awesome swirly one), shaving cream, and spray paint! Make sure they are clean!

Types of Caps to Collect

We are collecting all varieties of bottle caps for our upcoming art units. Please remember, all caps need to be well-rinsed before you turn them in! Here are some types of caps you can collect:

Tops from juices and sports drinks

Milk and juice caps

Lids from butter, jelly, pickles, yogurt, etc.
(Don't forget the instructions for cleaning lids related to peanut products - see post below.)

Detergent tops

Soda and water bottle lids

Flip-top caps from shampoo blottles, creamers, spices, etc.

Spouts, marker caps, glue caps, and any other caps you can find!
I've been so impressed with all the caps we've gotten so far! So fun to see the diversity of the caps we collect!

Bottle Cap Collecting Mania!!!

Briargrove, you may have already heard... it's time to start collecting BOTTLE CAPS!

This summer, I discovered the artist Michelle Stitzlein through the awesome website, The Green Art Room. She had the brilliant idea to use bottle caps (which are difficult to recycle) as mosaic tiles to make murals and sculptures. Check out some of the work she did with students in Ohio by clicking here.

We will be coming up with our own versions of this wonderful Eco-friendly and beautiful art unit this year at Briargrove. So start collecting now!

A Couple Rules/ Guidelines for Collecting:

1. Start a collection bin in your home or classroom – reuse something like a coffee tin, pickle jar, etc. to hold them!
2. Make sure all caps are clean and rinsed free of juice, etc. as well as dirt!
3. A warning about FOOD ALLERGIES: If a student wants to bring in a Peanut Butter jar top or any other cap containing a nut product, instruct them to first have it scrubbed off and washed with dish washing detergent at home, and then to bring it in a separate sealed bag. I will not let any students handle them unless we are cleared that they have no nut allergies. This is something to take very seriously, and other food allergies should be considered as well!

Drop off your caps anytime and sort them by color in the bins by the door of the art room! Happy collecting!