Earth Day Hats

Friends~I am so excited to share with you my Earth Day hats!  I love making these super simple hats with recycled materials! 

All you will need is 1 large-brown paper grocery bag (I let my kiddos decorate the bags with crayons and markers first.)

Check out the directions below!

*I also use old tissue paper or recycled grocery bags for the flowers!  

Click the video below to watch a quick tutorial on the hats!

You can check out more Earth Day fun over on my blog by clicking HERE!

Reusing for Earth Day

Earth Day is coming up this week so I thought I would share with you one way we reuse in my classroom. I just used these in my classroom on Friday when we were doing art so it is fresh in my mind.

I am not sure exactly when I had this idea but I know that it has made painting in my classroom a whole lot easier and clutter free. Being a teacher I like to "collect" many old things. Yup you know the saying "a teacher can find use out of someone else's garbage." Well that is exactly what I do.

Many of my students bring in lunchables for lunch time and there is SOOOO much garbage. One day I thought there has to be a use for them. Well there is !!! I have my students save them and we use them as paint containers. Genius I know :) Of course the paper outer wrap goes in the recycling.

Instead of students carefully putting multiple containers of paint on their desk or table and hoping it doesn't get knocked over all they have is ONE container with multiple paint colors in it. Yay! Less mess. These containers usually come with 3 or 4 compartments in them. 

The plastic containers are super easy to clean and stack nicely in the cupboard. I have used both tempera and acrylic paints in the containers and they both wash out easily. I love finding useful tools and even better that this one can be recycled and avoid the landfills for a little longer !

I hope this tip helps keep your art time a little less cluttered and your garbage cans emptier.

Cheers,

An Ode to Toilet Paper Rolls...

Confession time... in my garage I have 14 empty egg cartons, 5 Pringles cans,  a crate of empty toilet paper rolls, and a bucket of broken crayon bits. My husband thinks I'm a hoarder... or a borderline hoarder at the very least. I always explain that while I do have these seemingly useless piles of junk sitting around gathering dust bunnies, it's not because of an emotional attachment on my part. It's practicality.

My Junk Pile... Rich With Treasures!

He doesn't realize how difficult it is to acquire 125 dead CD's for a radial weaving unit or enough toilet paper rolls to assemble a faux chrysalis for 5 separate kindergarten classrooms. It's nearly impossible to not look like a crazy person if you have to actually buy 50 pairs of nude knee-high stockings... not to mention putting a sizable dent in your pocketbook.

My name is Jenny and I'm an elementary art teacher... or I was. As of this school year I am a stay-at-home mom to my four amazing children (including a set of infant twins), but I just can't shake the urge to hold onto baby food jars and bits of interesting ribbon, just in case. I am excited to add my voice to this blog and, hopefully, add some creative ideas for you as well.

The Humble Cardboard Cylinder

Today, as you may have guessed, I want to talk to you about the plain, ole' toilet paper roll. This humble cylinder of cardboard literally has endless uses and is extremely easy to collect. If you fly by the seat of your pants, as I am sometimes known to do, you really only need a day or two's notice to send out a plea to fellow teachers or parents for some and you will have toilet paper rolls coming out of your ears! If you find that you want to join the green bandwagon and utilize your community regularly for re-purposing household items then you might like to have a standard note like this one on hand:

Why type a new letter every time?

This is a letter I have sent to parents numerous times for random things... like dryer lint. More on that another time! You can download a copy of mine here and use the customizable form fields to fill in your donation request, the purpose, the deadline, and your name.

Now, back to toilet paper rolls! I have used them as time capsules, as simple sculpture materials, as poster holders, as mailboxes, as stamps, as seedling pots, as simple looms, and probably more that I can't remember.

Their newest reincarnation is a fabulous-but-cheap textured rolling pin covers for some fantastic printmaking. I have bought the miniature textured rolling pins before, but it costs between $10-$15 for a set of four and if you are working in a whole class setting, the math of that just doesn't add up! Another thing that I don't like is that there are usually only a couple of pattern types available. . . stripes, dots, and waves. By making your own, the possibilities are ENDLESS!

First: The Rollers!

Cheap, durable, awesome: PVC.

Seriously, those miniature wooden rolling pins  from school supply companies are cute but they break in two seconds. I needed something tough. I went to Home Depot to the plumbing section and picked up (okay, technically my husband picked it up) a piece of 1.25 inch PVC pipe. They are sold in 10 foot lengths and it cost about $5. I had a clerk at Home Depot cut the PVC pipe into pieces for me and ended up with about 20 sections. I sanded the edges just a bit for smoothness, but it was pretty quick and easy. Basically, you can make a classroom set of rolling pins (for paint, for clay, for playdough, for printmaking) for under $10, depending on how many you need. 

Second: The Texture!

The self-stick foam sheets are ideal and easy to use.

This is where my old friend the toilet paper roll comes in handy. You can take sheets of craft foam (or if you want to make it really easy, the self adhesive foam stickers) and attach custom shapes or designs to the exterior cardboard with a strong glue. Let them dry completely!!!
 

Third: The Paint!

Not only are these fun, they are easy to clean up.

The toilet tubes will slide nice and tight onto the PVC pipe if you've sized it correctly (a quick suggestion is to actually take a sample of your toilet paper tubes when you buy it to make sure they fit because there is a little variance among brands) and you now have a custom designed texture roller. Most craft paint, acrylic, or tempera paint will work just fine with these. Spread the paint in a thin layer and roll the pipe several times until it is covered evenly. Roll onto paper in any combinations, designs, and colors you want! If you roll them by hand, you will get messy and while I think that's half the fun I have an alternative: Slide a medium-thick dowel through the PVC pipe to act as a handle.

Fourth: The Final Project!

Voila! Beautiful!

What I love about projects like this is that you can connect it to so many other areas. You could talk about positive and negative when you cut shapes from foam, you could discuss repetition and patterns, you could make it seasonal by using themed shapes, etc. 

What have you used toilet paper rolls for? I am SURE I can't be the only aficionado...