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Trash to Treasure
Here at Abacus, we take pride in the fact that we recycle and repurpose materials as much as possible. I decided to take a simple item that is usually thrown away and see how many different creations we could come up with to make. I chose to use egg cartons. Some of the activities I did were researched on the internet, some were created by my imagination, and others were ideas from the tamariki. Our planning currently involves learning about living things.
We used the cartons first to create creepy crawlies; spiders when it was close to Halloween, and then bees when or tamariki had and excursion to Huka Honey Hive. I have also made caterpillars with them as an extension of reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". These creatures were made with paint, googly eyes, construction paper, and pipe cleaners. Another time, I was teaching the boys and girls about Frida Kahlo as part of the art history lessons I enjoy teaching.
After learning a bit about her history and showing the tamriki her paintings, we made floral headpieces from egg cartons like the ones she often painted in her self portraits. After the paint dried on the carton pieces, we used hot glue guns to glue flowers and leaves on the cartons. A hole puncher and yarn secured them to be worn.
One day I planned a theme pirate day. As an introduction to amp up the children, I decided to let the children make pirate ships out of egg cartons. We used the base of the carton for the ship and then added skewers to pierce the construction paper through for the sails. They then decorated them with pirate stickers, and Ahoy they were off to sail their ships!
Besides using the egg cartons for art activities, they can be painted with colours and used by the children to sort objects by colour. They could also be used for counting and making patterns. The children enjoy painting them and making their own creations with them too.
As you can see the possibilities are endless. It is a great way to extend their budding imaginations. The simple egg carton can inspire a plethora of learning outcomes. Creativity, imagination, maths, and fine motor skills can all be developed as they play. So next time you go to throw something away, think outside the "box" and maybe turn your rubbish in to treasure!