Upcycle Art for Preschoolers

Our second day of our Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle unit study, focused on the concept "reuse". Creating with recyclables is so much fun for kids, and Mother Goose Time didn't disappoint with their Create activity of the day. 

Bentley was provided with the Inspiration Photo which was a picture of a man made out of trash. There were all different kinds of recycled items that went into making this creation, and I used this opportunity for one of the discussion prompts given in the Teacher Guide: "What materials were mae to use the art in the photo?" Bentley had a good time pointing out the different objects that he could see. 

Next I provided him with the included supplies: yarn, wax sticks (these were almost identical to Wiki Stix which we love!!), and a souffle cup. (I also gave him glue, tape, and scissors). I asked him another prompt question, "What kind of art will you make?" And also "What kind of supplies do you need to create your design?" Bentley told me he was going to make "a guy", and got to work taping wax stick arms onto the souffle cup and filling his head with a "yarn brain". 

"Look Mama, I made an S!" He had so much fun playing with these wax sticks and forming them into shapes. He made some squiggles to add to his souffle cup person's head for hair. 

His upcycled art turned out to be very abstract! He was a little disappointed that we didn't have more of the trash that the upcycled person did in the Inspiration Photo, but his love for the wax sticks and the versatility of them took his mind off of it. This activity is so versatile, because you could honestly provide any kind of upcycled item - aluminum foil, buttons, toilet paper rolls, pouch caps, etc. 

When he was done, I asked the last prompt question, "What does your art represent?" He was quick to tell me that it was "a guy with long twisty arms and a brain that is spilling out!" We talked about how important it is to reuse items that we have on hand, and that repurposing things was good for our Earth. He was really receptive to it, and I think that activity really drove home the concept of reusing and upcycling. 

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As a Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador, I receive Mother Goose Time curriculum in exchange for my honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. All opinions/thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by others.

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