Preschoolers Make Art Out of Trash

on June 1, 2009 at 4:48 PM

preschoolers make art out of trash The New York Times reports that preschoolers at Beginnings Nursery School in New York use recycled objects, found items, odds and ends, and trash to make art projects. Anything's game here...bottle caps, old vinyl records, dental X-Rays, you name it! What a great way to teach kids to think creatively about art and recycling!

According to the article, the objects are brought to the school's Materials Center where they are cleaned, sorted, and re-purposed for students' art projects and lessons. Teachers can stop by any time of day and take back to their classes whatever they think would be useful in their lessons.

Recent class projects include a fleet of boats that a class of 4- and 5-year-olds made from a bunch of wine corks, as well as a hand puppets made from recycled items.

What do you think of this idea? Does your school ever teach about how important it is to reuse objects?

About the author Kim Conte

has shoes that make people stop her on the street and ask "Where did you get those?" but it doesn't work for taxi cabs as she was hit by one ... and lived to tell the tale. She has more freckles than Lohan but way less attitude. And she's a fierce cook with tons of recipes to share -- and wishes she could share some with Bourdain.

Filed Under: activities, nursery school

Comments (5)

ethans_momma06

on Jun 1, 2009 at 6:02 PM

My DS hasn't started school yet :( but we already have bunches of fun with recycled materials! This week we tackle our hoard of shoe boxes and a few egg cartons!

Nothing like reusing, especially in THIS economy ;D

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justgrape723

on Jun 1, 2009 at 7:36 PM

I have always reused items to make new things with my kids. Just like my mother did with us

Mamaroonie

on Jun 1, 2009 at 8:33 PM

sounds awesome!!!

Blubuni99

on Jun 2, 2009 at 1:36 AM

Oh I bought my daughters some Pocky and it came in a plastic container. My 5yo ate all of hers and then cleaned it and decorated it for me for Mothers Day. She put a baby picture of herself, some crayon shavings, a "1" (because I'm the number one mom - lol!) and "mom" and her name everywhere. LOL, I love it. She recycled and I have a pretty little plastic... gift. :-D