1. Get a big bin (you can get one from the dollar store ;) ) and instruct your students to save all of their paper scraps. Use these scraps for classroom projects and art activities. You would be amazed at what my children can come up with! For Dr. Suess Week, my students came up with the cutest "Wockets in their Pockets!" I will post pictures of their creations soon!
You can also implement the scraps as part of a center. I have a center called the "Creation Station." My students are allowed to make anything they want (sometimes with prompts or specific directions) using the scraps. They follow up this activity with a creative writing piece or a how-to writing that describes how to make the item the student created. My students absolutely love this and it truly is a great way to recycle!
2. I have been known to eat TV dinners on occasion (ha!) and absolutely hated throwing out the plastic trays the food came in. Now, I recycle and reuse the plastic trays by using them as paint holders or small bins to place crayons/other materials. These trays are wonderful for holding paint! They are deep enough to prevent splashing even with kindergarten students! If you are feeling especially adventurous, you may even use the trays in your "Creation Station."
3. For Earth Day, a parent gave me the cutest art project idea on how to reuse tin cans and other various items to make "tin people." These tin people were a huge success! My students were so creative. They used pipe cleaners and steel wool for hair, the tin can for the body, a nail for the nose, scrap metal for the mouth, and soda bottle tops for the eyes! I even had cans with mohawks! All you need to do is have a parent donate adhesive magnets. Simply cut the magnets to fit the back of the bottle tops, nails, scrap metals, washers, etc. This allows the tin people to be customizable! The students enjoyed scrambling the faces and rearranging them! I also found it helpful to use a hot glue gun to eventually glue down most of the pieces for the students. I am a kindergarten teacher, and my young students can get frustrated if the pieces do not stay on! My students all went home and proudly displayed these eco friendly toys in their bedrooms!
Check out some of the tin people my students made! This was truly a great Earth Day project. I must thank the parent for her wonderful money saving ideas and her recycling nature! I hope these simple ideas will help you save money and live frugally as a teacher! ** I cropped each student's face out of the pictures to protect his/her identity**
Here's the mohawk tin person!
Alien tin! My kids came up with all of these ideas on their own! I know...I know... I am proud of my little children!
A Tin Girl!
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