Arboretum Summer Nature Camp 2014: Week 3 : "How the Earth Recycles"

This week's art lessons were all about recycling, repurposing and conservation. Our campers LOVED personalizing their very own canvas tote bags!

NO MORE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS FOR US!!!

Sorting through recycled images for collages during art. Sometimes we just have to spread out on the floor to get some real work done!

I told the kids that my favorite collages combine characters and environments that don't quite go together. We talked about playing with image scale and creating humor in our collages. I love the way this one turned out!

Having so much fun, this little camper couldn't stop at just one!

During this lesson, I explained to campers how important it is to REPURPOSE materials in our art-making. I've been collecting plastic milk + juice jugs for at least 9 months for this project and with the help of our amazing head counselor Holly, we drilled holes in the caps and primed the jugs with gesso so our paint would adhere. I was absolutely thrilled to see the beautiful results.

UPCYCLED WATERING CANS!!!

We also tried out a new weaving project using paper plates as our looms. While the process is simple, it was a bit challenging to verbalize to the group so I recruited some older campers to help. I demonstrated the process to this smaller group of eager assistants and they fell in love! They took the younger campers under their wings and in no time we were all creating beautiful wheels of woven color!