Recycled Art Ideas for Kids

One of the biggest initiatives in schools across the country is finding ways to increase recycling efforts. You are doing the environment a great service by getting your kids and students involved in the green movement early on in life. You can easily integrate recycled materials into art time with your kids, whether they are in a classroom or at home. Encourage the students to bring in their own recyclables, such as newspapers, plastic bottles, cans and other items.

Have the kids design papier-mâché figures using old recycled newspapers. They can be of a person, animal, cartoon character, fruit or other shape. You can help them create papier-mâché gifts around the holidays, such as Christmas (trees), Hanukkah (dreidel), St. Patrick's Day (leprechaun) and Valentine's Day (cupid). Paint the recycled figures with watercolors after they are complete.

Create a recycled painting using various recyclables, such as soda can tops, tin cans or newspapers, and paint them for decoration. Use an old unwanted table top as the mount for the painting. Be sure to show the kids that you value their recycling art efforts by displaying the painting in class or at home.

Grab some old soda cans or bottles and pipe cleaners to make a "can man." Stick the pipe cleaners in the side and bottom of the can as arms and legs, and then have the students paint and customize their own cans as they wish, including their signature somewhere. You can add a balloon or rolled-up newspaper as the head and use felt for hair. If at school, display the cans on a large table to represent the class.

Find pieces of long, thin scrap metal to turn into recycled jewelry. You can bend the metal to form bracelets, hoop earrings and necklaces. Be sure that the edges of the metal are sanded down with a handheld grinder or metal grade sandpaper first by an adult for safety.

How about a satellite dish bird bath? This is a great, innovative recycled art project, especially because many people find it difficult to dispose of their old satellite dishes, which create toxins in landfills. You can have the kids clean the dish, paint it a bright spring color (pastels and cool colors are best), and mount it to a stand for display in the school yard or in their own backyard at home.

If you have an old TV that doesn't work, consider gutting it out and having the kids create their own "television scene" inside with people, props, and backgrounds--sort of like a play. You can then keep the "TV" on display in the classroom (or the kids' play room at home).