Happy Earth Day! Here’s some fun upcyle program ideas.
Stations:
- Duct Tape Drums (Engineering)
- Melted Crayon Molds (Science)
- Styrofoam Plate Printmaking (Art)
Supplies:
- Duct Tape Drums: balloons; cans; duct tape; washi tape; scissors; straws; poms; glue guns
- Melted Crayon Molds: broken crayons; silicone molds; mallet; plastic bags; toaster oven or microwave
- Styrofoam Plate Printmaking: paint; paint rollers; styrofoam plates; toothpicks; white cardstock/construction paper
How It Went:
Without a doubt, everyone’s favorite activity was smashing broken crayons to bits and making new ones! We followed this set of instructions. The instructions said only 10 minutes, but our crayons took closer to 15 or 20 minutes, maybe because we were using broken jumbo-sized crayons. I had to open the toaster ovens several times and stir with a toothpick. I also didn’t come up with a good system for remembering whose crayons were whose once we popped the molds into the oven. I definitely want to make melted crayons again, but I need to rework the logisitcs a bit.
While families waited for their new crayons to cook and cool, they could explore our other stations: making duct tape drums and styrofoam plate printmaking.
For a more environmentally friendly printmaking activity, next time I would skip the styrofoam and use cardboard instead to make multi-textured collagraphs.
Storytime in the Stacks 