February - Recycled Machine Sculptures

From Briargrove Elementary Art Page

Materials

hot glue guns

masking tape

recycled materials: plastic and tin containers, bottle caps, soda tabs, cardboard, egg cartons, beads, and all sorts of odd pieces of plastic, etc

acrylic paint

brushes

You are open to choosing a theme for this project. Some suggestions are:

- Work it into one of the 5th grade reading books “The Cay” Have students imagine they are on a deserted island. What would they “invent”

- suggest that each machine can be designed to help solve a particular environmental issue! You can start by talking about current and future environmental concerns and threats. Students discuss what they know about various types of pollution, energy and natural resource conservation, endangered species, animal displacement, global warming, and many other issues.

- Discuss inventions, the process of developing new technology, and the interwoven relationship between artists and scientists. Review simple machines, and discuss real-life applications of these machines. Lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, wedge, pulley.

The challenge with this project will be finishing in an hour. Maybe the teacher will allow time for discussion and planning during class time.

Process:

1. If you have time have students create a preliminary design. Have students brainstorm different ways that the machines could work. Then, they sketched out an idea for their machine. The students should not limit their imaginations to totally "realistic" designs. Without a creative mind, nothing would ever change, right? Machines can do quite impossible things - like take trash and turn it into new trees. Or take trash and turn it into furniture, or artificial habitats, or building supplies.

2. Give students a variety of collected materials - plastic and tin containers, bottle caps, soda tabs, cardboard, egg cartons, beads, and all sorts of odd pieces of plastic, etc.

3. They can use hot glue to join their designs together securely. On a safety note - students need to be WELL educated as to the proper (and safe) way to use a hot glue gun, and WELL warned about the consequences of any misbehavior while hot glue guns were being used in the room!

4. To finalize their sculpture, the students used acrylic paint. I had the students first paint a base coat to fully cover their materials (unless they wanted to leave it unfinished.) Then, students added design elements, patterns and details on top. It was very important to make sure to wait in between coats of paint so that the colors didn't mix or get muddy.