Leftovers

Happy Thanksgiving (well, day after)! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended purpose. Repurposing, reusing, and recycling are important for the world and are great ways to have fun resources for little or no cost.

Since it's the day after Thanksgiving, I'm thinking about leftovers. Do you ever have leftovers in your classroom? What can you do with things left over? Here are a few ideas.

I had leftover white paper scraps. I had cut paper into shapes for an activity and just couldn't toss the pieces away. So I dropped them into a ziplock bag and kept them. Several months later, I put the odd-shaped paper out with tape, stickers, and manila paper. Kids had a great time taping and creating.

We did a group painting. The abstract art hung in our room for a while. Then I punched out circles and cut triangles and we used it in our collage art. I still have pieces of that painting in my collage box. This is a great way to use old paintings or drawings that are ready to go. Don't toss them; cut them up! (The collage box is a great place for all kinds of leftovers from art explorations.)

We made books one day. (Just strips of manila paper stapled together on one end.) We had several leftover blank books, so I tossed them in our writing box. Those books appear occasionally; one just appeared this week. I often toss different paper leftovers into the writing box for kids to use. I also use leftover notepads or other odds and ends into the writing box. Kids love to write on all kinds of things.

Of course, we have a basket that always stays out in the kindergarten classroom. Paper scraps go there all the time. The paper will just stay there for a long time, waiting for the right time and the right use. Kids use those leftovers for all kinds of things.

What do you do with your leftovers?