Reuse Leftover Paintings

It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended purpose.

The other day I walked into my classroom and saw some painting that had been left in the room. Children left the paintings to dry and forgot to come back and get them. 

Seeing these paintings reminded me of a way we reused a painting a few years ago. We had painted a group painting. It became quite the abstract picture. We hung the painting (after drying) in our room to admire.

After a few weeks, I took the painting down. I didn't want to just toss it. So I put on my repurposing hat. I punched out circles and cut other shapes and put those shapes out with paper and glue. Children could make collages with the "painted" pieces.

When I looked through the collage box the other day, I found a group of these shapes, ready for more kids to use. 

I thought about Eric Carle, the children's book author and illustrator. He creates different textured papers. He cuts shapes and glues them onto other paper to create his illustrations. What a fun thing for children to do, too!

Whether you make painted paper for collages on purpose or just have leftover paintings from other art exploration, look for ways to repurpose and incorporate those paintings into other learning explorations. You may be helping influence the Eric Carles of the future!