Golf Ball Painting

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

We love to paint in my classroom. And we love to paint with all kinds of things besides brushes. Last summer, in our Art Camp, we painted with golf balls...on a canvas...and made lasting wall art.

First, tape pieces of cardboard around the canvas. The cardboard should extend a few inches above the canvas surface, to keep the balls from rolling off and away. If you have a box that is the same size as your canvas, just nestle the canvas in it. I didn't have that, so we taped pieces to create our own "box."

Pour paint into shallow containers. Roll the balls in the paint and use a spoon to transfer the coated golf balls onto the canvas. Then children can pick up the box and rotate it back and forth to move the balls around the canvas. If the canvas is large, children can stand on either end of the canvas and work together to move the balls. (Check out the process in this post.)

Adding layers and layers of paint creates a really interesting design. The paint we used was a little thick, so the golf balls created interesting texture in addition to the colored designs. We passed our masterpiece on to a special leader to hang in her office. Or you could give the painting away as a door prize or as part of a fundraiser.

Or hang the masterpiece in your classroom to showcase the talents of your artists.

Visit my Dollar Store and Dumpster Pinterest Board and my blog for more repurposing ideas.

Changable Sign Posts

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

This particular idea came from my wife. (Did I marry the right person or what?) I came into the room one day and found these.

Sign posts for our the blocks center! When we've used our logos before, we've taped them to blocks or cardboard tubes. That still works great. But Cindy wanted something else.

She got plastic lids, wide craft sticks, and clothespins. She made a slit in the lid and inserted the craft stick. Using hot glue, she secured the stick and then glued the clothespin to the other end of the stick. Presto! Sign posts that can be changed as we see fit.

Our boys really enjoyed using these signs. They built and incorporated the signs in their construction. They read the signs, at least some of them. 

They added them to what they built. Then they built specific structures for the signs. (And sometimes they built and ignored the signs. That's okay, too!)

I think these sign posts could be really useful in other ways. In addition to using them for street signs or other block play, here are some ideas I had.

• Clip on words cards for kids to read or write or spell with letter tiles.
• Clip on letters for kids to rearrange to spell their names.
• Add cards with numbers and kids could count out quantities. 
• Clip on sorting categories and kids could place items or pictures under the appropriate signs.
• Add statements or key words in different centers or other activities.
• Clip on instructions for a recipe or science experiment.
• Use name cards for place settings or other dramatic play in the home center.

I love repurpose ideas and these are a great addition to our collection of resources. Thanks, Cindy!!

Homemade Ball Maze Game

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

Recently we made some ball maze games for our preschoolers to use. These games are great for developing hand-eye coordination and for helping kids gain more control over their movements. Plus they are just fun to use!

What you need: cardboard tubes, plastic trays or shallow boxes, tape, large marbles or small balls

Cut your cardboard tubes to shorter lengths. Tape the tubes to the tray, leaving space between the tubes for the ball to roll. We used clear tape and taped through the tubes. You could also tape over the tubes with decorative tape or clear tape.

Kids can hold the sides of the tray and move it around to make the ball roll, trying to get the ball to roll through the tubes.

If you use larger trays/boxes and tubes, you can create a game that kids can use with partners. Add table tennis balls instead of small balls to this larger game.

If you want to add more elements to your game, print letters or numbers on the tubes. Challenge kids to roll through specific tubes. If you are using numbers on the tubes, roll a numbered cube and then try to get the ball through that numeral tube and not through in other tubes.

Adjust the game to fit whatever you want to emphasize. Or keep the game as a motor development activity. Since we had a space theme for these activities, we used balls that looked like planets and called them orbit trays. And our fun was out of this world! (Sorry I couldn't resist.)

Art Outside

Hi! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended use. Today I'm thinking about repurposing things for art outside.
Here are some fun outdoor art experiences that we did last summer. I'm thinking it's time to try some of these again.

Flyswatter Painting

Buy plastic flyswatters from the dollar store. Pour paint into shallow containers or dishpans. Dip flyswatters in paint and hit the paper.

We hung the paper on our playground fence. Kids enjoyed hitting the paper. I would advise having several stations for this activity. And it can be messy, so make sure kids are wearing appropriate clothes and stand back when not painting.


Spray Bottle Painting

Fill plastic spray bottles with liquid watercolor and spray away. You can also color water with food color and use that, but the color isn't as vivid.

Make sure the bottles are filled with paint. Bring more to refill the bottles. Our kids loved this and wanted more.


Draw with Chalk and Spray Water

Drawing with chalk on sidewalks or parking lots is a favorite outdoor activity. Bring spray bottles with water, buckets of water, and large paintbrushes. Using these can make the drawings "disappear."

Children enjoyed exploring the different types of activities - drawing, spraying, brushing. Choose an area that will get rain or can be easily sprayed off with a hose. We drew on a covered area and it took a while for the "evidence" to disappear.


Plastic Cups and Fence Sculpture

Repurpose plastic cups of various colors. (Mine were again from the dollar store.) Kids can insert the cups in a fence to create a sculpture or overall pattern. Our kids really enjoyed this different activity. It looked like an art installation after we were finished. I liked the "come and go" nature of this activity. Kids would place one or two cups and then leave; later they would come back and add another one. Other kids would play on the playground for a while and then try the art. And others stayed with the art for a longer while.

Make sure you try the cups in the fence before using with the children. Our cups were just a little too big. Some children had difficulty making them work. (But the crushed sides added some different elements to the sculpture, too.)

Art belongs outside as well as inside. What art experiences have taken you into the great outdoors? What have you repurposed for this outside art?

Straws in the Blocks Center

Hi! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose items and use them in different ways in the preschool classroom.

Sometimes I get things without any particular idea of what I'm going to do with it. (After all, I have those great thinkers in my classroom!) One day in the grocery store, I saw packets of neon straws. I tossed a pack into my cart and took them to my classroom.

I decided to put the straws in the blocks center. My group likes to build and I want to give them some different things to work with. We were talking about wells, so I also added a couple of small buckets with yarn attached. (In the past, kids have built wells and pretended to scoop out water.)

A couple of boys decided to use the straws as "water." They stuffed the straws into the buckets and transported them across the center. They dumped the "water" onto the picture of the well, I think to fill it up. The boys worked at this for a while.

Meanwhile, in another part of the center, one of my builders was at work creating a large structure.

After the others left, the builder completed his building and began to scoop and play with the straws.

Then he decided to incorporate the straws in his structure.

I love how each straw is strategically placed. He worked really hard to find just the right spot in his structure.

I enjoy exploring and experimenting just like my kids. Sometimes I'll put things out and they will be ignored. Sometimes the kids do things that I expect. And sometimes I get a block structure filled with straws. And if I put these same materials out with a different group of kids, I'll get a different result.

That's what's great about the early childhood years. Children are exploring the things they want to know more about or things they wonder. And, with a tiny push like a new material or a different idea, they explore into really great areas.

What experiments and explorations are you seeing in your classrooms?

Count on It (or Rather With It)

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

Counting and developing a concept of number and quantity is important for this age group. You can purchase all kinds of counters - those small manipulative objects to use for creating quantities. But you can also repurpose things you already have in great counting and number games. Here are just a few things we've used for counters.

Rocks, floral marbles, gems, etc.

These make great items to count or group into quantities.

Check in the floral section of a craft store for different colors and sizes of floral marbles. (We also used them another counting game.)

Lids
We saved lids from plastic bottles and use those as counters, too. Ask parents to help collect lids. (Save the plastic bottles, too, for other fun repurposing.)

Cubes
I found a collection of foam cubes at the discount area of a local store. Check dollar stores for these or other small objects to count. You can also use numbered cubes from games or small wooden cubes from the craft store.

And we like to mix it up when we count, stacking various objects together. This activity becomes part math, part construction, and part art. (Plus we can make bigger quantities by doubling up on the squares. More math play!)

Small Toys
We have used animal figures, cars, and other small toys to count or make quantities. Change up what you use for thematic play.

Pompoms
We use pompoms for all kinds of things but they are great for counting and number games. Change up the colors for more fun.

You can also use small erasers, old game pieces, checkers...anything that is small and plentiful. You will need a good quantity of whatever you use so kids will enjoy creating groups or counting specific quantities.

Look through your classroom or storage area. What could you use to "spice up" your math play?

Instant Songs for Your Classroom

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

Today let's think of a different type of repurposing - repurposing or recycling tunes.

Early in my teaching journey, I learned that I could take a song or tune that I knew, adjust the words to fit what was happening, and I had an instant song that was relevant (and that I could probably remember). I knew lots of children's songs and traditional songs: "The Farmer in the Dell," "Happy Birthday," "London Bridge," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and so forth. 

Repurpose the tune with new words and a new song was born. And remember, no need to create lots of words; just repeat ones that fit. Kids love repetition and they will learn your "new" songs more quickly, too.

Since it's Thanksgiving week, let's create an instant thank-you song.

Thank You Song

Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

"Thank you for my family, Mommy, Daddy, and there's me,

We work and we play each day, We work and we play each day,

Thank you for my family, I love them and they love me."

Adjust the words as you choose. Ask the children to name things they do in their families and work those ideas into your song. Or change family to other things that children are grateful for (friends, teacher, food, whatever.) Repurposed songs can be versatile!

And Christmas is coming, so here's an instant song about Christmas.

A Happy Time

Tune: "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

"Christmas is a happy time, Happy time, happy time,

Christmas is a happy time, We decorate our tree."

Add other things that children do at Christmas time. Or change the song to reflect whatever holiday or celebration that your children celebrate.

A few tips:

• Choose songs/tunes that are familiar to you. Songs that have simple, repetitive melodies are best. They can be familiar to your children or not. The kids will pick up the tunes quickly.
• If you have a song that you use regularly in your classroom, change up the words. It makes the song new and uses something already familiar to connect with new ideas or content.
• Make sure the words you choose fit the rhythms and notes. Sometimes I try to use too many words for the tune. While some of these tunes will adjust a little more easily, I often just reword or find a new tune to make the blend easier.
• Don't worry about rhymes. If your new lyrics rhyme, that's fine. If they don't, that's fine too. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Don't force it. Just sing the words you need, even if they do not rhyme.
• Have fun with your new songs and don't sweat it! 
• Sing, even if you don't think you are a singer. Kids love music and will enjoy one of their favorite adults singing with them.

So...go make some music this holiday season. Music that you have repurposed and recreated yourself!

(What songs or tunes have you repurposed or recycled? Share them with us in the comments.)

DIY Feel Box

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

I like easy ideas...and ideas that are little cost. That's why I love this feel box.

You need an oatmeal box and a large NEW men's athletic sock. Slide the sock over the oatmeal box = and the feel box is ready.

Put in anything that you want kids to feel--small toys, nature items, magnet shapes, anything.

Kids reach in through the sock and feel the items. They can easily pull them out.

This is a great activity for all ages of kids. I've used it with one-year-old toddlers and kindergartners. With younger kids, I just put in 1 or 2 items. With kindergartners, put in several items and lay similar items beside the box. 

They can feel one of the items they can see and then find items that feel the same inside the box. 

Another advantage - no cheating! Kids cannot see inside the box, even when they reach inside it.

I like this activity. The box is recycled and the sock can be purchased at the dollar store. The items that go in the box are things you already have. Easy. Little cost. 

And fun!  

The Art of Synergy - how to create a sense of community

THE ART OF SYNERGY

Modeling how to create community for our next generation

Children!  

Our greatest global resource

Hi, it's Enrique from the Global Learning Foundation and the Sam the Ant team.  It's always exciting to share an idea and some strategies with you every month.  There are so many great ideas on this collaborative blog.  A simple one that I loved was Scott from Brick by Brick with his blog this past September titled Drawing on Mirrors.  I love how fundamental this particular strategy is because it allows the teacher/guide to create all sorts of learning opportunities.  It's open ended and that leads to questions, which can lead to inspiration, which leads to striving...

which leads to synergy!

What is synergy?

What does synergy look like?

Learning Guide and Learners co-discovering with young learners
being treated like co-creators, co-researchers and co-scientists.

John Coltrane and Miles Davis creating musical synergy in 1958

Synergy can be achieved in any moment and once
achieved it can be built upon, studied, practiced and elevated.

Synergy is not just any one moment, but a set of ongoing
moments which can culminate in the creation of something
physical, as is the case with this garden.

Synergy can built within families and friends.  The creation
of synergy in community is of critical importance to our
planet. This set of family and friends are in the UK.

The building of synergy can include modeling of ideas and it is important to also include opportunities for the learner to express their own desires and perspectives, as can be seen with the different levels of complexity of drawings, some by the adult, some by the young learner and some by both!

Synergy is like collaboration, but much more alive, open ended and has more energy associated with it because it involves multiple individuals or organizations not just working together, but openly exploring together.  For synergy to take place, it takes individuals and/or organizations which are truly open to creating ideas, which otherwise, would not have been possible.

Synergy can impact the effectiveness and productivity in any setting, and the setting itself can impact how comfortable we are to synergize, including the following.  We can take the time to set up any environment that fosters synergy and the settings which follow are excellent examples.

Early Childhood Classrooms

An early childhood classroom that uses both Reggio and Montessori inspired materials as provocations for the young learners who call this one of their homes.

You can learn more about the above classroom here.

Open up: Fuji Kindergarten by Tezuka Architects features an outdoor play area on its roof. | PHOTOGRAPHER: KATSUHISA KIDA/FOTOTECA; CREATIVE DIRECTOR KASHIWA SATO; LIGHTING DESIGNER: MASAHIDE KAKUDATE/MASAHIDE KAKUDATE LIGHTING ARCHITECT & ASSOCIATES,INC.

Fuji Kindergarten                                                                       (Yes, the top of this school is the roof, and yes, children are able to explore, run and interact with their surroundings)

The above kindergarten is a very effective example of a physical structure which not only invites synergy, but also ignites it! When first meeting Takaharu and Yui, the husband-and-wife team who created Fuji Kindergarten, you are immediately drawn to their playful spirit. “Our architecture is about family — everything we learn, everything we do about architecture starts with our family,” says Takaharu. The Tezukas have two young children. The architects’ motto is: “If you don’t know happiness, how can you provide it to others?” Located in Tachikawa, western Tokyo, the 750-student, three-year preschool built in 2007 is a one-story structure in the shape of a donut. The entire school feels like a playground, from the open-air central courtyard to the building’s wide circular roof. Even the interior classroom areas follow an open-school plan where partitions separate sections and all furniture is moveable. Takaharu says the goal is for “these children to be stronger and more flexible.” The idea of non-linear structures is not new, yet not used as often as they should be used.  There are plenty of linear moments in our lives as human beings.  Non-linear visual stimuli and experiences ignite a different part of our brain. The part which is connected to creativity and innovation.

K - 12 Classrooms

A Waldorf school in Seattle.  This is a physical example of synergy!

Una de las clases de la escuela infantil waldorf de Belloterra, Spain.  A classroom from an early childhood classroom in Belloterra, Spain.

For more information on this classroom, click here.

It took children’s book illustrator Maira Kalman an entire year to track down the flea-market treasures that she transformed into the alphabet at the John Randolph School, P.S. 47 in the Bronx. The stimulating space is divided into colorful reading, research, and study areas with floor graphics, mobile shelving, and easily positioned tables and chairs, including Pierre Paulin’s “Orange Slice” chair, peeking out in the background. Photo ©Peter Mauss/Esto.  

Artist rendering of open kitchen and co-located teaching kitchen for upper and
lower elementary schools, Dillwyn, Virginia

Click here for more information on this idea. 

Anne Frank Inspire Academy Middle School in San Antonio, Texas

A signature Wall composed of cross sections of local wood contains

a storage area with whiteboard doors for brainstorming sessions

Blended Rehab of a space! American International School of Utah is a great example of rehabilitated retail space. Early grades use a Montessori approach. Intermediate grades are student-centered similar to another school worth visiting — Acton Academy. The high school has big blended blocks that use a mixture of learning spaces that allow for student choice and encourage ownership. The music and drama program are exceptional (featured here).

Green School in Bali combines a rigorous K-12 core curriculum with hands-on experiential learning within a Green Studies curriculum and a Creative Arts curriculum.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BRUSSELS HIGH SCHOOL

Brussels, Belgium The International School of Brussels is an English-language international school that provides an international education to over 1500 students aged 2 ½ to 19 from 62 countries. The 40-acre secure campus lies in the Brussels commune of Watermael-Boitsfort.  As with the above examples, the physical structure is more open than most high schools, with more natural light and which impacts our minds in ways which can lead to more creative thought.  Creativity is the seeding ground for synergy.

Higher Education settings

Innovation is about to get easier, faster and more accessible at the University of Central Florida with the grand opening of four new labs known as Maker Spaces.  The above two images are examples of the creative use of space, color and light, which can all impact how quickly learners engage in synergistic activities.

Corporate settings

Google Office Spaces are designed for ignition of creativity. Synergy can become an expected part of daily activities!

BBC North Offices in England are designed with circular structures within a more traditional structure.  The color green has been shown by research as a color which invites 

both relaxation and creativity.

There are three areas, once experienced authentically over time, which lead to synergy. Inviting others to this process in an invitational way typically leads to a stronger sense of caring, community and increases the potential for synergy to arise.

THE ART OF THE QUESTION

• What kinds of questions do you tend to ask others?
• What kinds of questions do you tend to ask yourself?
• When someone asks you a questions, do you sometimes respond with a question that leads to even more conversation and thought?

As adults, we tend to ask questions for which we are hoping to hear a certain answer. This limits the response and when working with young children, we want to expand the possible responses. We all want our children to feel free and strong enough to answer authentically... and explore just as freely!

THE ART OF INSPIRATION

When we think of inspiration, we sometimes think of what inspires us. Other times we think about what inspires others. I'd like you to think about:

• What inspires others to be inspired?
• What inspires others to inspire others?

When we take the time to observe how children interact with other children, adults and even animals, we will see some wonderful examples of this. We'll also see attempts that are unsuccessful, yet in the attempt there is the "learning how to inspire and be inspired" which can most certainly take place, depending on how we, as the adult guide, position their attempt.

THE ART OF STRIVING

Paralympic Games in London

When many think of striving, we think of working hard and certainly work ethic is a key variable. I'd like you to ask yourself the following questions related to your work with children and your own circle of friends and colleagues:

• When you feel happy, what is it that prompts that feeling of happiness?
• When you achieve a goal, what is it that prompts that feeling of achievement?
• When you feel negative in some way, what is it that prompts that feeling?
• When you miss a goal, do you always feel a sense of disappointment?  Why or why not?
• What percentage of people in your life actively support your projects and your general approach to life?

From my own experience and the many years of experience in synergizing with children and colleagues, the Art of Striving is all about finding what feeds our energy tank.  When we connect to the things and people that give back positive energy, it creates a win-win scenario. This typically feels like I am going with the current of a river.... I feel like I'm going downstream, with the flow, living in the moment.... and THAT.... feels absolutely liberating. I encourage you to take some time to think about that and talk about this with your friends and colleagues.

And now a gift for all of you that will help you and your children explore The Art of the Question, The Art of Inspiration and The Art of Synergy all in the form of a children's book...for free!  Click on FREE Sam the Ant ebook and enjoy this story which embodies everything in this blog.

An example from a page of Sam the Ant - The Flood (Book 1)

Cheers!

Enrique

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Public Speaker

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Founder, Global Learning Foundation

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Co-Creator, Sam the Ant Children's Books

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Producer, Kaleidoscope, 

a new Children's Music Album

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