With earth day approaching, an all time favorite is painting recycled mix media earth. After reading the story Dear Earth...From Your Friends in Room 5 you can invite the child or children in your classroom to create & paint the planet earth with recycled materials.
To create the recycled planet earth you can used cardboard or poster board as the base of the earth. You will need to cut it out in a circle. Gather recycled materials such as bottle caps, egg cartons, styrofoam, bubble wrap, paper rolls, popsicle sticks, coffee filters, or whatever you want to. Draw an outline of the continents and invite the children to glue the materials. Next provide tempera paint and invite the children to paint the earth.
When children paint on surfaces with a variety of textures it provides for sensory exploration, experimenting with materials, and being more observant of their technique. All the bumps, lines, textures, groves, had their paintbrushes creating so much beauty.
The beauty of this invitation is that it is collaborative. Therefore when creating together it boosts their ability to analyze and open discussion. Endless amounts of language bursts as they discuss the connections between the book and what they are creating. They talk about the difference between land and water, varying ecosystems, where they live or have traveled to, and how to recycle to save the planet.
