Creating a collage with bottle caps

We had a large collection of plastic bottle tops of all sizes and colours which we thought would fit nicely into our shapes around us theme.

Materials needed:
Plastic bottle tops
Thick cardboard or some other flat surface e.g. corkboard squares, the lid of a box...
2 sided tape (glue did not work very well)
Scissors - child safe ( or you could pre cut 2 sided tape in small widths to fit on back of bottle tops.)
Activity:
Children -

• choose their plastic bottle tops
• peel backing off 1 side of tape and place it on back of bottle top
• peel backing off other side of tape and press it onto thick cardboard
• create an amazinc, colourful collage of circles

A finished creation

Look what other amazing creations from plastic caps we found:

Necklace of bottle caps

Music stick
at picklebums.com

Colour sorting and stacking

Lulu dot upcycles London’s waste into lasting beauty.
This is Captivative lamp, made from plastic bottle tops.

Paper cylinders and bottle caps could make many things...
Here at Learning 4 Kids they are turned into a stand up alphabet.

We have linked to Child Central Station which also has some more ideas for using plastic bottle tops and other recyclables in their What Would You Do With It? series.

Bottlecap Little Bottlecap: Four Art Projects for Children, Families, Schools and Non-Profits Utilizing Recycled Plastic Bottlecaps by Michelle Stitzlein 30 page e book. Four art projects using recycled, plastic bottle caps. Teachers and parents will enjoy this whimsical, colourful booklet that includes supply lists, step-by-step instructions and photographs for Lollipop Flower Lawn Ornaments, Polka Garden Installations, Cap-By-Number Murals and Mod Magnets for the fridge.

Bottle Cap Activities by Cathy Cisneros

From simple to sophisticated crafts, these innovatively creative projects are made of non-recyclable plastic bottlecaps. These free materials, when re-used into ingenious craft projects, are kept out of landfills and thus reduce pollution, which makes them a great lead-in for environmental science lessons -- or just for fun!  Activities include Bottlecap Barnyard, Bottlecap Band, a calendar of seasonal bottlecap crafts, and a variety of other fun environmental crafts.

Show More

Show Less

Would you like to join our blog carnival?

The Word for Wednesday is ACTIVE.

It is easy to join the blog carnival?
Simply add a link to your post, about an active play idea for children, in ''Çomments".
The ideas will be included in a roundup in March. This time we are giving a prize - some books which will be suitable for early childhood to one lucky person who joins in and also "follows"this site.
You have until Wednesday March 7 to submit.
ac·tive
adjective
1. engaged in action; characterized by energetic work, participation, etc.; busy: an active life.
2. involving physical effort and action: active sports.
3. having the power of quick motion; nimble: active as a gazelle.
4. characterized by action, motion, volume, use, participation, etc.: an active group of toddlers.

 /ˈæktɪv/ Show S

Previous months Word for Wednesday contributors can be seen here.

It's 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing you a playful year

Why we love finger painting

See the full article and full photograph

at Play - Based classroom.

Spray painting extended

More ideas for spray bottle painting:

1.  Use masking tape and paper shapes to mask the blank paper. When the spraying is finished remove the   
     masked area to reveal a blank shape.
2.  Use leaves to mask the paper in autumn, bell shape at christmas, eggs at easter etc
3.  Tape the paper on a table or on the floor
4.  Use 1 giant piece of paper for a group painting
5.  Fill the bottles with plain water on a sunny day to spray the outside walls and fences and blackboards etc.

Spray painting

Spray painting can be a fine spray or a thick splatter depending on the nozzle on the bottle and the type of paint you use.

The trigger kind of bottle works best for small hands.

Starting with one colour works best so that children can focus on getting the hand action right

Using water colour paper with texture absorbs the ink and looks great with a fine spray.

Placing the painting on a cardboard mat, or 2, turns it into a great artwork, very suitable for a gift.

Outdoors

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

John Muir

What are these children doing?

Go to Bowerbird Blue to find out about this fascinating outdoor activity.



What a lovely day at the beach.
More eco friendly outdoor fun at earth sky sea child

An Australian Picture Book about being outdoors in the desert at night.

Beautiful insects to investigate in the garden at images of interest

Chalk drawing at Today at Play

Call back in next Wednesday when the word will be ACTIVE



WORD FOR WEDNESDAY

The first Word for Wednesday was Imagination and my favourite was from Bowerbird Blue  Imagination and Goodbye Holidays at Bowerbird Blue
                         

What will be today's word?                    OUTDOORS

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."  John Muir, 1913

MEANING: out·doors   taking place, existing, or intended for use in the open air out·doors  (out-dôrz, -drz) also out-of-doors (outv-dôrz, -drz)

adv. In or into the open; outside: walking outdoors for fresh air.

n.

1. The open air.

2. An area away from human settlements.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Noun

1.

outdoors - where the air is unconfined; "he wanted to get outdoors a little"; "the concert was held in the open air"; "camping in the open" open air, out-of-doors, open exterior, outside - the region that is outside of something

If you would like to join in please post your outdoor play post's url in the comments and it will be added to this post. Simple?

Self directed play

Today as I filled up the small pool with water I knew it would be the focus of the day's activities. It was simple: there was water in a gigantic container, plastic frogs, pieces of bark and some sponges, cut to be lily pads. This had all begun as last week one of the children had brought in tadpoles and frogs for the nature table.

So my concept was a frog pond.

What happened was amazing: some children jumped the frogs into the pool, some used the sponges to start cleaning the pond and then all the other equipment outside; 2 boys started filling a plastic container with the water; another emptied the bubble blowing solution into the "pond"; bubbly water became a creek flowing down the playground; water was put in the back of the plastic bike which was then transformed into another frog pond.  Open ended play, lateral thinking and creativity abounded, the children were busy, engaged and active and very wet. Luckily it was beautiful sunny day.

The teachers observed from afar without offering any guidance or support; the children had freedom to make choices and learn from their mistakes; they made their own rules and established their own boundaries. The activity only stopped as it was morning tea time. Everyone had joined in and everyone was very happy.

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

Photo credit of sensory table is Kids and Baby Design Ideas

Making instruments

The wonderful thing about creating instruments is that you can use them to make sounds and sing and dance along.

Making a HORN is quick and simple.

Use a cardboard cylinder of any length.
It can be painted before hand, decorated with markers, stickers and streamers or wrapped in colourful paper glued on or left plain.

Put a small piece of wax paper over one end.

Secure the wax paper with tape.

Make three holes down the cylinder with a pen.

Blow into the uncovered end of the cylinder to create a sound.