Painted Oatmeal Containers

We eat a lot of oatmeal in my house. We have it hot in the winter, I make my own muesli for the warmer months, and we love oatmeal raisin cookies. The wonderful cardboard containers with plastic lids that the oatmeal comes in are begging to be turned into small storage units to be used in the kitchen or for whatever odds 'n ends that accumulate at your house.

The paper label easily strips off the oatmeal box. I layered on acrylic paint in comlimentary colors with small stiff brushes overlaying the colors. When dry, I added a shiny coat of water-based acrylic to strengthen the carboard and give it a polished look. Very easy and fun for the kids. I haven't quite decided on how I will use them, but I always enjoying being able to recycle material rather than throw it in the trash.

Masks with Kids

Constructing with unusual materials is a way of thinking creatively about making a face. I assembled a collection of odds and ends to pick from including tassels, glass stones, buttons, pipe cleaners, clothes pins, and spools. The fun comes in when you move the objects around to create different facial expressions, a tilt of the eyebrow changes everything. The face is cut from cardboard and wooden dowels are attached at the end to make the mask hand-held. White glue is used to attach the objects.

Robots

This little robot was made with odds and ends that I happened to have on hand. The body is a small jewelry box that I covered with foil. The legs are made from a folded strip of aluminum tape. The fun part is searching through things on the work bench or tucked in a drawer that you don't want to toss in a landfill, but don't really have any use for. It's my upcycled, junk robot.