Earth Day Recycled City

In honor of Earth Day gather a few items from the recycling bin and create art!

Our activity is a great companion to Judith’s Viorst’s book Alexander, Who’s Not (Do You Hear Me?  I Mean It!)  Going to Move. You can read the book with your children and then use your recycled materials to create Alexander’s new community and what he may find there.

Items like empty juice or milk cartons (rinsed and dried) make great houses, while cereal boxes and other smaller boxes make great buildings and vehicles.  Get creative with your shapes and forms.  You can start by applying gesso or primer to your cartons to give them a fresh, clean surface.  You can then add color with watercolor paints, or grab some old magazines and decoupage pictures from the pages. Scraps of fabric and construction paper add interesting touches too.  Your kids can even recreate a few things from their own neighborhood, like a favorite park.

Have fun and feel good about doing your part on Earth Day!