We had over 400 flowers made by each of our students out of plastic water bottles that we attached to a wooden frame with chicken wire. We ended up with 3 panels that were 65″ x 31″ x 2-1/2″. We ran white lights behind them which lit them up beautifully!

We were inspired by an Anthropologie display and the artist Nick Cave Nick Cave Sound Suits which had a wonderful exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

Supplies Needed:
Enough plastic water bottles for each student, plus a few extra. It worked best to have them precut for grades K-3. But have some that are not cut available for the few kids in 2nd & 3rd who may want to try cutting out their own design. Variety of supplies for your sculpture is ideal. We found that on their own some of the flowers weren’t that beautiful but when put together they were gorgeous!

• Torn up Tissue Paper, Paper collage Material such as comics, Papers important to the kids such as copies of poems, books they like, drawings on paper to be used in collage.

• Experiment with paints that would adhere to plastic

• Sharpies (work well for younger grades)

• Modge Podge

• Paint Brushes

• Spray Paint (for older grades)

Objective:

• Students will see how recycled objects can be transformed into art and used in a collaborative art piece .

• Depending on the grade level students can be introduced to some interesting facts about plastic water bottles and environmental issues.

• Students will learn about how many differnt artists use recycled materials and turn it into art

• Kids will be inspired  to use recycled materials they find at home to come up with their own creations

Preparation required:

K-3: Pre-cut the flowers out of the bottles. I’d recommend drawing a template on for the 4th & 5th graders since we only have 1 bottle per child.

I started out first showing the kids a plastic water bottle and we talked about the possibilities of what we could make out of it

Put paper/or newspaper down to cover desks as modge podge is difficult to clean up

Encourage the kids to tear paper and arrange the design before they start in with the modge podge

Do a demo and encourage them to get every scrap of paper wet

Facts about Plastic Water Bottles (from http://www.earth911.com)

Here are some interesting facts and statistics about plastic bottles:

5.1 billion: Amount, in pounds, of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars available in the U.S. for recycling in 2009.

2,456 million: Amount, in pounds, of plastic bottles recycled in 2009, making it a record high.

2/3: The amount of energy that is saved when producing new plastic products from recycled materials instead of raw (virgin) materials. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Six: The number of hours that the energy conserved from recycling a single plastic bottle can light a 60-watt light bulb.

Docent: Angela Fleet angelafleet@me.com