Upcycle Designs and Instructions
Grades: 3-5
Upcycle Designs
In this project, students use reclaimed items to design something useful and beautiful. After crafting their creations, they create step-by-step books to teach others how to create it too.
Engage
Recycling reuses materials. Upcycling turns what would become waste into something new and valuable.
Share upcycling examples like turning old T-shirts into tote bags or using plastic bottles to create planters.
Start by creating upcycled designs.
Have students collect items from home or school that can be used to create upcycled designs, such as:
Give students time to transform the collected materials into something new. Throughout the process, hold gallery walks, where students can look at designs, in progress and complete, and chat with other student designers. .
Create How-to Instructions
Have students translate their creation process into a step-by-step digital how-to book. Assign a blank book and ask students to combines text, audio, video, and animated instructions that make it easy for others to create successful products too.
Share
Host an upcycling design event for families and community members. Students can host a space that showcase their design and provides printed instructions participants can use to make their own objects with materials provided onsite or when they return home.
Export student work to video or embed on a web site for continued sharing and upcycling promotion long into the future.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
National Core Art Standards - Creating
Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Anchor Standard #3. Refine and complete artistic work.
