Craft Lesson 1: Something out of Nothing: Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong

Craft Lesson 1: Something out of Nothing: Dumpster Diver by Janet Wong

Resource Material: Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong, each child will bring one “thing” from home that they view as trash.

Discussion: Everyone has heard the old saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” – well I think that this book is a perfect example of turning nothing into something. This lesson will spark the students’ creativity, and make them think outside of their normal realm. By allowing each child to bring to class something that he/she would normally throw away (ex. toilet paper rolls, empty cereal boxes etc…) we will have a conglomeration of items with which to build our masterpiece!

How to Teach It:
Today I want you all to notice the pile of stuff we have on the floor at the front of the classroom. Now most of you are thinking, EW, there is trash on the floor. But as we learned in our book, though this is trash to some, to us, it is the necessities for a masterpiece! Just like Steve, we are going to be the dumpster divers today, and build something amazing from all that we have here in front of us. We can build it as big or as small as we choose, the only stipulation is that it must serve a purpose— now this can be a REAL or a MAKE BELIEVE purpose, but it must have a function. I have supplied scissors, glue, and a few pieces of poster board for us to use—
Now before we actually start building, I want us to brainstorm on the board—I’ll give everyone a chance to go to the front of the classroom (by tables) and look at what we have to work with, and when you come back to your table, I want you to raise your hand and tell me what you think we could make out of all of these treasures. Once we have brainstormed as a class, we will begin making our masterpiece as a team. We will each take turns putting something into our creation.

Related topics: Teamwork, Art