Make Every Day Earth Day

Throwback to Earth Day. As I mentioned before, I work in an international School. Wednesday afternoons I teach Arts & Crafts. All different types of activities. Also for Earth Day of course.

I like to think that we are doing our best to raise a responsible and caring next generation. In our school we try to raise awareness for sustainability and the responsibility all of us have and how even small things can change the world in the long run.

For this activity we reused a big piece of acrylic glas from an old picture frame I found in the storage.

Other than that we used acrylic paint, glue, and many many buttons. I sorted them before because we only needed the blue, green and red ones.

And then we started. We decided to make the world heartshaped. My students said that would express how much we love the world. The heart-world is held by hands and those hands are quite surreal. In form and color. But we didn’t want to chose a certain skin color to not exclude anyone. So the kids decided to use bright red.

First they painted all the parts. Then moved it to the sun to help the paint to dry quickly. They couldn’t wait to continue working on it.

Next we used glue to trace the outline of the oceans and continents to surround those with blue and green buttons. My students loved that part. There were a lot of discussions about whats enough and when it is too much. I ususally take a step back at that point and watch. They figure it out. They have a good eye for that and usually it turns out different than I anticipated it but also often a lot better than I thought it would.

So also in this case. In the end we decided to add a “slogan”. The kids decided that that would be my “job” because they love my writing.

Then they signed it and presented it proud to the rest of the group.

Next day it was completely dried and I decided to talk to our principal. The kids did such a great job with it and I wanted as many students and teachers to see their work. She agreed and we found a spot right by the dining hall to hang it. So every single person going to lunch would see what they created.

I had to cover their names to maintain their privacy but here you see it hanging, visible for everyone.

I didn’t tell my students about that and their faces when they came for lunch were priceless. So proud. I love to see when they are proud of their work. When they believe in themselves.