Upcycled Art and Design

Mitra Gruwell

Students will learn to wield their creativity to transform discarded items and waste materials into innovative products and pieces. They will work through the design thinking method and learn fun ways to loop-de-loop their way towards a circular economy. Students will come away with an encouraging look at how they can use their creativity to express themselves as artists and help the environment.

Final Product
Grades K-2 – in each session, students will work with a different concept and project:

• Design Thinking: Upcycling with Leather Scraps (Leather Jewelry)
• Creative Reuse: Upcycled Kaleidoscopes
• Loop-de-Loop Economy: CD Spinners
• Concept Design: Cork Mushrooms

Grades 3-5 – in each session, students will work with a different concept and project:

• Design Thinking: Upcycling with Leather Scraps (Leather Jewelry)
• Creative Reuse: Tree Wall Hangings
• Loop-de-Loop economy: Sock Puppets
• Concept Design: T-shirt Bags

Learning Outcomes

• Design Thinking: The process of Empathizing, Defining, Brainstorming, Prototyping, Testing, and Tweaking a product
• Creative Reuse: How to look at things beyond what they were originally designed for to see their potential as a new idea or product
• Loop-de-Loop Economy: The difference between the circular and linear economies and how they can baby-step towards a circular economy through reuse (loop-de-loops)
• Concept Design: Coming up with a concept that can be applied to a waste stream to systematically transform it into a new, wanted piece or item

Suggested Grades

• Kindergarten to 5th grade

Pricing Breakdown

• 4 visits at 45 minutes each
• Prep hours: 2 hours per classroom
• Materials: $3 per student
• Travel from Eugene