I have noticed a few other art teachers trying this cool idea (it looks like most of us found it on Pinterest), so I couldn't resist trying it in the classroom as well! I did this with kindergarten and first grade, and they all seemed to really enjoy it. I was afraid the boys would complain because they might not want to make flowers, but none of them had even one negative peep about it! The look great on my back bulletin board, which had to be emptied of all words and diagrams for state testing quality control purposes. These re-beautified it!

My 5th and 6th grade class only meets for 43 minutes per week, so you can imagine how long it takes to do an entire unit! Our landscape unit lasted for one whole quarter, but I covered lots of standards and had high hopes that being so thorough with instruction and examples would help ensure good results. Not so much the case... with 26 kids in a room, elbow-to-elbow, using paint and being on a 43 minute set-up-to-clean-up-and-leave time restriction, they just didn't put much effort into it. But, as always, there are the few that did what they needed to do to get by with a C-, and those who strive to do excellent work. I'm always proud of my students who put effort into their art and produce something they can be proud of. Here are a few of the excellent pieces from class:

Top: Sarah B., Bottom: Alexys C.

Left: Conner R., Right: Jaden B.

Don't know what to do with those packing peanuts? If they're the biodegradable type, you can use small amounts of water to make them squishy and sticky and make sculptures. If they're the non-biodegradable variety, it's either reuse them as packing materials, art supplies, or toss them. Since I don't like to toss, I figured I'd use them in a way that I'd never used them before: as stamps. The backing seen here is a toilet paper tube, split lengthwise (and rolled the opposite direction to try to prevent curling). I used a regular glue stick to attach them to the cardboard in a patter, and dipped in paint to stamp with. I figured the kids would have fun making different patterns and designs, then we could display both the art made with the stamp and the homemade stamp itself.