School Features

With recycled pop bottles, tennis-ball cases, a coffee can, a frosting container, some googly eyes and lots and lots of masking tape, third grader Huntter Benson made a robot at Olivia Park Elementary on Recycled Art Night.

Benson saw an example robot set out amid tubs and tubs of recyclables in the school gym on Earth Day and had to try making his own.

"I wanted to take the challenge of making a robot," Benson said.  "I like that you get to use all kinds of recycled stuff to make art."

Third grader Huntter Benson makes a robot out of recyclables with the help of Principal Edie Reclusado

Olivia Park's Parents and Community Committee hosted the first Recycled Art Night for students and their families Thursday to celebrate Earth Day.  The night is an Earth-friendly spin-off of the committee's Polar Art Nights, where families are invited to the school for a night of arts and crafts.

"We really wanted to showcase all the things we've been learning as a school [about] recycling and taking care of our Earth, so we decided to take the idea of Polar Art

Night to a larger scale," first-grade teacher Heather Smith said.  "We're still doing art, but we're using materials that we already had."

First grader Emma Benson tries on the hat first-grade teacher Heather Smith made for her using newspaper and masking tape

For three weeks, students and staff at Olivia Park saved old boxes, cans, bottles, newspapers, bubble wrap, CDs, Styrofoam, jugs, wine corks, lids, bags and other recyclables to then turn into art on Recycled Art Night.

"Hopefully they'll (students) understand that things they have at home that they may normally throw away can be recycled and can be turned into a free, fun activity that they can do with their family," Smith said.  "That this isn't garbage anymore; it can be art."

The committee supplied rubber bands, markers, glue, tape, buttons, scissors, yarn, kidney beans, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and Popsicle sticks for families to use while making their recycled art.

Creation Station in Lynnwood, an innovative crafts store that sells recycled and surplus goods, also donated a garbage bag of miscellaneous plastic bits and pieces for the night.

Students and staff set out several examples of the different arts and crafts families could make using recyclables, including a basket, bag, hat, animal, backpack, binoculars, journal and picture frame.

First grader Daniella Ngonod made a guitar using an old tissue box, a paper-towel roll and rubber bands with her dad's help.  She and her sister also made a table to use for tea parties out of cardboard slabs and plastic water bottles.    

First grader Daniella Ngonod makes a guitar out of recyclables with the help of her dad, Michelin Ngonod                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

"My mom bought the tea and the cups we need for a tea party, so now all we need is the table," she said.  "We're making the table so we can put the tea cups on top and have a tea party with our dolls."

Fifth grader Victoria Philp made a toy car using a cardboard box, buttons, pipe cleaners and plastic lids.  She glued yellow buttons on for headlights and red buttons on for the taillights, then spelled "car" on the top with black buttons. 

Fifth grader Victoria Philp spells out the word “car” in black buttons on the top of a toy car she made

"It's fun because it's something where kids can bring out their talent," Philp said of Recycled Art Night.  "They can show what they really like to make."

Tyler Crenna, an eighth grader at Explorer Middle School, said he went to Recycled Art Night with his sister because it seemed like fun.  He made a flower out of cardboard, pie plates and foil cupcake liners.

"It's fun making new things out of recycled stuff," he said.  "You can find a new way to use something to save the Earth."

Bricen Kirk, 3, tests out the binoculars his mom, Christina, made him using recyclables. His mom also made him a backpack, hat, piggy bank and bird feeder.

The Parents and Community Committee is a newer group for Olivia Park that focuses on getting parents involved with the school.  In addition to Polar Art Nights, the committee co-sponsors other family nights with the school's PTA and guides the school's gardening projects.

Smith said she hopes the Recycled Art Night is the first of many at Olivia Park.  She liked how the night inspired families to use recyclables and their imaginations to make art together.

"People got really creative," she said.  "Ideas were sparking around the room, and people were sharing ideas and using the materials that we had to see what they could create.

For more information or to join the Parents and Community Committee contact the school at (425) 356-1302.