Monday, March 1, 2010

Pipe Dreams

I love to reuse and repurpose things in my classroom. This week we had a couple of activities that used this principle.

First, one of my very favorite items - things that aren't designed as toys but we have a great time playing with them--PVC pipes and connectors! We had a great time building, connecting, and just figuring out how to create using what we had.

These pipes have been in my class for the past few years. I went to Lowes and purchased a few lengths of PVC pipe and cut those lengths down. I had fun walking through the connectors and just choosing what I wanted. I have mostly "L" and straight connectors, but also have a couple of 45-degree angles, a "T", and even a cross connector. Add a few caps and we have a great building set.

Here are some pictures of what we did this week.










Some even made the first letters of their names.








Second - we painted storm pictures using various brushes, rollers, combs, and other applicators. Throw in some blue and black paint (well, don't throw it!) and we had a great time.

Here's the table (after several had enjoyed it).



And a few of the results.





All photos by R. Scott Wiley