Turning trash into toys: Upcycling for kindness

Making innovative art sculptures from upcycled cardboard material

By Serene Leong

A boy and a rabbit went to play in the forest. They met a tiger who wanted to eat them up! Luckily, a hunter came and shot down the tiger. He told the boy and the rabbit to return home. The boy and the rabbit thanked the hunter for saving them and left. The end.

When we give our children free reign to tell their own stories, the sky is the limit for their imagination! But storytelling can be a useful tool to teach important real-life lessons too.

This simple story was created and presented by K1 ad K2 children at Little Seeds Preschool (St Andrew’s). But they didn’t just make up a story, they also created 3D characters made entirely out of upcycled products and role played the story.

As part of a “Project Upcycling 123” contest organized by social enterprise Preschool Market and Republic Polytechnic, preschools were given a box of craft materials for the kids to come up with their own innovative upcycling creations and were required to document the process in photos and videos.

The objective of this contest was to promote sustainability and the habit of upcycling among children, which is the activity of making new objects out of discarded objects or material – essentially giving them a second life!

LSP (St Andrew’s children telling stories with cardboard animals they created from upcycled material. Photo by Little Seeds Preschool.

Centre Leader of LSP St Andrew’s Candice Koh said: “This project was also a collaboration with Singapore Kindness Movement where we took the opportunity to teach the children values of kindness through storytelling.”

“The children really enjoyed the drama segment where they could imagine and create their own stories and act it out. They enjoyed adding voices to each of the different characters.”

Upcycling is as easy as 123

The project required five easy stages.

1. Firstly, the children decided as a group on what animal sculptures they wanted to make.

2. Next, the teachers showed the children how to soften the cardboard materials to make it easier for rolling and bending into 3D art sculptures.

3. With guidance from the teachers, the children rolled the cardboard tightly to ensure the pieces are firm enough, before joining the different parts of the body together with masking tape.

4. The pieces were painted to enhance its aesthetic and make the characters come alive!

5. Lastly, the class came up with their own unique stories using the sculptures to tell a story on kindness.

The K2 children created cardboard animals such as a manatee and a panda named Le Le, inspired by animals they saw at the River Safari! Video by Little Seeds Preschool.

Holistic learning

The project offered a creative and holistic approach to learning.

Not only did the children exercise fine motor skills in the craft portion, but they were also required to collaborate for this group project, and hence learnt various interpersonal skills such as communicating with respect and active listening, as they took turns to discuss and share ideas. They also learnt to voice out through public speaking and story dramatisation.

Teachers reinforced the values of kindness by encouraging the children to help one another with the craft work. Photo by Little Seeds Preschool.

Candice said: “It has been a long time since we have done group work because of Covid. This project was a good start to resume group work where there is more interaction compared to individual work.

When the children do group work, they have a lot of fun playing together. It’s very encouraging and heartwarming.”

Storytelling time! Photo by Little Seeds Preschool.

While the results of the contest have not yet been revealed, the biggest win at the end of the day is the beautiful artworks that have found a new life and home in the school! Not to mention the stories of kindness created by the children themselves that made the teachers very proud. After all, it’s not all about winning awards, but what is more important is building character.

Through creative projects like these, Anglican Preschool Services aims to teach its children about sustainability and climate change so that they can be little changemakers who care for our planet.

As they say, it only takes one person, and one act of kindness, to inspire others and create change!

To find out more about our preschools and curriculum, visit https://littleseeds.edu.sg

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