Recycle Your Way to a Kindergarten Graduation Cap

Kindergartners are adorable, aren't they? They've gained confidence throughout the school year. They dive right into projects, can recall the units they've studied with their teachers and like the challenge of going center to center to do their school work each day.

They are the perfect age to teach the value of recycling and reduction of materials to reduce garbage. Teach a child and they are much more likely to be the true recycling population that helps this earth.

A great way to do a hands-on lesson in recycling as this school year comes to an end is to engage them in a handmade kindergarten graduation cap project.

This is a good project for teachers, parent volunteers, high school art class, and home-schoolers to involve themselves in. Our local primary school has an end of the year awards certificate presentation assembly for the students. This takes place during a school day a few days before school closes for the summer. No matter how the end of the year is commemorated by your child's primary, private or home school this will be a project that the kindergartner can make with adult help and will be a cute little wall hanging to remind the little one that First Grade is the next exciting step in life.

Materials needed: This is a reduce and recycle project. Materials can be gathered in common supplies and refuse in the home, school or work place.
Basic needs are cardboard, cereal boxes, paper, string, magazine or catalog pictures, advertisement fliers etc., glue, measuring tape and scissors.

The basic construction of a graduation cap consists of a square and rectangle. The head band rectangle will measure 6 inches wide by the child's head measurement plus 2 inches . If the child's head measures 25 inches around at the top of the ears the length will be 27 inches and 6 inches wide. A 12 inch by 12 inch square is needed for the 'mortarboard' . It can be cut from cereal boxes, corrugated boxes etc. To see complete directions for attaching the headband to the mortarboard see my article, www.http://associatedcontent/article/754015/preschool_graduation_caps_made_from.html

Ideas: Create a theme. This inspires the children and helps them spread their message to others. This can stay with the recycling theme or demonstrate something they have learned this year.

1. Save Planet Earth Use an outdated Atlas book for paper to cover the square 'mortarboard'. Paint the headband with earth colors.

2. ABC's Cover mortarboard with cut out letters from advertisements or magazine pages. Headband can have the child's name glued to it in the same fashion.

3. Things We Have Learned Cover mortarboard in old computer paper. Have children draw a picture of their favorite unit studied this year. Our school has covered Pets, Family, Dinosaurs to name a few in a Unit.

4. Kinder ART Paper grocery bags. The child can do a work of art by gluing recyclable things to the mortarboard. The sky is the limit on this one. I strongly suggest light weight items for the sake of little heads. Ring from milk bottle caps, can labels, tiny broken toys, crayon pieces. This could be a lot of fun as they discover that garbage can be made into art. The glued items can be left as is or painted in one solid color, perhaps the school color to show that the items become the form of their art.

5. Give the earth a gift - Recycle! Old gift wrap.

6.Class Autograph How cute would a solid colored mortarboard be with the autographs of the entire class written all over the recycled paper covered surface? When this cap hangs on the wall the kindergarten graduate will be reminded of classmates throughout the summer. This will help when the jitters start up in the days before first grade along with reminding the child to recycle.

7. If the school has had a prevailing theme throughout the year the Kindergarten Graduation Caps can be made to reflect that theme.

8. Do something really wild and let the kids recycle old, clean, baseball caps. They can glue on small objects, beads, hand rolled paper beads, whatever their hearts desire.

Sources for recyclables: The school office, teachers, art center and parents. Local businesses such as grocers, telephone company, Avon ladies etc. have cardboard boxes and catalogs, weekly display signs and more.

Recyclable materials for tassels could be shredded paper, a raveling sweater, unused yarn or string.
Instructions for shredded paper tassel. Flatten 15 paper strips on work surface. Lay a 12 to 18 inch length of string or yarn piece across the center. Fold paper in half over string and wind tape around the bundle about 1/2 inch from the top of the paper to keep string in place. Wind two to three times to hold securely. Pierce a hole in center of mortar board project and thread end of string down through. Clip and knot in place or tape if desired.

Simple yarn or string tassel: Use two pieces of recycled cardboard 6 inches wide by 8 to 10 inches long rectangles. Place a 12 inch length of yarn or string across the top of one piece of the cardboard. Wrap a second piece of string or yarn around the cardboard 10 times. Place second piece of cardboard over the top to sandwich yarn in between. Pull ends of 12 inch yarn up at the top and tie a tight knot. Holding cardboard with one hand take scissors and cut through the wound yarn or string at the bottom of the cardboard pieces.

The kindergarten graduates will be so proud as they march around in their recycle crafted graduation caps.