Earth Day May Day Baskets

Being the me that I am, I had to figure out something to do with my students to celebrate Earth Day today. My lesson plans for the day quickly evaporated, as one thing led to another (as is often the case). But, I still managed to pull this one off. The project is not finished, as we did not have a long enough chunk of time, but we got to talk about the good Earthy stuff on Earth Day, so I consider it a success in progress.

We started making baskets for May Day.

I've been collecting used strawberry baskets as I use/find them. And, we have a nice cubby filled with scratch paper. So, we reused those two items to begin our May Day basket-making, and had a brief lesson in reuse, as well as doorbell ditching etiquitte. It took me back to 20ish years ago when my sister and I would make May Day baskets, fill them with Spring flowery goodness, ring the bell of an unsuspecting well-loved neighbor, set the basket on the porch, and run... Good stuff.

And, you can do it with your kiddos, too. You just need colored paper that has already lived a good, used life (remember, we're talking reuse here), scissors, and a strawberry basket.

Cut strips of paper that will fit through the spaces on the sides of the basket, and weave them in and out.

Keep doing this until your basket is completely decorated. I do not have any pictures to show you for this. Not sure if we'll have time to tackle finishing these tomorrow. We'll see. They will be finished by next Thursday, for sure, and I will post the finished product pictures. Here's what is sitting in my classroom right now; come back on Thursday for the finished basket pics!