Whatever your day job is – teacher, blogger, parent – think back to the first year you did this. Everything was new (so exciting!) and you were new at everything (such a learning curve!).

Midway through my year as Artist in Residence, I can honestly say the newness hasn’t worn off. I have yet to duplicate a project, so every time is like the first time. Fortunately, I’ve partnered with some incredibly patient and creative art teachers, allowing me to bring the energy, while they bring the experience, and together we’ve taught the art of upcycling to more than 1,000 students in Oldham County.

Right now, I’m working with a pair of elementary school teachers who share the job of art teacher, each working 2 1/2 days a week, allowing them to be at home with their child(ren) the other 2 1/2 days. I love that the school supports them this way and I’m benefiting from the uber-organized approach it requires/inspires.

The teachers asked me to create samples of each project, in addition to project sheets, giving step-by-step instructions for both the students and the parent volunteers to refer to as we’re working. I’ve usually done one or the other – showing someone what the finished project will look like or describing how a project will work – but doing both helped me troubleshoot a few things I probably wouldn’t have discovered until I was knee-deep in little hands and lots of paint. Not that this eliminated all the surprises from our project making (who knew that none of the 4th graders nor the parent volunteers would know how to roll a ball of yarn?), but it made those moments much less stressful.

Below are the project sheets for each project. Just click on any image for a downloadable PDF. Enjoy!