We are on the Case!

At my campus we are getting a rather large collection of used CD cases with old software. As educators we are always looking for ways for students to learn how to recycle, whether it is putting items in the appropriate bin, sending items to a recycling center or creating art with recycled materials. Students will design a colorful background to glue a picture on and place this background with their picture into a used CD case.

Teachers can take the students pictures (mainly faces) or have students take pictures of each other. Have pictures printed for students, could be yearbook size or a little larger.

Students will first design their background using the tools found in drawing software; in our case we would have them use Kid Pix. To conserve ink, students will only need to create their design on one side of the drawing canvas since the CD case won’t take a whole sheet. Another alternative is the teacher can provide a template with the exact size of the CD case for students to create their design in. Once the backgrounds are created and printed, students can cut out their background to the size they need to place into the CD case. They will then glue their picture to the background. The background with the picture will be glued to the inside part of the case on the right side. (Put glue on the corners or tape it down.) The inner left side of the CD case can be decorated in any manner, examples: foam shapes, stickers, markers, construction paper, paint, markers, etc.

This project can be completed during various parts of one day. Students could spend 30 minutes using the computer to design their background and then at most another 30 minutes decorating their frame.