I visited a place called The Scrap Store last week - it’s a nonprofit place that stores and distributes surplus items - mostly things like ends of paper rolls from industrial printers, surplus, reject and production overruns of plastic containers, offcuts of card, fabric, etc.
Anyway, I picked up what I thought was a stack of white card offcuts, intending to use them at the youth club I help to run - but on closer examination, what I actually have is sheets of thin, flexible white plastic - about half a millimetre thick, maybe a foot long by six inches wide - about 200 sheets or so.
Now I could just take it back and put it on the shelf there - but I’m wondering if anyone here can come up with suggestions on what could be made with this stuff - it’s thin enough to cut with scissors - and with a craft knife, it could be cut into stencils (but the group I run is a bit young to be letting them use sharp knives, even supervised).
Any kind of pigment stick to it? Bookmarks? Even if you can’t use markers on it, they could use stickers, or glue stuff to the plastic, punch holes for ribbons and you have a fine bookmark! ETA: Ooo, glitter glue! But you’d have to find a way to “fix” that. Still…a possibility.
It is matt finished on one side and there are printing crop marks and colour spots on one edge of some pieces - so I think it should be markable with something or other.
To further the bookmark idea, the plastic could also be cut into whimsical shapes, then paint/glitter/stickers applied to help finish it. Say, fish, or cat/dog shape?
Tape half the plastic sheets together end to end with a little overlap. Repeat with the other plastic sheets. Cut a couple strips of aluminium foil of about the combined length and width of the plastic. Sandwich the plastic and foil layers, taking care that the two foils do not touch, and roll everything up tight. Tape or glue it so it doesn’t unroll.
Attach the positive and negative terminals of a car battery to the foils of your homemade capacitor to charge it up.
Disconnect the battery, and see how big a spark the capacitor makes when you short it.
You could also have them decorate the plastic, and cut it out, and have them make mobiles with it. It can be shaped pretty well with scissors you said?
What were you planning on doing with the card? Could you do the same with the plastic (like making signs or something)?
Incidentally, the city I used to live in had one of those stores, and it was awesome. It sounds bizarre, but it really is a weirdly addictive place to shop.
I was planning to use it as stock for my Spin Art machine. I’m not sure if this stuff will work in it, at least not with water-based paints, and oil or solvent based paints would be nasty and potentially hazardous in this machine.
I might see if my own kids can come up with something - I’m not sure we could do that in the actual group, as we only meet for an hour and a half, and it’s pretty much expected that this will be crammed with activities that are already planned to work, and be fun.
I cut up old plastic mini blinds for the garden markers. I throw them away when I clean up the garden. Write with a paint pen, grease pencil, or waterproof marker.
How about:
week 1) Show the kids what you have. Ask them to think up ideas to use for them.
week 2) kids bring in their ideas, explain them, and group picks a couple they like
future weeks) whole group tries out some of the ideas.
