Theme

General

Age Range

7-18

Type

Activities

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

30-60 minutes

Quick overview

The group must recycle bits of rubbish to create a piece of art. The aim is to get a group to work together, make decisions and engage their creative side.

Supplies you’ll need

Scissors, glue, sticky tape, any garbage that can be used for art (washed-out milk cartons, egg holders, toilet paper rolls, tin foil, newspaper, string, anything you think would maybe work). You could also use a ground mat, but it’s not necessary.

Prep

Collecting a large supply of rubbish; a large bin with good rubbish in can supply about 30 young people with the rubbish they require, although the more the rubbish the better.

Leading the Activity

Split the group into groups 2-4 in size; this allows for everyone in the group to have something to be doing. Give them some scissors, glue and tape.

Place all the rubbish in the middle in a big pile. If you have a ground mat you may want to put the rubbish on this as it will help with the eventual clean up.

Give the young people time to create their artwork/sculpture. An average time of about 15-20 minutes is usually enough but different groups and ages effect how long the group will be able to concentrate for.

This task will really test the group’s ability to combine ideas, as different ideas must come together in agreement so that in the end a piece of art is made.

At the end of the task, get the group to display their art to the rest of the group and explain how they made it. You may like to ask things like how they decided what rubbish to use, what to build and what individuals brought to the group.

God Link

We are not rubbish, no matter how often we can feel like we are. Ephesians 2:10 talks about us being God’s masterpiece but often we can feel like we have made a mess of a specific area of our lives.

If we are open with God and bring this area of our life to Him, He will create something beautiful out of it just like we have out of these bits of rubbish. From here you can enter into a prayer service.