Introduction: Kids Polystyrene Wall Art

High winds blew packaging material from a nearby building site all around our town. The pieces of polystyrene got lodged in trees, shrubbery, everywhere. They were too big to put in the bin for collection so we decided to make them into something pretty after school.

UPDATE - We have since made another one of these using florists ribbon (or you could use cassette tape) to make a waterproof, outdoors version.

Step 1: Get Your Polystyrene

We chose this particular piece of polystyrene because it was large enough to be worked on by several little people at once and the little people liked the shape.

The polystyrene is several inches thick so pieces won't break off easily (although lots of tiny particles will make a break for freedom so you might want to do this outside when it's not windy put a sheet down etc).

Mum removed the branches and twigs embedded in the polystyrene from where it got blown into bushes.

Step 2: Adding the Wool

We agreed which side was going to be the 'rough' side and this was the side that any knots and fastenings would be made.

We discovered early on that as long as we kept the yarn taught then it cut into the edges of the polystyrene and we didn't have do too much tying off.

We began randomly wrapping wool around the polystyrene ...

Step 3: Create an Hole

...we then realised that the task of winding wool arround would be MUCH EASIER if we made the existing hole a little larger.

By creating a large hole we effectively had an anchor to pull the wool in different directions as well as a focal point for our piece.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

When we began tying each other in knots (yes, that really happened) and the smallest kids began to cry, we took a break.

Then, each kid chose a colour and concentrated on one particular area and worked on that independently until their ball of wool ran out.

Step 5: Hanging

Because the finished piece is so light it was easy to hang on a regular picture hook, with the hook sticking directly into the polystyrene.

It can change orientation as and when we get tired of it.

Step 6:

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

We have since made another one of these using florists ribbon (or you could use cassette tape) to make a waterproof, outdoors version.

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