I wanted my fifth graders to plan and implement their own project, moving through the entire creative process with minimal creative input from me.

In other words, after having taught these kids for four years, I wanted to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. They would need to devise the project, arrange for the acquisition of materials, create the works, and make all the decisions in between.

Make no mistake, I didn’t just set them loose to do whatever all day long. I had just been introduced to the work of Phil Hansen, so I used a lot of his videos where he is creating with unconventional materials as inspiration.