62  chapter 3 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Large and thin boxes taped shut make excellent canvas material. First paint them white to give a clean slate and fresh start. When the paint is com- pletely dry, put the boxes out for the children to paint as desired! Extra-large boxes (such as appliance boxes) can be first used for play. There is nothing children love more than boxes to climb in and out of! You can then cut windows and doors into the box, or tape a few boxes together to create specific play items: a house, a boat, a car, a school bus, or a carriage. The children can then paint the boxes to represent the imaginary item and use it in dramatic play. Eggshell Sculptures During a unit of nursery rhymes, the children cre- ated eggshell sculptures. To have small bits and pieces ready for sculpting, crunch up all of the eggshells in advance, or you can let the children crunch the shells for that sensory feeling, which many enjoy. In fact, for many children this proj- ect is much more about the sensory experience of exploring both the eggshells and the glue than it is about creating a sculpture. Tinted eggshells and glue on foil Exploring eggshells and glue with fingers Eggshells and tinted glue on paper The children were able to use as many eggshell pieces as they wanted, and they had their choice of using either a squeeze bottle of glue or a brush and container. Some children noticed if they mixed the glue and eggshells together, a different texture resulted and their sculpture took on a different ef- fect. Some children loved the sticky glue on their hands and some did not; these children avoided COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL