Nugget Art: Murals in the works!

I know the nugget art posts have been pretty few and far between lately, but with a long Christmas break (thank you Spain!) and some schedule changes I haven't had a lot of art classes with the kids. But we're back on track, and in the works are ecosystem murals! The fourth grade has decided on the desert, which I think is going to be a lot of fun! After explaining what a mural is and the different reasons we use them, we brainstormed ideas for the desert theme and I explained the mixed-media nature of the project. They all have instructions to bring in ANYTHING they can think of that can be used for the mural: glitter, bubble wrap (snake skin, anyone?), old gift wrapping paper, newspaper, magazine pictures, toilet paper rolls (should make good palm tree bark), etc. The only rule was to find stuff you already have at home (no buying anything new!). Combined with paints, sand (from the playground), and colored paper I think it's going to look amazing! I'm excited to see what we end up putting together :) We'll be working on it over the next couple of weeks, but once it's all finished I'll post photos. We'll also be doing a mural with the third grade, but they haven't chosen an ecosystem yet (I've got my fingers crossed for the ocean...).