This project was one that the teacher found and requested. The example was done on matchboxes but they are not very available and quite small for this age group. I had quart creamer containers and use those instead I did read the cartons in plain paper before the class so that the students could decorate them. First the students threaded the chenille stems through the predrilled holes on the top. They then glued on the roof pieces and the yellow band around the bottom as a fence.
All of the classes have studied space and planets during the last few weeks so to kick off a month of projects made from recycled, reused or re-purposed items the 1st and 2nd grades created spaceships. They were given paper towel tubes, tp tubes, paper egg cups, egg cartons, streamers, ribbons, and scrap paper. It was up to them how to craft their space ship. There were quite a variety produced and each is different (copied ideas aside.) The 2nd grade wanted to fly theirs, the 1st grade wanted to wear them. Interesting wing arrangements and quite a few have pilots or passengers.
In keeping with our theme this month of doing paper projects, the Columbus day ships fit the bill. The 2nd grade had to cut the cartons a bit and shape them to form the bow, add a back deck, then add the masts and sails cut from paper and mounted on BBQ sticks. Of course they had to decorate them so he must have had a very colorful armada of ships to discover America.
I was a bit afraid this would be too hard for the kindergarteners but they jumped on the idea of a project that moved. We talked about futuristic craft but it was clear to most of them that this was a helicopter. They were given a tp tube, a panel from an egg carton, a tooth pick, and some tissue paper. They constucted the crafts then decorated them. Another project using fine motor skills while keeping their imaginations going.
We began with a box of items that had the potential for some kind of new life or a quick toss into the green bucket. It is really interesting to hear what common items could be reused as according to the class. Each table then was given a blank sheet of poster board and the fun began--everyone's mind when blank as the board then they created signage which made its way to the front hall. They were able to envision old fashioned telephones, flowers, garden boxes, helicopters and a decsion that some things are just "trash."
I did this project last year with the kindergarten and it is hard to start but once they get going we get bouquets. We used styrofoam egg cups, fun foam pieces, tissue paper, and chenille stems. It is a complicated finger project for most of the kids to push the stem end through the various pieces and they struggle a bit. Although I show them how to punch the egg cups, it is an AH! moment when they do it themselves and it works. I heard all kinds of directions from one student to another as they worked on the project and showed off what was working for them. The flowers are colorful and a real hit.
This was a really fun project and the kindergarteners were able to do the project with just a little help. The nice thing is that it used up a lot of our cardboard items and let them do a variety of skills especially cutting and threading. 
Last they threaded ribbon through holes at both ends so the feeder could be hung for the birds. We did the knotting of the two sets of ribbons to form the hanger. At this point things went south as everyone wanted to wear the birdfeeders!
This is a creative project that uses recycled materials as the base to create an example of types of ecosystems. The 2 water based systems -fresh water on the left and salt water on the right have covers painted in blue with fish swimming on strings. the fresh water one has a cave and water plants on a sandy base while the salt water one sports reefs and a variety of shells on its sandy base.
The three land based systems were desert, forest and grasslands. Everyone wanted to use all the materials but were able to limit themselves to only the items required. A lot of sand and clay went into some of the ecosystems. all the groups drew their own animals and plants then placed them into the plastic boxes. Sometimes the animals or plants were a bit out of proportion to each other but almost all were easily identified. It was a great group project and a good way to have them work with a variety of material. The groups had to submit supply lists the 1st week based on what system they were creating.
The kindergarten started the day trying to find alien space creature names in their names. this was a conceptually advanced project that really had problems getting off the ground. They had to fold the paper, then outline their names in chalk to transfer and retrace their names. They had fun, drew lots of pictures but really had a tough time with this one. Some great creatures did appear in the end. 
The 3rd grade created a plant cell with a legend on the lids from plastic produce boxes. They got to chose which items to use for which of the portions of the cell and really did a great job!
we created bouquets of flowers using egg cups, tissue paper, chenille stems and a bead. This gave everyone another chance to make something recycled and do a lot of fine motor skill manipulation. Some of the kids even learned to add leaves to the stems of their flowers. We twisted the stems together to create the bouquet.