This project came about when I discovered that if you mix cotton with glue, you get a pretty hard adhesive that can do amazing things.

What you need is:
A box of ear cleaners (preferably unused)
Elmer’s Glue bottle
scrap paper
some scraps of cardboard

Divide the class into groups and explain architecture such as bridges and towers and maybe show a few pictures too.

Begin by taking some glue poured on a scrap piece of paper and dipping one end of the cotton swab (ear cleaner) in the glue and try to break down the well formed tip of cotton. A few swirls will do it.

Stick swab on cardboard standing up and repeat. A pyramid shape works the best when starting out. Some of the buildings my sixth graders created were fantastic. We even tried to see if the buildings could support a small toy when the glue had dried.

To create a wave effect you will use cotton balls, water-based colored markers and plastic containers such as egg cartons or used meat trays. You will also need a piece of cardboard and some scraps of paper for the end of the project.

With a blue marker, color in one of the cups of the egg carton.

Then fill in just a bit of the glue to soak one cotton ball. Remember this is messy so be prepared.

Swirl the cotton ball in the pool of glue until it takes enough of the blue glue mess and then stick it on the cardboard. Repeat until you have enough to create a wave. Let harden.

You can add tiny surfers and sharks to the wave with scraps of construction paper.

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