BCM+You

Koi ponds are one example of an aquaponic environment. These beautiful pools consist of koi, a fish native to Japan, and plants that grow in water, like water lillies or lotuses.

Did you know that oysters help keep waterways clean and healthy? Use a coffee filter and watercolors to create your own unique oyster.

Use supplies available in your home to make a mask! How will you express yourself?

What’s your favorite store in your neighborhood? Use recycled materials to create a storefront model of a shop that is meaningful to you.

Nothing says New York like pizza! Create a pizza pie from your imagination using playdough and colorful materials.

Enjoy a moment in the sun and leave inspiration at your feet! Make a sidewalk “quilt” for your community using tape and chalk.

Home is where the heart is. Show your neighborhood block some love and create a collage using paper, found materials, and a few of your own memories.

Get messy and grow something beautiful! Make a flower pot using clay and decorate it with your favorite colors.

Sail away! Make a boat out of a carton to sail around your bathtub or inflatable pool.

Stay fresh, cool, and creative! Freeze water and food coloring to make ice cubes to paint with on hot, summer days.

The mbira is an African musical instrument that dates back centuries. Create a mbira using everyday materials and explore your unique rhythm!

Repurpose fabric scraps and magazine pages to make upcycled beads, then use yarn to create necklaces and bracelets.

Make a puppet friend using a paper bag and colorful, recycled materials from you home!

Create a cozy reading nook! Build a special space where you can slow down, stay cool, and dive into a great story.

Color is all around us. Create a color wheel with objects from your home!

Carve soap bars to make prints inspired by the artist Elizabeth Catlett!

Transform every day paper into a 3-D pop-up collage that draws inspiration from your home!

Explore the practice of pointillism by creating a picture using small dots of color!

Harness the power of the wind to make musical patterns!

Create shapes and stamp patterns using an everyday potato as your inspiration!

Create natural, DIY paintbrushes made with sticks, leaves and flowers, and experiment with making different marks, strokes, and stamps on paper.

We clap because we care! New Yorkers are making noise out of their windows in honor of essential workers every day at 7 pm. Make your own noisemaker using plates, loose materials, and tape.

There are hidden gems all around us! Make a treasure map of your neighborhood that features special places.

All animals move in different ways depending on how their bodies are built. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try moving like them!

Build a simple DIY sensory box using beans or beads, hide objects, and have your toddler dig through to explore, discover, and practice describing their senses.

Tweet, chirp, caw! Make your own binoculars and get outside to bird watch.

Every neighborhood is special! Make your own Neighborhood Bingo game and fill the squares with the people, places, things and experiences in your neighborhood that are special to you.

Upcycle a used container and create a fun percussion instrument to make music with!

We could all use more positivity and peace. Redesign a box or container and fill it with reminders that bring you inner peace.

Everyday objects can make a great impression on our lives! Inspired by Brooklyn-based artist LaKela Brown, make a clay sculpture by pressing found objects into clay.

Our hands are not just for making, working, and expression… they are works of art! Take a series of family hand portraits that include gestures and objects.

Kevin & Rich’s Recycled Sounds recently visited Brooklyn Children’s Museum to show us how anything can be used to make music, from household objects to even the Museum itself! Watch the video and get inspired. What music will you make?

Rev up your spaceship while looking cool and futuristic with these homemade galaxy goggles!

Drip, splatter, and spray! Explore color and create an abstract art piece inspired by Guyanese-British artist Frank Bowling.

What does freedom mean to you? To celebrate Juneteenth, make a colorful sign to celebrate the culture, lives, and freedom of Black Americans!

Love is Love! Make your own colorful flag inspired by Pride, a month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and the rights of all people to be who they are and love who they love.

Make a self-love crown that allows your child to practice expressing themselves in ways that make them feel good. When finished they’ll have a crown they can wear with pride!