The Secret Power of Upcycling

Although I wouldn’t consider myself a hoarder, I will admit that I sometimes have a difficult time letting some things go. I’m not much of a shopper so I tend to find things I like and buy multiples of them.  Tennis shoes, sweaters, menu items. But I have to be honest and tell you that letting go of some things gives me a headache (and often a heartache as well). I’ve been known to tuck every card we receive into a special place never to be seen again. Tshirts from special places....which ones are worth keeping and which do you throw away?  And what about items we inherit from grandparents, aunts and uncles and others that we treasure?

I like things in my home to be organized, uncluttered.  Easily accessible.  I love knowing what I have and where to find it. That makes the difficult items even more challenging. But after teaching gifted students for many years, I realized that some of the processes I share with them might just hold a solution. 

There is a process I teach called SCAMPER. It’s an anagram where each letter of the word stands for another word. We use this to invent things by taking an item and changing it in some way.  

S stands for substitute. We can take an element from the original item and substitute it for something else. Someone once substituted waterproof material for cloth in diapers and an entire industry was born. 

C stands for combine. We can take elements from other intentions and combine it with the item we’re working with to create something new. 

A stands for adapt.  Many video games have been adaptations of a different game. 

M stands for modify. Like adapting, we can modify an invention. Surfboards were modified to slide easily down a snowy slope and snowboards were born. 

P stands for put to another use. This is a fun way to invent because it allows you to use an invention as it is but to use it in a different way. Zip lines have been put to another use to deliver products from one place to another. 

E stands for eliminate.  That simply means that we can take away an element from the invention we’re working with to make it alternatively useful. My son was able to ride a bike at 2 and 1/2 by learning to ride on a strider which is simply a tiny bike with the pedals removed (eliminated). 

R stands for reverse or rearrange. Can you change the pace or the order of the original invention to allow it to work in a different way?  Fast food restaurants reversed the order of a regular restaurant by having customers pay at the beginning rather than after they eat. 

Maybe by using one or more of the scamper elements, we can take some of the items we have a hard time letting go of, and allow them to live again in a different way. 

This Valentine’s Day, we will be Modifying old crayons by melting them inside a heart shaped candy mold and creating multi colored hearts that our friends can enjoy (and color with if they do choose). What could you find at home to SCAMPER?