Who among us hasn’t at some point just put out a bunch of materials and told the kids “have at it!”?
We did that in our STREAM Center for a pre-Halloween program, and it was way more fun that we anticipated! There were a large number of the parents who stayed with their kids and created right along with them, even though their attendance wasn’t strictly mandatory at the program. We had a wide range of 
materials, from paper tubes to wiggle eyes. We had access to tape and glue, along with rubber bands, paper clips, and binder clips. There were chenille stems, balloons, egg cartons, cardboard, pool noodles, plastic cups, and more. This is a no-cost program. I literally collected trash for several weeks prior, and used whatever materials I could collect and recycle. Many of the things we offered (like the pool noodles) were left-overs from prior programs. I started by 
asking everyone to look at the various materials and imagine what kind of creature they would like to create, then simply turned them loose from there.
Before we began, we gave the kids two instructions: be creative; and have fun. It seems to have worked. I feel that the photos pretty much speak for themselves.
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