Students at the special needs and abilities preschool were hard at work on Tuesday learning about helping the environment while making a useful work of art.

The students spent the day painting this 55 gallon rain barrel.

Each barrel has two holes on the top covered with screens and a spigot on the side of the barrel.

They're designed to collect rainwater from roofs to then be used to water a garden or wash your car.

It's apart of a project which encourages reusing rainwater for daily life.

For these students it's a fun way to learn about recycling and the environment.

"By helping out and working together they learn a lot, first of all, social skills, which is they have to wait for their turn to climb up on the ladder, they also learn that...the painting is a whole body experience it's a lot of fun sensory.”

The greater goal of the project is to let the greater community know that rain barrels are useful in helping protect our watershed and the St. Joe River by preventing excess water from going into our sewer system, mixing with sewage and then going into the St. Joe River.

Local artists will paint their own barrels and then in the spring the barrels will be displayed at the South Bend Museum of Art, where it will be auctioned off in the Warner Gallery.

The proceeds will be evenly divided up between the artists or groups and IUSB’s Center for a Sustainable Future.