Weaving and paper rolling

This was a really easy way for the Kindergarten and 1st grade to do a weaving project. The suggestion to cut "needles" from thing strips of milk carton with a slit cut in then was stellar. It made it easy to thread and all the kids learned to do it as we did our rows. The paper plates were sturdy enough for almost all the students to use. A couple had minor issues that were easily fixed. Fun for all and a chance to use another type of art supply.




the 4-5th grade students got to construct frames for an art project by rolling straws from newspaper/magazine color pages then mounting them onto the edges of a card. They had to roll at least 10 then use them in a design of their own choosing.

Pointillism Eiffel tower for 6-8th grade

 Some projects that we have done have turned out pretty good but this one was spectacular in form. It was hard to explain to the students about Seurat and his pointillism movement but we showed them pictures, talked about dot printing and went for it.  It took until most of the project had paint on it before we reached the  "Oh I get it" point. They drew their Eiffel tower then applied the dots with small dowels. The result would make Seurat proud.

mask making bring out creativity in 3rd, Kindergarten

It is always fun to see what the kids will do when It is always fun to see what the kids will do when we begin a mask project. For the 3rd grade I showed them a couple I had done and gave them supplies and an hour to create their mask. Some got quite tiny, some were very large. Some had a lot of dimension to them, others not so much. Great work on this one.

The kindergarten project was as much manual skills as mask making. they had to color the mask then cut it out, cut out the eyes, thread the pipe  cleaners through holes to make the ties and put the mask on. Quite a few of them then "flew" around the room and became butterflies. Great job.

2nd Grade does crazy birds

 I thought a project based on Dr. Seuss would be a natural for this group but more than half of them said they'd never read his books. We talked about the kinds of creatures that are featured in the Seuss books and the students set out to create unique birds. They had a selection of materials to create their birds. They used large pom-poms, chenille stems, feathers, fun foam, and mounted them on Styrofoam blocks. We tried to use school glue for this project but it was a failure. We wound up using double back tape to attach pieces to gather in order to complete the project. They still had a lot of fun with it and we're proud to show off the projects.

Kingergarteners create birdhouses from milk cartons

 This project was one that the teacher found  and requested. The example was done on matchboxes but they are not very available and quite small for this age group. I had quart creamer containers and use those instead I did read the cartons in plain paper before the class so that the students could decorate them. First the students threaded the chenille stems through the predrilled holes on the top. They then glued on the roof pieces and the yellow band around the bottom as a fence.

They used fun foam triangles for beaks on fuzzy pompoms to create the birds. I had them put a little bit of paper shred onto the perch so that the bird would not fall into the birdhouse. All of them are heavily decorated with markers and crayons and turned out beautifully.

5th grade creates Calder type sculptures in motion

 This was such a fun project and good art discussion tool with the 3rd grade that I decided to try it again with the older students. They got the instructions to include three shapes, three colors, and at least five pieces. Some of them decided that they would prefer to work as partners, others solo.  The most complicated thing for the group to master was how to string the project onto the paperclips. Many of them  appear not to have used paper-clips with any frequency. At least one group just unbent the clips and used them as wire. Another student cut such small pieces that it was impossible to use the hole punch and we had to just needle punch them to hang them. Great discussion and one of them is now hanging on the hallway wall.

Creating a group art project with wire and paintings

 This was a rather involved projects that required several steps. First we created the background for each one of the squares using acrylic paints and then splattering the squares with alcohol to create a mottled design. We added several layers and finished with a splattering of metallic paint.

In the second session we added stencils which we filled with a plaster spackling compound allowed it to dry and then tinted the areas using diluted acrylic paint. Finally we framed each one of the squares using the same spackling compound. Most of the students also tinted the frame and textured it.

In our last session we worked as a group to create a layout, and attached all of the squares to a metal grid that we made ourselves. The students learned how to attach short links of metal rod to each other in order to create the grid. They also used mounting blocks to attach the squares to the grid. Lastly we attached wire to hang it in the lobby and gave it a title "Walk off the Earth"