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.

3rd grade creates Calder type sculpture

As another element in sculpture we worked on sculptures that moved from an example from Calder. This was an example I found on Pinterest. The students were instructed to cut no less than five pieces to create a face from three different colors or shapes then punch them and attach them to each other using paper clips. Even with an example it was hard for some of them to envision that all of the pieces would be attached to each other and not glued down. In the and there were a series of "oh I get it" comments along with smiles. It did give us the opportunity of discussing different types of arts and a couple of the artists as well. I brought stencils for them to add designs to their pieces but many of them ran out of time before we could add designs.

3rd grade clay and wire sculptures

The theme of the month was sculptures. We used both clay and wire to create a variety of sculptures. The third-grade students were given salt clay and a number of chenille stems. They created a number of creature and other items. A couple worked on gardens, a couple of airplanes, one is a car that "rolls", there are a number of what looks like cute bunnies, I believe a couple are dragons too.

3rd grade creates tiles for door to Morocco

 As part of the cultures day the third grade selected the country of Morocco. For their art project I had them create tiles based on a Moroccan design and then assemble the door including the stonework around the center. They drilled the designs using wooden templates then painted them. They helped match the tiles up to create the design.

Windy storm inspires pictures 3rd grade

 There was an exceptionally windy storm the night before we get that project. I tried to use the idea of what they heard during the storm and saw in the morning to inspire them on their drawings.
This project was done with oil pastels on regular drawing paper.
 It was fun to discuss with them what they might look like and how it might move around the in their drawings.
They were also given a choice of black or white paper so that they could do their designs.



 They turned out pretty good.

Learning pastels

When I told the kids we were going to begin our drawing with crayons they were not too pleased with me. I drew along with them and drew this rooster. Once they had all of the elements of the rooster drawn then we took out the pastels and began to add color. I worked with them on different ways to spread the color and blend it. We have not previously used oil pastels and the color is fabulous. The roosters were done by the third grade class.

The fourth and fifth grade class were told that they could draw what they wanted to draw for this project and then experiment with using the oil pastels. Subjects ranged from a picture of themselves to penguins and tanks. A couple of them added lots of stars or other design elements. We used both oil and alcohol to promote blending of the pastels. The still think that the alcohol works better for blending.

Paper sculpture projects let students learn new skills

Combining paper and sculpture is a favorite of mine and some of the projects are ones that I have done before so know what will generally work but there are always surprises.

 I assume that kindergartners know what a tree looks like but judging from the pictures they made, the view from their height may influence their ideas. We used long paper strips from the shredder, colored paper shred, and colored paper punch to let them create a fall tree. I had an example and even drew one on the board but they do their own thing. Every tree has a trunk and branches but wow what a variety!

The 1st and 2nd graders did twisted paper bag trees. This one takes some measuring skill, cutting practice and mastering twisting 2 paper strands together before they get to the "fun" part of putting the leaves on the trees. The 1st grade ones are on display in the school lobby.






 The 2nd grade got really excited to find white tissue in the bag I brought and created many trees with snow on their fall leaves. 

The 3rd grade 3-D fish did not get photographed and made a rapid trip home. 

I tried out a challenging project on the 4th-5th class to replicate a sculpture of the type by Louise Nevelson, noted 20th century artist who used found objects in her sculptures. They had to measure the sides and draw lines to create their own boxes. This seems to create no small amount of confusion on what is 1/2" on the ruler. Everyone got a box done then created an item to fit inside the box that was personal for them. I showed my bicycle example and her found examples. After each student completed his 2" piece they were all mounted on a large piece of tag board and the resulting sculpture is on display in the school lobby. 
  

Doing the basics in September

September is a good time to hit some of the basics and see how well and comfortably the students draw. I also get to assess how well they work with basic supplies like glue and scissors at all grade levels.  Most of the grades did a name based project and  projects using types of lines to create designs. The 3rd grade spirals were a lot of fun and quite popular.  The  kindergarten names went well with the paper plate faces and hand prints from the week before. Lots of the artwork made it onto the walls in the hall or the classrooms. 

We also did projects identifying textures and shaping them which is very popular. students brought items from home to add to my offerings to have a "touch table" then used the items to create the designs. The picture at left is from the 2nd grade class.






The 4-5 grade did an interpretive mixed media picture using yarns, tissue and drawing based on the story of Moby Dick. Great depictions of whales with its blow hole and other detail of a wily whale that had survived many hunts. One of the students added the boat and little speech bubbles. 

Our lines and curves drawing day turned out so much better than the examples I brought. 2nd grade did scarecrow complete with crows and  the 3rd grade is abstract blocks. 




This year our 6-8th grade students are all participating in art instead of signing up for an optional group after school  I had them draw the Spanish buildings then paint them in watercolors. Watercolors are a bit of a challenge to get just the right amount of wet into everything but by the end they did a great job and some went on to do a 2nd picture. 

3rd grade Makes ecosystems

 This is a project that we have done before and it works well. We used smaller groups this year and did more projects which seemed to work better. The project starts with naming the ecosystems and choosing the one they want to create. We used plastic vegetable containers about 4"x8" and around 4-5" tall. The students created all the elements of the system on the lid so when closed it was like a small diorama. They created animals and other elements using clay and construction paper. Each is labeled as to the system and what elements are comprised within it. Some are quite detailed, others take a bit of imagination to confirm the elements within. 

Working with paper brings out the creativity in everyone

I wanted the kids to use a variety of textures to create a design of their own choosing. 2nd & 3rd grade was given cardstock, bubble wrap, sandpaper, corrugated cardboard, foam, fuzzy yarn, felt, glitter square, foil, paper plate edge, glass& plastic beads, wood shapes, scrapbook paper, curling ribbon, and paper shred to work with. It was a bit slow at first but once they "got" what they were supposed to do, there was no stopping them. There were a number of 3D designs too.

For the younger groups I limited the materials a little and had them do a quilt type design and identify each texture. Probably not as much fun but they did not seem to mind at all. 

3rd grade shares thoughts on Earth day

We began with a box of items that had the potential for some kind of new life or a quick toss into the green bucket. It is really interesting to hear what common items could be reused as according to the class. Each table then was given a blank sheet of poster board and the fun began--everyone's mind when blank as the board then they created signage which made its way to the front hall. They were able to envision old fashioned telephones, flowers, garden boxes, helicopters and a decsion that some things are just "trash."

Painted cookies are a treat for the 3rd grade

To work with colors and textures can be a bit boring but not if the surface is a cookie. I baked sugar cookie rounds and bought windmill cookies. We used sparkle gels and several colored frostings. Each student was told to design the round cookie any way they wanted and to paint the design already on the other. They had to complete both to be able to eat the cookies. It took a lot longer than they expected to complet the project but the eating--very fast.

Busy week for painting and drawing before spring break

Finger painting can be messy but it can be very creative and lots of fun if you approach it right. For the kindergarten class this means they have to have a paper towel to wipe their fingers and they are good to go. At one point, I think the paper towel was becoming the art as they were comparing designs on those too! This was a free design to let them use color, texture and their creativity. The only rule was "no mixing paint on the pallete." Several were delighted to show me that they mixed colors on their pages to get just the right shade. Every picture had a story and the whole group seemed to enjoy the painting day.

In the 3rd grade we worked with Tessellations and used a repeating design of a goldfish to accomplish it. It is a hard concept but once they got going, the designs turned out well. I chose a simple line repeat although there are spirals and other more complex designs. One of the students heard circles and had to do hers that way. It turned out pretty well too. 

3rd grade makes sock creatures

This was a more complicated project than I ever envisioned! When I said you can design what you want, I didn't really expect the variety and creativity that resulted from this group. We learned a lot along the way including NO ONE knows how to thread a needle or knot thread. "the socks have holes in them"--yes they are old and are ready to go to another life! saying "I can't do this" enough times might get the teacher to do a few stitches for you but not many.


Thanks to several wonderful donors we had a bag of felt, 2 bags of socks, and lots of pom-poms to use. It took 5 weeks to complete this project but as each one got done the joy level increased dramatically.


We went through the process from drawing our own patterns (no one understood patterns), cutting the pieces out and beginning to assemble them (great discussions on assembly lines and other manufacturing processes), sewing the components together and adding extras like the chenille stems and pom-poms, and lastly attatching all of the pieces to the socks. We found out that your hand does not fit into the sock if you sew the back to the front (no matter how many times I said to be careful not to do this.) We also learned a bit more about some of the creatures we made like do squid lay eggs? one of life's many mysteries.

Art in the classroom again--alien names & plant cells

  The kindergarten started the day trying to find alien space creature names in their names. this was a conceptually advanced project that really had problems getting off the ground. They had to fold the paper, then outline their names in chalk to transfer and retrace their names. They had fun, drew lots of pictures but really had a tough time with this one. Some great creatures did appear in the end. 


The 3rd grade created a plant cell with a legend on the lids from plastic produce boxes. They got to chose which items to use for which of the portions of the cell and really did a great job!
Next time we'll create posters of the life cycles of various creatures and plants. 

Making volcanos

we started the class with the erupting volcano in the playground then came into the classroom to create one to take home. Using the wider mouthed bottle was great but the narrow mouthed bottle was so much more popular shooting the solution high into the air.

We used 8oz water bottles, quart yougurt containers and homemade clay with paper. At first it was a little hard to get the clay and paper to stick but then we hit on the method and the results were well worth it.

For the eruption:
half a bottle warm water
2Tbs baking soda
6-8 drops dishwashing soap
few drops food color (optional)
then add:
1/2 cup vinegar and jump back

3rd grade creates clay ecosystems/finger puppets

It was a busy month for creativity as the 3rd grade used a number of materials to create their ecosystems. They combined clay, sand and paper in a variety of ways to represent deserts, mountains and the tropics.
For president's day we created a pair of finger puppets to have a conversation. Lots of Obamas and other presidents from the flash card set.