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.

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.

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.

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.

Dragon masks for Kindergarten

The kindergarten teacher asked me to do dragon masks with her class for Chinese new year. These are a take off on the ones I had done at the library last week. We created these SSML's and more as active creatures to use in doing a dragon dance. 
The children drew eyes on them, then added all the features using construction paper that THEY cut, finally adding the streamers. They could hardly wait to take them into the dragon dances with them.

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. 
  

Islamic art: Painting Eid Mubarak signs, Kaabas

We decided this year to spend November focusing on Islamic art with the kids. The first week we made folded Kaabas in the 1st & 2nd grades and a flat picture in Kindergarten. The students had the opportunity to talk about this symbol while making it. We used black poster board which did not glue as well as I had hoped, necessitating taping. We also used gold curling ribbon which needed a bit of tape but the results were quite nice.
Our second project was to paint a sign in Arabic saying Eid Mubarak. It also gave them a chance to use the metalic pastel tempera paints. Although we used a computer template for the phrase, all the classes were encouraged to decorate the remainder of the page. Some added their names, various symbols, and a few even painted a mosque or kabba on their page. The kids had a fun project to top off their Eid parties and managed to get a little skill work in too painting inside lines.

Learning about artists and artwork @ school

All of the classes worked the last 2 weeks on learning about artists then producing an art project like that artist. The 1st week we studied Vincent VanGogh and his work. The 2nd grade made a windsock and were asked to create a scene that showed the wind blowing like the swirls in his "starry, starry night" painting. Some did day scenes and some did night scenes but all of them had great swirls and clouds. Some included trees or people and some did not. We did not get pictures of these but they seemed to enjoy doing it. The 1st grade also made a windsock using the sunflowers theme. I brought library books about VanGogh to use for reference and to give them a story. Both groups were able to demonstrate how the windsocks worked at the end of class.
The kidergardeners drew and colored a pot of sunflowers. It was a good lesson on size in drawing and what a pot looks like.

The second artist we studied was Eric Carle and his tissue paper creations. The 1st and 2nd grade each got 7-8 different pieces of painted tissue paper and a drawing from A House for Hermit Crab so they got lots of practice using his construction technique. we discussed how he painted the papers and cut the pieces to create the illustrations for his books.  

The kindergarten got to use Draw me a star as their project and had to cut the tissue into several different shapes to do the project.  This was a great way to end the month of paper projects. The afterschool art club made painted tissue paper too. It is a great technique to learn and fun to work with the papers.

Columbus ships from cardboard egg cartons

In keeping with our theme this month of doing paper projects, the Columbus day ships fit the bill. The 2nd grade had to cut the cartons a bit and shape them to form the bow, add a back deck, then add the masts and sails cut  from paper and mounted on BBQ sticks. Of course they had to decorate them so he must have had a very colorful armada of ships to discover America.








The 1st graders made all 3 ships using the cup part of the egg carton and BBQ sticks for the large mast with wood axles for the small mast and styrofoam "S" peanuts for the sails.  We used homemade clay to secure the masts. We wrapped strips of paper around each cup to make it look more like wood. This was a bit challenging for the group but we were able to complete them with beaming faces by the end of the class.

Using paper to create trees and other plants

The 2nd grade got to make fall trees from brown paper bags and tissue paper and what great trees they turned out to be! They had to follow rather complex instructions and get their tree branches in balance but it worked out well. We tried this with younger groups before and it was very difficult for them. It is great when the kids feel accomplished at the end of their projects.










The 1st grade was studying plants so we used paper strips, tissue paper and a bit of fuzzy yarn to create a flowering plant complete with seed pods and seeds (fennel) worked great and were visible. We practiced twisting the paper to make a "squashy blossom" and a few buds. Interestingly, critters also appeared in the form of bees, caterpillars and what seems to be ants. Never know where paper will lead a creative mind.






The kindergarden group got to draw a tree then fill it in with paper strips and tissue paper leaves. Of course giving them colored paper punch got lots more color into our trees. We have been working on cutting and gluing skills this month with most of the projects while trying to make the skills interesting to practice. Not sure what fall tree has pink leaves but she was very precise in the design with a dot in the center of each tissue piece.

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. 

Kindergarten garden art/ 2nd grade bird nests

Trying to include a variety of cutting and pasting projects while making them fun is sometimes a challenge but not this week! We reviewed the story of Peter Rabbit and his adventure in the garden then drew our garden with the rabbit family and Mr. McGreggor. For the garden we did a cut and paste project using seed cataloges to supply the vegetables. They did a great job and had a pretty good time. Not a bad way to build a skill too.

In trying to make a 3d project interesting for the 2nd grade and help them learn a bit a too we came up with the idea of making nests and luckily I found speckled colored candy eggs to finish the project. They used a cardboard base and 2 kinds of paper shred for gift bags to make the nests. They had to construct them in such a way that they eggs did not fall out. We glued in the eggs but I heard that almost all of them got eaten before they left the building. Candy can be that way.

Texas Longhorns stampede 1st grade

We started with a book about the Chisholm trail then talked about longhorns we had seen before launching into creating our own from paper bags. First we stuffed torn newspaper into the bags to give them some shape and scrunched the end into a nose finishing with a staple. We added ears and faces then made the "long horns" out of a chenille stem and taped it onto the top of the bag. A few of the students added mouths and other details that they felt the longhorn needed to have. We ran out of time before the bags got tails. Interesting way to focus on the history of Texas.

1st grade Lady Liberty monuments

This has proven to be a popular project this year. The kindergarten made them a month ago and the 1st grade did them today. We had more time to talk about the Statue of Liberty, her history, and information about her. 


The project is simple with tp tubes, egg carton sections, straws, tissue paper and green paper crown. This group was much more concerned about being sure she had a face--even hair in some cases.

Weaving with a twist

The 2nd grade has done weaving earlier in the year but I wanted them to try to expand their concept of weaving on paper by introducing 3D as an element. They first wove straight rows then were encouraged to do diagonals then add height or twists. It was fun and interesting to see the results.

Kindergarteners make presidential stick puppets

Doing stick puppets is always fun especially when the students are able to embellish them and make them unique. This project was no exception. Half of the class got blue paper and a George Washington head, the other half black paper and an Abraham Lincoln head. They were to color the face then assemble the puppet from the hat down on a wide crafts stick. When most of the class had completed that stage, I posed the question "what do you think about adding arms to the presidents?" and off they went. Not only did they add arms but many decided that feet and shoes were in need as well.
The project gives them a chace to work with cutting and gluing but lets them create a more individual project than just giving them the pieces. By the way, all the puppets were immediately chatting with one another. Funny how that works out.

Making then and now fans

To try to address the concept of then and now for the kindergardeners we did fans. Paper plates and craft sticks make wonderful fans. The idea of contrasts of what is now and what would have been then worked pretty well. some things were a bit hard to draw. the kids liked this one better than I.

paper bag puppets for the kindergarden

What a fun project for this group! the last time we used paper bags for a project everyone tried to use them as a puppet so today we made puppets. The students first made the face with a mouth at the fold so it would open to let the puppet talk, then dressed the puppet and gave it hair. Some created crowns or other treatments for the hair.

Making hats from recycled scrapbook paper

The curious George hats made in the kindergarten were the talk of the school so to do a paper project for this group we used donated scrapbook paper, buttons, bottle tops and imagination. Worked well with another good project to work on fine motor skills.