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.

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"

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.

Sculpting robots and aliens in 4th 5th grade

All of the groups have been using polymer clay to create creations this month. This group was by far the most adventurous of using all of the supplies. We have a collection of aliens and robots that just barely fit into the carrying boxes. It has been a lot of fun to use some of the metal fence and I pick up at the hardware store in order to create these. 

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.

Clay creations 6-8th grade

The original idea was that the students would create robots or other sci-fi type creations from polymer clay. They had other ideas. But it works. Some of them really like adding all the metallic pieces to their creations. Some of them preferred to create dragons or symbols or flowers. The clay was a bit of a challenge this time as it was overly stiff and difficult to use but we managed to create the project anyway.

1st grade sculpt presidents

Trying to find unique things to do with Clay can be a challenge. I think this one is a winner. The students were all given a ball of plain white salt play and encourage to sculpt faces pinching ears noses and mouths, and eyes. They then put the head on a total paper tube and dressed the presidents accordingly with blue or brown costumes. They even added hats appropriate to the president. Most of the students accented the eyes and the mouths with markers.

wire art for 4th & 5th grade

The goal of this project was to create a 3 dimensional item using wire (chenille stems) and beads and mount it on a piece of foam core board. The stories about the items are fantastic to hear.

Wire dragons present challenge for 4-5th grade

After the Jr. High group did wire dragons this group also chose to do this sculpture. It took 2 weeks but at the end of the time all of them had completed a dragon with wings, 4 legs and a tail that balanced and stood independently. They mastered twisting wire, attaching appendages, and balanceing the final project. They helped each other as one or another figured out how to get the pieces to fit properly. 
 There were frustrations but no one quit  before the dragon was complete. I think they are ready for a less challenging project next time. 

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.

Clay landmasses and more from grade 2

 Clay is popular and a good way to do some manipulation and creative activities. They have been studying landforms so the 2nd grade students were asked to create on of salt clay on a foam core board base. They were allowed to use chenille stems as supports. They made mountains, volcanoes, caves, and islands complete with trees.
We experimented coloring the white clay with markers.  The salt clay dries in about a week.

Wire art with the 6-8th grade

 Beginning wire art with this group was a bit of a challenge. I decided we'd forge forward and do a dragon. Using several colors and weights of pipe cleaners was the way to go. At first it seemed like no one was going to get one started then they all began to come together with lots of exclaiming and showing off that "it stands up!"

They really did a good job on them and the 4-5th grade cannot wait to give it a try.

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. 
  

Art mini-camp photo slideshows

Art Mini- camp slideshow Summer is in full swing and camp has kids busy painting and using clay and other art mediums. Thought that it would be simpler to share the weblink as we post each day's pictures over the 8 weeks of camp in June and July.

more clay creations

We are spending the month of January working with clay. Sometimes this medium really lends itself to integrating into the lessons as with the plant parts for the kindergarten. Each student got a 3x5" note card as a base and a ball of salt clay. We discussed plant parts and drew a plant on the board then they were off. Each was to include all the parts on their plant remembering to include roots and seeds. They are pretty good at the proportions on these. When the plants were completed we used washable markers to color them with pretty great results.

The 1st grade created a 3D map with most of the correct elements. We had a discussion of which would be on a map and which would not. The volcanoes, train tracks, roads and rivers would. Trees might although not in as great of detail as some of the trees acquired. People and animals would not appear. They completed the project by giving it some color using water color boxes. It was a bit messy but turned out well. This is a different clay than we used in the past made with cornstarch as I was given a 50# bag of it.

The 2nd grade is studying landmarks so we created replicas of several of them using the soda/cornstarch clay, chenille stems and toothpicks. We determined that Mt. Rushmore was going to be too hard to create but Natural bridge, Washington's monument and a few others fit the bill. The monuments never had such color before though!

Lastly the 3rd grade got to add a bit of color to their vertebrates from last week using watercolors. They were really great creations and the color was just what they needed. 

Sculpting clay dragons is a bit harder than we thought!

Everyone in the class has been begging to try sculpting and was not too excited about doing a simple basket so we tried our hand at dragons. It took 3 weeks of classes to create them but we had to work for it. Next week we paint them. We had quite a few things to learn about the clay process so it was a really great project to do. We had to find the "exactly right" amount of moisture to use to form the shapes and attach one to another. We had to figure out how thick or thin the parts could be and still hold their form. We used toothpicks as supports to keep heads balanced while drying. It was a bit hard to get past the ugly stage for most of the little ones but when we add paint they will really come to life.

1st & 2nd grade scupting

One of the skills we wanted the kids to learn this year was sculpting so we have done several projects and gotten pretty good results although almost all of them said the animals were a bit hard to do.


We started with the 1st grade making pinecone turkeys like we did at the library. The class really enjoyed the feathered tail and forming all the parts of the head. Then everyone wanted his/her turkey to FLY!






The second grade had 2 very different materials to work with and managed to create both the turtle and the lizard although both took considerable attention to detail which is hard for a group that talks a lot. For the turtles each student had a ball of brown claydough. They were instructed to form it into the shell over a small pine cone then pinch out the head and all 4 feet and the tail. They were not to make each piece separately and reassemble it. Most of them were able to get the head out and the tail. The feet were a bit more of a challenge but some even got toe nails on them. 

The final sculpture for the 2nd grade was a foil lizard. This was a combination of math fractions to divide the sheets and manipulation of the foil pieces.

They cut the foil square into sections then created a head, legs and body. They learned to fold and roll the foil and were able to assemble a pretty good lizard with a curvy tail. Some were a little less gentle and had very tightly rolled legs that were a bit hard to mold but all in all they were able to complete the project.