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.

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.