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. 

Creativity with clay abounds

This was a great day for mushing and mashing to start off the new year. Every class did clay projects and did very well with them.   The kindergarten class made animals using salt clay and chenille stem pieces. They are quite detailed for  5 year olds with no example to follow except their imaginations. 

The 1st grade helped make their own salt clay then was free to create any item using the clay. Lots of  nests, snakes and a good bit of clay play before the end of the period. It was interesting to have them participate in the clay making. The dough made up pretty well and captured their interest as it went from solid to liquid to a soft solid. Nice science type project. 

The 2nd grade learned how to create faces in clay by pinching and using the palette knives and brush handles. We used a cornstarch/baking soda clay that looks really pretty and dries way too fast. We used little cups to dip our fingers into to work the clay and came up with some pretty great president face replicas.

  The 3rd grade created vertebrates and invertabrates. No photos this time but fantastic alligators, snakes, flying squirrels and more. This is a great medium for all of them as it is forgiving and allows for a great deal of creativity. 

Winter scenes in pastels and crayons

The kindergarten and 1st grade have been working on their drawing skills in addition to getting to use pastels in creating these winter scenes. The 1st  grade class was told to draw a box for a window and the draw the winter scene outside the winter. I did one on the board with them suggesting what might be outside the window. They were to draw in crayon then use pastel to paint the picture blending with their fingers and a wet q-tip. The results were wonderful. Of course a trip to the handwash location was in order. The kindergarteners got to draw another snowman with cuing on what might he have: hat, arms, mittens, etc. They then got to add lots of color. Pretty good job on including details and using the whole paper.

2nd grade bat bridge in pastels

All of the classes this month are getting to try out pastels. I had done an example for the afterschool group and decided to use it for this group as well. Last week several of the students helped draw the bridge on regular manila drawing paper. It has enough tooth to work for the chalks and is easy to run through the copier (sometimes) The class studied about bats and we discusses the way bats fly. Some had been downtown to see the bats leave from under the bridge. They used mostly their fingers for blending and q-tips. Great versions of the sky and a chance for us to talk about how reflections work.

Congress street bat bridge in pastel

This was a challenging for the group but as they got into blending the chalk pastels, they found a medium to   really love. It is a bit messy and rushing them to do the drawing and painting in one session elicited some grumbling. We are planning another one after the winter break to keep the momentum up. 

Harvest moon with a tree

This was a very challenging project for the students to take on but gave them a chance to learn a variety of skills and produced a frame-able artwork at the end of the month. 


We began by using circle stencils to draw the moon and outline the area for the moonglow. They then painted in the moon and first area of glow with brushes and had to move into a bit of a new area for them. We created the remaining glow and the background sky using foam stampers made from meat trays and dowels. The students mixed the colors on the tray with the stamper and applied them to the canvas. It was a bit labor intensive and time consuming but produces a great result. At each days end they dried their project. 

 We next added some color splashes of  red, purple, orange and darker yellow to the sky. Some skies were very dark blue, some were much lighter. We left an area in the right lower corner for a hillside to ground the tree.

They had gotten pretty good with the stamping when they switched back to brushes. Some of the trees have more delicate branch tips than others. 

In this paining the student decided to make a wintry hillside with while which suited her idea of the ground and tree.

Pastel chalk drawings challenge K-1

Hands around the world seemed a good way to expose the 1st grade to chalk pastels and give them a bit more complicated project that required group sharing and coordination. I drew the circle in the middle of the page and the Americas onto it. The students had to trace around both of their hands ( or help each other get 2 hands on the page) around the globe. They then were to use colors of different skins on the hands and color the world blue, green and brown. Some got a little tempted but the colors available and the hands must be wearing gloves but they had an interesting time working together. I planned to work on a bit of shading but the enthusiasm in this group runs high and the parent volunteers are few. After they were done I sealed it with cheap hair spray.

The kindergarten class has been studying the seasons so a chalk pastel snow picture seemed to fit well with their lessons. They are also working on more realistic bodies for people with appropriate clothing and such. We started with blue paper to make sure our snow showed up then reviewed the person that would be in the snow scene then added a snowman. They really were excited to have the richer colors to use. We worked a bit on preventing smudging as they worked. I shot only  a few as they were curling from the spray fixative.