Hey, y'all! I'm poppin' in to share with you an update on a clay project I posted here not too long ago. I did this lesson with my second grade students in 3 thirty minute art classes and it was a huge hit. I decided to not have my kids create the wings because I was fearful that they would break. I was inspired (as usual) by my good buddy Laura Lohmann to create the popsicle stick hangers. Here is the video'ed lesson:
List of supplies:
* One sheet of thin aluminum foil per student.
* One large bag of Celluclay per 60-80 students. I mixed up about an orange-sized piece of clay per kiddo.
* 10 large popsicle sticks per frame. I laid them out and hot glued two horizontal sticks across the back to act as braces.
* Paint in a variety of colors.
* Twisteez wire.
* Beads....LOTS of beads!
Day 1: We began by talking about sculpture and getting a sheet of aluminum foil. Together, we slowly sculpted our foil into a heart shape. I really used my peer tutoring to friends help others who needed it. We went to our seats and added the clay to our hearts. We worked fast and furious to get it all done in 30!
Day 2: I put the hearts in front of a fan overnight. The next day, the kids painted their hearts and their "fences" using two different colors.
Day 3: I took my drill to school and quickly drilled two holes in the top of the "fence" frame. The kids looked at Jim Dine's hearts and painted theirs with small brushes and Q-tips. I gave very little instruction, I wanted to see what they'd create.
So pretty, right?! That took no time at all. Then the kids added the wire to their frames. They did this by putting the wire in one hole, twisting it like a twist tie and then loading up with beads. I have a TON of beads and I was glad to have the kids use them up. They thought that was pretty much the best thing ever. Then they twisted the other end of the wire and BOOM! Masterpiece complete.
Not gonna lie: this project was labor-intensive on my part. I had to glue those frames, drill the holes and then hot glue the hearts to the frames when complete. I had a helper student slap ModPodge on the hearts so the paint wouldn't chip. I really love how they turned out and the kids had so much fun. The work was worth it. I am hanging them in the hallway tomorrow!
The kids are so excited to share these with their moms and dads! I heard many conversations on color choices based on mom's favorite color. So sweet.
In fact, this young artist redid his entire bead pattern once he found the "perfect purple for my mom"!
IN OTHER NEWS! You can find my interview with the lovely Heidi Easley of Texas Art and Soul here! It's free, fun and fabulous. So many awesome artsy folks interviewed. Y'all go and check it out and please tell me I don't sound like a crazy person ;)
Going LIVE tonight, Wednesday at 8pm CST to talk about some art teacherin' issues! Hope you'll join me over here. See you real soon! As my fourth graders are wrapping up their Candy Heart Sculptures and drawing, I'm thinking ahead to a fun fibers unit for them. Last year, this group explored embroidery and did a really fabulous job. I know they will love expanding their knowledge and creating these fun stitched monsters!
I wanted a stitching project that would introduce them to the following: pattern cutting, pinning, sewing, stuffing and embellishing. I also wanted a fun contemporary artist tie-in and I found the artist behind Cotton Monster, Jennifer Strunge, to be perfect.
Aren't her monsters just the most amazing thing ever? I need one in my life, stat. Here's the video I created to introduce my kiddos to Jennifer and all things stitching! Feel free to use it in your art teacherin' world. I think it would be perfect for 3rd grade on up.
I anticipate this project will take my students 3 one-hour art classes. When I share my video, I show it to the kids in short bursts. I then allow them to go work and set my timer for the amount of time I expect it will take them. When the timer goes off, finished or not, all kids report to the floor for the next video viewing.
On Day 1, we'll learn about Jennifer Strunge, cut out arms, pin them in place and, hopefully, stitch one side. The following day, we should be able to wrap up the stitching, turn inside out and start working on the face. We will pulling out our Monsters of Creativity collages and looking at those for inspiration!
Day 3 (and, let's be honesty, probably Day 4) will include gluing the parts of the face down, stuffing and stitching closed.
I'm thinking of tasking my early finishers to think of themselves as toy creators and their monsters as their creation. As such, they'll need to think of their monster as a product. Who will it be sold to? How will it be packaged? What will be the price? Why should people buy it? I'll keep you posted on this adventure!
Have y'all done stitched monster projects with your students? Love to hear what you've done! And if you do this project, please be sure and let me know, I'd love to see your student's creations.
JUST A REMINDER! Join me this evening over on Facebook LIVE at 8pm CST. We'll be sharing ideas on what to do with those kiddos who finish early. Come with your tips and tricks and I'll share mine as well. Looking forward to chatting with you tonight! In an attempt to introduce my younger students to printing, reinforce the elements of art, work on our fine motor skills (we really need it, y'all!) and spread a little LOOOOOVE, I created a series of videos called Valentine Animals! Initially, I was going to put all of the How-to-Draw tutorials in one video but there were a couple of problems with that notion. First, the video would have been close to an hour! Long vids take too long to upload (and download when you want to use them in your art room). Second, I wanted to be able to find particular How-to's easily and having them in separate videos proved to be the best way to make that happen. So I present to you a series of four Valentine Animal videos. Feel free to use them in your art teacherin' world. I'd love to hear from you (and see your students' work) if you do!
This really started when the first grade team at my school approached me about doing a 101 Dalmatians art project for the 100 days of school. I came up with the project on the left. The firsties had just finished their weaving project so it was the perfect time to start something new. I thought the project brought so many elements together that it would be a perfect fit as a lesson for my kindergarten friends as well.
The panda video is the only one where I walk you through the steps to creating the heart stamps for printing. It's also the only video that I share how to carefully cut out and adhere the animal to the background paper. I didn't want each video to repeat so I only put those directions in this video.
Because my students are starting these this week, I don't have any finished ones to share...but I'll make sure to share when they are complete!
So the fox might be my fave. Here's the video:
As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm currently working with Faber-Castell so you'll see me using their supplies quite a bit. I'm excited to work with this company because I love their products. You can check out my review of their oil pastels here.
Did I mention that I've been recruited to dress as Cruella Deville for the 100th day? Oh yea, buddy! Here's the puppy video:
In case you are wondering why I did so many different animals, I am planning to have each kinder class do a different one. This will add more variety to our hallway display.
Hey, y'all! If you missed last night's Facebook Live chat, it was so fun! We talked about all things Art Show and so many fabulous ideas were shared. I'm so thankful for all of you that took the time to join the convo. You can still catch the archived chat right here and be sure to join me on Wednesdays at 8pm CST for the fun! My least fave thing? Repeating myself. As much as I love to talk, saying the same thing again and again to small people is, like, the worst. I have found a solution that works for me: Call and Response! I have chatted about it here as well:
The kids really enjoy Call and Response and it's very much apart of our art learning routine. Do you use this? What techniques do you use to help your students retain directions? Love to hear from y'all!
Every year I do paper weaving with my first grade artists...and every year, when the weavings are complete, I think, "well, now what?"
This year, my first graders FLEW through weaving without much help or reteaching from me. I was so excited that I decided to throw some simple stitching into the mix and I'm so glad I did. The kids nailed it and created a beautiful heart-tastic quilt to boot.
Day 1: If you've never done paper weaving with kids before, here is how I teach them to cut their looms. We used painted paper for our looms. Cutting our looms and weaving a couple of strips took us one 30 minute class.
Day 2: On our second day, we reviewed the weaving process. We sit in a circle and weave together. I like to use peer tutoring for those who understand weaving to help others. I find the kids do an excellent job teaching one another!
Our Love Quilt now hangs outside my art room! This is the work of two classes. My next two classes will have a different color scheme. I'll be sure to share when they are complete.
Day 3: The next art class, students chose a 12" square piece of construction paper. We learned all about symmetry as well as positive and negative shapes and how to cut out a heart! This was then glued over our weavings. We saved the positive shape hearts for our next project. As a wrap up, we had a drawing sheet full of symmetrical and asymmetrical images for the kids to draw.
Day 4: I had to do some prep work for this day, not even gonna lie. I hot glued another square paper on the back of the artwork to anchor the weaving (see below) and I hole punched the sides. For two classes, that took about 20 minutes. Then I cut the yarn to about 18" strips and had pieces of tape on hand for the kids.
To begin, each child anchored their yarn with tape on the back. I showed them out to do a whip stitch and they went to town. To end the stitch, they added another piece of tape on the back.
Early finishers helped those those who needed assistance. Everyone finished in under 20 minutes. This gave us time to add our names with silver Sharpie!
Once the kids were done, I laid the pieces out on the floor and decided to display the artwork quilt-style.
For that, I simply hole punched the tops and bottoms of the weavings and tied them together with two pieces of yarn. This created long pieces of art that I hung next to each other to create the illusion of a blanket. That took a mere 30 minutes!
I was so excited that with 4 30 minute art classes, the kids learned about weaving, symmetry and stitching...all while having a blast! I am so glad to have this beautiful masterpiece outside my art room.
Love to hear about your favorite projects that involve paper weaving!
Lately, I've been getting that 80's itch: I've had a hair crimper in my Amazon shopping cart for weeks, I've started shopping the 80s-inspired kids section at Target and my hair has been reaching bigger and bolder heights (thank you, Aqua Net!) Pretty soon I'll be busting out the Bangles, Bruce Springsteen and Def Leppard (okay, seriously, these are always on repeat in el Honda Azul). I can't help it, it's the era I grew up in...and the best era EVER. After the 20's, 40's, 50's and 60's/70's, of course. Ahem.
After making The Eyeball Dress, I've been [eye]balls to the wall obsessed with all things peepers. So when the dress was complete, I started painting eyes...an everything!
I have a decent assortment of wood beads and bangles thanks to etsy and late night online shopping. I've seriously had this stash of wooden beads and bracelets FOR YEARS and when I got the itch to paint over winter break, they were the victim. The diamond shape resembled eyes and, well, the rest was history.
Did I mention it was winter break and I was power watching the following: Schitt's Creek, Transparent and Arrested Development? Yes, twas good times.
It's so evident I have 80's-itis. Just a quick scroll thru my Insta-feed is proof of that. I think it's the color that gets me...and the patterns...and the happy memories. ALL of it! Can we just bring back jelly bracelets, charm necklaces, leg warmers and neon eyeshadow already?! Please check your banana clips and pegged pants at the door, ermkay?
After painting my beads, I decided that I couldn't have a necklace that was all eyes...so I splurged on some polymer clay and created some extra beads. Some I mixed and others I painted...
And I really had the very best time. Like, totally, It was rad, dude. By the way, I spoke with my 80's Gag-Me-with-a-Spoon accent today in art class...and a second grader whispered, "she's trying to sound young." Needless to say, I seriously contemplated sending him to Time Out. Like, whatever, eh!
If you are a teacher, then you've probably experienced team building activities. They can either be big hits or misses, depending on the mindset of the group. I work at a school with a very low turn over rate, a whole lot of history and love, both for the children and each other. However, knowing that we were coming back from a break of much needed time off, I knew it might be hard to feel that love when we really just want to hibernate until spring (I could simply be speaking for myself here!). Before break, I asked my amazing administration if I could possibly host a team building activity on our most recent professional development day. I was so thrilled that they agreed and even more happy with the beautiful results...
I chatted with the teachers about how we teach from our hearts and give our students wings to fly. Our students don't see us for our outward appearance but what is in our hearts. I used this sweet poem as a reference. I don't know who the author is of this poem, if anyone does, I'd love to know!
Knowing that I would have a packed house, I thought it would be best to record the process and show it on my big screen telly. Here is the video. I played it in phases, pausing it to allow the teachers time to work. It took us 45 minutes to create and clean up. Not too shabby!
I loved hosting the teachers in my art room...and they were the best of sports. I was asking them to step out of their comfort zone and they did so happily. It was so fun!
Knowing that these teachers might have a limited creative background, I wanted to remove any obstacles. I didn't want this to be a frustrating experience for them but a fun one. One where they could chat, laugh, create and forget about any stresses.
Here are some short cuts I provided: * Templates. In the video I told them that they didn't have to use them...but almost all of them did. I was glad I took the time to make them.
* Tons of Textures. I didn't want the teachers to have to wait on each other as I knew we wouldn't have time. For textures, we used doilies, placemats, burlap...anything with a beautiful raised surface.
* Toothbrushes and water cups. Instead of teaching them the slip and score method, I provided them with a tool that would get the job done much faster.
* Skewers. The best and cheapest clay cutting tool!
And, finally, I provided glaze. Yes, glaze! You can glaze on greenware (or fresh, outta the bag, clay). I plan to do a clear glaze over all of the pieces before they are fired in the kiln.
We had such a fun time, I'm so lucky to work with these people!
Have y'all ever done a team building activity before? Love to hear about it! Feel free to share this project with your admin and teachers. Also, this project is age appropriate for your elementary (and up!) students as well. We just might have to make this a school-wide endeavor. I'll keep you posted.
