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Tag Archives: sculpture

Medieval Day at School

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Medieval Knight Sculptures

Near the end of the school year our 5th/6th grade students put on a Medieval Day for the entire school.  They researched and planned activities including dancing, food sampling, jousting, catapulting, exhibits and displays and of course, ART! My 5th/6th grade classes made paper mache knight sculptures starting with a newspaper armature.  They added Medieval clothes and weapons to accessorize.  Some of the materials we used were cardboard, wood, cloth, leather, raffia, doll hair, yarn and felt. One of my … Read more… →

Paper Hats with 2nd Graders

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Making Paper Hats with 2nd graders

This is just a quick post to share with you a simple and fun project for the end of the year.. paper hats!  The kids started with a long strip of construction paper, drew designs on their hats with construction paper crayons, punched out shapes and added fun paper extensions from the scrap box.  The strip was placed around their head and stapled by me. We got more use out of our paper sculpture techniques poster (below).  Easy.  Fun.  Practice … Read more… →

Making Talking Sticks with Kids

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Making talking sticks by painting and decorating branches.

Earlier this year, one of the second grade teachers approached me about an idea for an art/social studies collaboration.  She had read a story to the children about a tribe which used talking sticks. She thought the students would be interested in making their own special talking sticks.  This could be a great project to accompany character education on taking turns and listening. Talking sticks have been used in native tribes of the Northwest Coast (North America) and in Western … Read more… →

Making an Assemblage & Learning about Louise Nevelson

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Learning about Louise Nevelson and making an assemblage with children

  I have seen variations of this project many times but have never tried it with my students.  I am pleased with how our assemblages turned out!  This was a great opportunity to clean out the junk in the classroom and teach about using found objects. My Primaries (or first grade) learned a little about American sculptor Louise Nevelson.  There is a short clip on YouTube that explains about her artwork. I put a call out to families to donate … Read more… →

Paper Masks and Paper Sculpture Techniques

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Paper Sculpture Techniques Poster

These lovely paper masks were made by my second graders.  The students learned different paper manipulation techniques including controlled tearing, punching paper with Fiskars squeeze punchers, cutting with paper edgers , crimping paper with a paper crimper, making forms, cutting spirals, folding zigzags and more. I created a poster with paper manipulation techniques using ideas that I had seen on other sculpture posters, like this one.   I should have made a poster like this years ago.  I have referred students … Read more… →

Learning about Lines

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Learning about Lines

Lines are an excellent starting point for lessons with Kindergarteners.  To begin this line unit, we read the book Lines That Wiggle.   The students used colored tape to make straight lines across their paper.  We talked about horizontal, vertical, diagonal and ziz-zag lines. During the next class period, the students used tempera cakes to paint a variety of lines:  wavy, loopy, dotted, dashed, squiggly, spiral, jagged and more.  Aren’t these lovely and expressive? After the painting project, we moved … Read more… →

Make a Magical Wand

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Colorful homemade wands laid out on a table with a banner at the bottom reading "Make a Magical Wand.

Every so often, I host after school art classes.  I try to have some fun projects that I wouldn’t normally teach during the school day.  These magical wands were a hit with both the boys and girls who signed up for this class. Use dowel rods or natural sticks as the wand base.  Twist, tie, wrap and hot glue fabric, ribbons, feathers, pipe cleaners and colored tape around the stick.  Tie on flowers, add glitter glue and sequins and use … Read more… →

Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

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Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains.   I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children.  Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more… →

Paper Mache Masks — 3rd & 4th Grade

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Paper Mache Masks — 3rd & 4th Grade

These paper mache masks by the 3rd/4th grade received lots of compliments when they were hanging in the hallway. The class was studying Native American history in their Social Studies and we looked at some Pacific Northwest Coast masks and we discussed the functions of masks in general throughout the world. We started with a mask form (made of paper mache) that I ordered in a class pack from Nasco.  From this starting point, the students built up and embellished … Read more… →

Mixed Media Masks for 2nd Grade

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Mixed Media Masks for 2nd Grade

How many of you have also been off of school Monday and Tuesday this week?  This is our 4th day off of school because of cold weather.  It is supposed to be -45 windchills tomorrow morning, so we already know school is cancelled. I love making masks with kids! My second grade students learn about Alaska in their Social Studies class, so I introduce Alaskan masks to the kids.  We actually watch clips from a video series to teach about … Read more… →

Clay Pinch Pot Monsters by 2nd Graders

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Clay Pinch Pot Monsters by 2nd Graders

These cute pinch pot monsters were made by my 2nd grade class.  Here is a handout you could use about how to make a pinch pot. After making a pinch pot, the students turned them on their side, squished the mouth down a little and then added eyes, noses, horns, ears, tongues and teeth.  Make sure to score and add water in between each part.  (Some people make slip, but I have found that with our consistency of clay, just … Read more… →

Building Castles from Clay (5th and 6th grade)

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Building Castles from Clay (5th and 6th grade)

Hi friends.  I have so many projects back-logged to show you.  I did clay with all of my classes during the month of September.  We are building on to our school and because of construction, our kiln will be out of commission at the end of November through the end of the school year, so we have to get all of our clay done now! My 5th/6th grade classes made clay castles.  They will be studying the Medieval period later … Read more… →

Clay Flowers made by 3rd Grade

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Clay Flowers made by 3rd Grade

I’m in love with these gorgeous clay flowers my 3rd graders made. This summer when I was on vacation in Michigan, I saw some lovely clay wall hangings in an artsy shop.  They were layered clay flowers and they were HUGE!  They were so awesome.  I thought my students could make something similar on a smaller scale. The kids learned how to roll out a clay slab.  Then, they cut out various flower templates, traced them and cut them from … Read more… →

Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

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Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

Last week, I posted about line drawings that my kindergarten students made with oil pastels and watercolor paints. To finish these off, my students glued paper strip lines (folded to make zig zags, curled and pleated) to the bottom of the page.  The students reinforced their learning of types of lines and were introduced to paper manipulation techniques. Then, we rolled and stapled them at the top and bottom to create a hanging windsock.  A little bit of double stick … Read more… →

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