Penguins

    

This is a new version of a project I have done before.  Previously I did the entire project with modelling clay, including the background.  This project was done with Crayola Model Magic and water color.

We first made our penguins with the Model Magic and left them to dry.    We started by making a flat oval with black and adding white ovals and circles for the tummy and eyes.  Orange was used for the beak and feet.  I have to say I am now a fan of this product!  It is soft and light and easy to work with.  The pieces stick really easily.  When dry, the piece is very light.  These could have easily been made into magnets!

We then created the background on 4 X 6 inch paper using white oil pastel for the snow/ice and watercolor paint for the sky.  We also sprinkled a bit of salt on the wet paint for a frosty effect.  Finally, we glued the dried penguins to their backgrounds.

 

Valentine Mailboxes

We made these super sweet mailboxes for Valentine's day! 

I had all the kids bring in cardboard boxes from crackers, instant oatmeal, Kleenex, etc.  We cut off all the loose cardboard at one end to make the opening.  The toughest part was wrapping the black craft paper around the boxes.  My aide and I helped the kids with that part but the rest of it was up to them.  They had lots of different heart tracers to create the tummies, beaks and feet and even the flippers which were a heart cut in half.  Some of the kids were so into them that every free moment they were creating all sorts of accessories: hats, sunglasses, bracelets...  Some even wanted to play with them at center time! 

Valentine's Day

This is a little late, but... here is what we did for our Valentine's day art:

I was inspired by Merrilee's post at Mer Mag to create these lovely valentines.  Check out her post for the instructions on the painting portion of this lesson.

After painting our grids we cut our different sized hearts and individual colour squares to embellish our papers.  It was great fine motor practice - something my students need a tonne of! 

The final display in our hallway

Polymer Clay Creatures

I haven't posted in a while.  I finally got myself a new laptop, something I probably should have done about 8 months ago but was avoiding...  Anyway, it has been a bit of a learning curve getting accustomed to the new features but I think I'm making progress.

My 9 year old daughter was at home sick yesterday and when she felt up for it we decided to break open her new Polymer Clay kit that she got for her birthday.  She had been experimenting with an older kit previously but this was my first time working with polymer. 

After searching Pinterest for some ideas (and hopefully some tutorials) we managed to create these together:

The first one we made was they Mickey charm, in honor of our upcoming trip to Disneyland.  My kids have never been before so the are very excited!

If you are familiar with the Mario Bros. video game, them you'll recognize this guy that my daughter made all by herself:

What was strange was how the white reacted in the different pieces.  The white in the Mickey came out so vibrant but in the cat, Bom Om, and Minion it seemed to take on a pearlized color.  Not sure if it was due to residue on our hands from the silver clay or from 2 different white packages...

It was fun creating these and it sure made up for being stuck inside on a beautiful day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Grade One and Two painted trees with lights

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year!

Gingerbread Prints

Here is a cute little printmaking lesson I did with my class this week.  The kids loved the process in creating these!  This is definitely a lesson I will do again! 

 

 

We used Styrofoam plates to create our prints.  Students cut off the edges of their plates so that they were left with a flat circle.  They then took a gingerbread man cookie cutter  and pressed it into their plates to create an imprint.  Because this did not make a deep enough impression they then used dull pencils to retrace the shape.  Other details were added.  Some used marker caps to create smaller circles for eyes or buttons.

 

Then, using a brayer and brown paint, students rolled paint onto their imprinted plates.  They were given large sheets of paper so that they could make many attempts to make a clean print.

 

When they were dry we cut out 2 gingerbread men for our Christmas cards for our parents.  Her is my sample:

 

We glued them onto folded brown construction paper and added some white dots around the edges.

 

 

I also gave them coloured sequins to glue onto their cards, if they wished.  Unfortunately I did not have time to take any photos as we finished these on the last day of school before our break!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carolers

I happen upon these photos this past summer cleaning out a basement closet.  This is a craft I have repeated a number of times.  But this was my first attempt - my best guess is 2001!  In this photo the pine cone carollers are painted various colours.  But in other versions I chose to have the kids paint them white and add a bit of silver glitter.  They also used brown pipe cleaners for the arms to make them look like snowmen.  They always turned out great.



Caroler display outside the school office.

The heads are made from a Styrofoam balls with sequins (attached with pins) used to create the faces.  The scarves are strips of felt with a slit cut at one end to pull the other end through - no need for tying.  The hats are pipe cleaners twisted round and round and stuck into the back of the head.