Papier Mache Bear Den

I developed this project last spring for a group of 1st Graders.



They were quite successful.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- a round balloon
- white glue, water, paper towel strips for mache
- acrylic or liquid tempera in white, black, green
- recycled cereal or cracker box, some corrugated cardboard
- kraft paper or painted paper scraps (brown)
- Tacky glue
- moss
- shredded paper
-fun fur or felt, optional
- googly eyes
- black paper or foam for nose

PROCEDURE:

Blow up your balloon, a little smaller than your hand.

Gather your papier mache supplies.  I like to work on top of wax paper.

I use a 1 to 1 glue and water mix.

Cover your balloon with strips. You need about 2 layers.  I use brightly coloured balloons and when you can't see the colour anymore you know you're good.

Criss cross the strips, every once and a while put a dry strip on to soak up the excess glue.

It should look like this when you are done.  Notice I left the end of the balloon poking out, this makes it easier when it comes time for cutting.


You want to let these balloons dry out, 1-2 days.

The balloons like to roll so I make a ring out of foil to keep them stable.

Half way thru the drying time you want to turn them.

When the paper mache has dried pick one side, usually the weaker one, and gently smoosh the side in.

To cut the den opening start at the balloon end and cut out a circle.  Start small you can always cut it larger.

Time to paint.  Mix your white and black paint together to make grey. Paint the entire den and then with a sponge add plain white and black.  We are trying to make it look like rock.

We did not paint the inside.  If you want to, wait until the outside is dry otherwise your papier mache gets too soggy and may collapse.

Take your corrugated cardboard and cut an oval for your base.  You want it larger than the size of your bear den.

Paint with green paint.  If you use 2 shades of green you can add a lot of depth and texture to your grass making it look more realistic.

Cut a bear body out of your recycled cereal box.




You want it too be just a little smaller than the opening of your bear den.

Now you could paint it directly or if you have some scraps of brown painted paper glue this on.

We added some fuzziness to our bears.  You can use fun fur, fleece, or felt.

The head is a rounded triangle with ears.  At school we used kraft paper, here I used some speckled paper I had leftover from my Bear Collage project.
Colour the inner ear with pencil crayon.

Glue your pieces together.  Add 2 google eyes and a nose punched from black paper or foam.

When your den is dry, glue onto the base.

Glue some moss onto the base around the sides of the den.

I get my moss from a garden centre.

We need to add a little stuffing to our dens.  You can purchase it or do what I do.  I run cardstock and newspaper thru the shredder.  Crumple the strips a bit with your hands and it works great.

Stuff the den.

Time to add the bear.  Put some glue on the feet, fold them backwards and stick on the base in front of the den. You will need to hold them in place until they set-up.

That's it.

If you are studying Bears this is a great tie in.


Gail

Calgary Tower and Fort Calgary Art Projects

This is a project I have been doing with Grades 1/2. It relates to Calgary's history but can be adapted to whatever historical landmarks are in your area.



It's an 8"x10" canvas.  This one is for the opening of the Calgary tower in 1967.

This one is for the establishment of Fort Calgary in 1875.





I give the students a choice for which one they want to complete.

Here is some student work.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 8"x10" substrate, we use canvas, you could use cardboard or hardboard
- drywall filler
- recycled cardboard
- acrylic paint in sky blue, black, green, white, orange, red and purple
- scrap coloured paper, glitter paper
- black and red ribbon
- for Fort Calgary you need some twigs
- blue and red sharpies for Union Jack flag for Fort Calgary
- tacky glue
- printed text labels from the computer
- Mod Podge, optional

PROCEDURE:

Cut pieces for your project out of recycled cardboard.

For the Calgary Tower we cut out the tower and some additional skyscrapers to represent downtown.

For Fort Calgary we cut out a Tipi, the main fort building, and the 2 towers.

The kids wrote their names on every single piece on the coloured side with a sharpie. We turned them to the brown side and gave each piece a coat of drywall filler.  The kids just use 2 or 3 fingers to spread on the drywall.  We don't put it on the coloured side because it has a shiny finish that the drywall doesn't stick to after it has setup.
I also had them add some drywall filler to the canvas to texture the sky a bit.  Set aside to dry overnight.

After the drywall has dried it's time to start painting.  I tape off the horizon line for the kids.  This gives the kids a visual on where to stop painting. Calgary Tower is portrait style, Fort Calgary is landscape.

We paint the sky blue for both the Calgary Tower and Fort Calgary.

Let dry.

While the canvas is drying paint the parts and pieces.

Don't worry about the details just the background colours.




Let dry.

When the canvas is dry I lift the tape and move it up so the edge is right at the end of the blue sky.

For the Calgary Tower we paint the bottom black.  For Fort Calgary we paint it green.

Remove the tape when the ground area is dry.

Using a sponge we sponged on some clouds.  I find that if you moisten the sponge first you get a better result.  You just want it damp.

When your parts and pieces are dry start adding details.


I used black ribbon for the tower and red ribbon for the trim on Fort Calgary.

We also used coloured paper and some glitter paper for our skyscraper windows.

Glue the pieces onto the canvas.

For Fort Calgary we add designs to the Tipi with coloured paper and ribbon, glue on windows and trim, and add a flagpole with a Union Jack we make out of paper and sharpies.

We also add some cut twigs to form the outer wall of the fort.

Finally add the titles.  I printed these off the computer, added a little colour with some disk tempera paint like a wash, and had the kids cut them out.

Glue into place.

You can add a coat of Mod Podge to seal everything into place and give the piece a nice shiny finish.

That's it.


See you next time.

Gail

How to Make Paper Easter Lilies

So Easter is fast approaching and you need a quick and easy art project for the bulletin board............give these paper lilies a try.


The lily is made from the traced hand of the student.

These were made by Grade 1.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- white paper

- green paper

- large piece of pastel colored paper

- scissors

- pencil

- glue

- yellow tissue paper, (optional)

PROCEDURE:

Take your large piece of colored paper and trace out an egg shape.  With Grade 1 we had templates.  Cut out the egg shape.  This design is actually inspired by some Pysanky eggs we were admiring.

On the white paper trace around your hand 3 separate times.

Cut the hand shapes out.

Roll each hand shape into a cone and tack with glue.

With the pencil curl the edges of each finger or petal.

Cut leaves and stems out of the green paper.  Glue into place on the egg and then glue the lilies on.

If you want you can add yellow centers or stamens to your lily.  Cut the tissue paper into strips and twist.

Add a dab of glue........

and stick into the center of the lily.

That's it.

Only one more week of school till Easter vacation!

See you next time.