Papier Mache Robin Eggs

 Kindergarten is studying "living things that come from eggs" right now.


We needed a few good art projects to tie into this theme.



First up is this Robin in a papier mache egg.

Now I know robins do not come from blue and pink spotted eggs but we wanted a bit more colour fun for the kinders.

















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- balloons
- paper towel cut into strips
- recycled container
- white glue
- water
- acrylic or tempera paint
- Easter grass, optional
- scissors
- cereal box cardboard
- template
- brown fabric
- red felt or fleece
- tacky glue
- googly eyes
- yellow craft foam
- feathers
- flower sprig
- glue gun (adult operation only)
- fishing line
- pony bead or washer

PROCEDURE:

Blow up balloon to the size of egg you want.

We kept ours on the small side.

Mix up your glue solution in the recycled container.  I use 1 part glue to about 1 part water.

Dip your paper towel strips into the mixture and start layering them on the balloon.  You want to criss cross the layers.  Leave a bit of the balloon bare, this will make cutting easier later on.

Every once and a while put a dry strip on to soak up the excess.

Put aside in a warm place to dry.

Turn every day until they fully dry out.  It will take about 48 hrs.

When they are dry cut a hole in each egg starting where you can see the balloon.

Paint with acrylic or tempera paint.

Paint on spots or stripes.

With an awl or knitting needle punch a hole at the top of the egg.

Cut a length of fishing line.  Tie on a pony bead or washer.

Thread the other end of the line thru the hole.  The bead or washer holds the line in place.

Using the template cut out the bird shape out of cardboard.  I've included a large and small template depending on the size of your egg.

Using the same template cut the body shape out of brown fabric.

Cut a red breast shape from the red felt or fleece.

Glue the brown fabric to the cardboard.

Glue on the red breast, 2 googly eyes, and a small beak cut out of the yellow craft foam.

Add 2 feathers for the wings.

Stuff a little Easter grass into the egg.

Bend the little tab at the bottom of the robin.


Add some glue to it.

Attach to the inside of the egg.

Finally you can glue a little branch or sprig of flowers to the bottom of the egg, just to dress it up a bit.

That's it.  You could make this project with different animals themes like turtles, dinosaurs, fish, etc.

I like the Robin as it is Spring themed, you could do a chick for Easter.



See you soon.

Art Project in Process: Crowned Cranes & Dandelions

Sometimes you get an idea in your head that won't stop knocking.......


Some of you know that I love birds, 2 reside in our house, and I can spend hours watching, reading about, and trying to paint these charming creatures.

Easter Bonnet Portrait

Here is an Easter art project that combines a 3 dimensional element in the hat.

I am currently working on this with Grade 2 and will have some student work to show you shortly.

I was reading "Albert the Albatross" with my son Jeff and I started thinking about birds on hats. (Albert ends up on a ladies hat for awhile) With Easter coming up it seemed a good fit.

Paper Mache Birds

I guess I have a bird theme going here.


These are some cute paper mache birds we made recently.

They have wire feet which allow you to clamp them on an edge like a flowerpot or piece of driftwood or have them free standing.










MATERIALS REQUIRED:
- newspaper
- tape
- paper towel
-  reg. white school and/or tacky glue
- water and recycled container
- thin cardboard from a cereal box
- wax paper
- acrylic or tempera paint
- fine markers
- sealer like Mod Podge (optional)
- med. gauge wire
- embroidery thread or yarn

Take a quarter sheet of newspaper and crush into a pear shape.

Tape into place.  You can twist out a beak shape, click on this photo to enlarge to see this.

Cut some paper towel into strips about 1/2 an inch wide or so.  Pour some white school glue into a recycled container and add water in a 1 to 1 ratio. Mix well. Dip the strips into the glue mixture and start covering your bird.

With paper mache you want to overlap your strips for strength and smooth them down as you go.  Use a few dry strips to soak up excess glue.  That way your bird will take less time to dry you just want it moist not sopping.

Leave to dry in a warm place overnight...turn once to ensure even drying.


Out of thin cardboard from a cereal or cracker box cut out a wing shape...I used a teardrop shape.  Cut out a tail shape as well.

Take the cardboard shapes and cover in a coat of paper mache.

Once they are covered attach to the bird with overlapping strips.  While the shapes are moist you can curl your wings if you wish.

Leave to dry.

Paint with acrylic or tempera.









We used a basecoat first and then added additional color on top.

For the feather and eye detail you can either paint it in with a fine paintbrush or use fine sharpies after the paint has dried.

Younger kids to better with the markers.

If you want a shiny coat you can add a coat of mod podge but you might want to wait until after you add the legs.  This way it can stand up while drying.

To make the feet take piece of wire about 16 inches or so.  I don't what gauge this wire is as the label was missing but it's soft enough to bend with your fingers but firm enough to hold the shape without collapsing.

Make a foot shape with 4 toes and then twist the 2 ends of the wire together to form the leg.

Trim them down and bend in the knees.  Remember a bird's knee bends backwards. (Well not really it just seems that way, it really is the ankle but their foot is elongated so it looks like the knee)

I like the look of the silver foot but I wanted to add some color to the legs so we wrapped them with embroidery thread.  You could also use yarn.  Take the end of the thread and loosely wrap from the top of the leg down, double back and wrap tightly now.

When you reach the top knot off.

Using an awl or a knitting needle punch holes for the legs.

Put some tacky glue on them.

Push the leg thru the glue into the hole (remember the knees are backwards).

Add some more glue if needed.

Let dry. 

Here is the one my 7yr old made.

That's it.They look pretty realistic once the legs are on.

For those of you wondering where all the links went from my sidebar I finally had time to compile some pages and they are available at the top under my banner.

I now see all the gaps I need to fill so I hope to add many more lessons/projects.

Easier Bird Puppet

Well here is another bird puppet but an simpler version your kids can easily make with just a bit of help from Mom or Dad. With a pull of the string it flaps its wings. Kids seem to really love these projects.

Materials Required:

-white posterboard or manila tag, you could also use a paper plate for the wing sections

-2 brass paper fasteners

-string

-paint

-paintbrush,water

-potato

-bead

-straw (optional)

- pencil and/or marker

To start you need to draw out your body and wings. Now you can make this bird any size you wish. You need to place to marks for holes in the body and then in the corresponding wings.

You can check out the template here (flying bird) but you will find it on the small size so you might want to enlarge it.

Paint in your bird using whatever color you desire....we are using tempura.

When you are finished painting let dry.

I wanted some extra details for this bird so I cut up some potato stamps...what kid doesn't love to use potato stamps.

Using liquid tempura or acrylic craft paint stamp on your details....I use foam plates to hold the paint but in the interest of the environment I use these over and over...you can wash them after using water based paint or with acrylics I just let them dry and put more paint on over top (even different colors for once acrylic is dry...its dry and won't mix with any new paint)

You can use other materials for stamping on details...here I'm using a straw to get some nice circles.

Let your bird dry and then cut out.

Punch your holes...for the big holes I use a hole punch and for the little holes I use an awl but you can use a heavy needle, a bent paper clip or even a sharp pencil. Attach your paper fasteners going from the front of the bird..thru the wing and then loosely bending back....if they are too tight the wings will have difficultly moving.

Fully extend the wings and then attach a string from one small hole in the wing to the other..knot tightly.

Now take a long piece of string...depending on the size of your bird you want it to be long enough to be doubled and still hang a good 3 inches from the bottom of the bird.

Loop it over the middle of your string that is between the wings...you want to get it as close as you can to the middle so the movement of the wings is balanced.

Knot into place.

Attach a bead at the bottom so you have something to pull on to make the puppet work.

Make a loop with some extra string and tape to the back of the head for hanging.

That's it another bird puppet. Using this same method for the mechanism you can make a variety of puppets.

Give it a try and I'll see you next time.

gail