Little Poetry Figures

I have a thing for little boxes.....I save them until I have a class set and then we make something! 

- like valentines
- robots
- puppet boxes
- and many dioramas!

So for this project it started with this little puppet and we then expanded using the concept of having something in the little box that we then reveal.  Earlier in the year we made robots out of Dove soap boxes that had a message inside written by the robot.



This puppet uses a small treat box (Smarties) like the ones you give out at Halloween or in lunches.

Unfold the arms of this puppet and you reveal his dream.

Here are some other ideas using the same size box.......

A bird dreaming of her nest of eggs.........

and a robot dreaming about a vacation.

Materials Required:

- piece of paper and pencil

- a class set of little boxes, containers

- white paint or gesso

- scissors

- tacky glue

- acrylic paint

- odds and ends for embellishments

- hand written or typed text

Procedure:

On the piece of paper sketch out a plan for your figure and one sentence poem.  You need some sort of cover or flap to hide the opening in your box.  I had arms, a wing, and a door.

Take your little treat box and open up flat.  Cut out a little window in one of the large sides.  Paint over the outside with white paint or gesso.

Paint in a little scene for the inside of the box.  If working with young kids just paint in a background.  Add details by drawing/coloring them on plain paper and then cut and paste into place.

Glue box back together.  I use elastics to hold it together when drying. Paint outside of the box with acrylic craft paint. 

Find other pieces for your figure and paint if necessary.  For the robot I painted 4 cubes for the legs, I wound 2 pipe cleaners around a pencil for the arms, and I painted half of a cork for a head.  Look around at what you have on hand.  The kids will amaze you with their ideas.

Glue all your pieces in place.

For the bird I had a pompom head, feather tail and wire feet.

Finally add the text of your poem.

That's it.  You can make a whole collection and you'll never look at a little box the same again!

See you later.

Mosaic Frames

This is a Mother's Day project I completed with Grade 3.  I was working right to the wire on all the Mother's Day projects last week so I did not post it in time but it's a great project for anytime.....including upcoming Father's Day.

I had been wanting to do mosaics with Grade 3 all year and these turned out really well.


Now you can use anything to create your mosaic:

                - painted eggshells
                - buttons
                - squares of colored paper
                - broken pottery or tile

I happened upon these flat shell pieces on clearance at Michael's so that decided it.

Instead of gluing and grouting we utilized our leftover drywall compound with amazing results.







MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- wooden or cardboard frame
- wax paper or newspaper
- drywall compound
- spatula or old gift cards for spreading
- mosaic materials
- kleenex
- brown acrylic paint
- water
- paintbrush
- Mod podge

PROCEDURE:

Lay down a piece of wax paper or newspaper on your work area.

Take your frame, remove the center cardboard.  Sand edges if required.


Put some drywall compound on a recycled plate.  In small sections apply some compound. 

You only want to work in a small area at a time as it will start to dry.  It's like icing a cake.  You want it to be thick enough to hold your mosaic materials but not over flowing.

I asked the kids to think of it as a puzzle and try to fit as many pieces in as they could.


You can see that hands were used just as much as spatulas!

I also had them try to keep the mosaic pieces as clean as possible.  We used kleenex to wipe off any excess.

When we were finished we placed them off to the side to dry overnight.

Now I forgot to take pictures of the next step.  After the drywall compound had dried I put a small squirt of brown acrylic paint into a cup.  I added enough water to make a wash, (like colored water).  We then brushed this over the frames.  Using a kleenex blot off the wash from the mosaic material.  The dry wall is porous and will take on that colored wash very quickly.  Start off with a very diluted wash as you can always add more color as you go.   If you accidentally have too much paint color go over the area with plain water and blot to remove some of the excess color.

Let dry.

Finally add a nice coat of Mod podge to get a protective shine.  It also ensures all the mosaic pieces will stay stuck and strengthens the dry wall compound.

Let the Podge dry and then add a picture and you're done.  Once you try this mosaic technique with the drywall compound I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas of where you can apply other mosaics.

That's it!

See you next time.

Organizer for Mother's Day

Ok so these don't necessarily have to be for Mother's Day but as far as I'm concerned anything that helps me with my family clutter is greatly appreciated.

This little organizer can be hung anywhere and the clips help keep your stuff from getting lost.  You know all those receipts, tickets, notices, etc.










Easy project for the kids to do with minimal supplies:










MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- corrugated cardboard
- pencil and eraser
- scissors
- wire
- gesso, optional
- paint
- clothespins
- gluegun
- printed text
- mod podge for sealing, optional

PROCEDURE:

Take your piece of cardboard and sketch out the general shape of your organizer in pencil.

Cut out the shape.  I like to add a little shape to go on the hanging wire just to add more interest.

Prime with gesso.  This step is optional.

Sketch out some guidelines for your painting.

Paint in your scene.  I used acrylic here but if you do prime the piece with gesso you can easily use tempera.






I used the end of a pencil for some of my leaves.

Take some clothespins......

You can paint them if you want or glue on a little decoration on them.

Glue the clothespins on (clip end pointing down) with the glue gun.  You can add some text if you want.

Now will add the wire.  Punch 2 holes in the cardboard shape, one on each end.  Insert wire and then twist.

Before you do the other end slid the wire thru the cardboard shape.  It passes right thru the corrugations in the cardboard.

Attach on the other end and you have a hanger.

That's it...a great little organizer for some of your clutter.  You could just do the letters for MOM as your cardboard shape. Finally you can add a coat of Mod podge to seal and add extra strength.     Give it a try!

See you next time :)

Art Gala Night

Tonight was Art Gala night at a school I recently completed an art residency at...it always amazing to see the work all nicely displayed. Kudos to all the hard work by the teachers!

Please click on the photos to see larger.

These papier mache sculptures were done by Grade 4/5.  I love the stories they wrote to go along with them...great presentation.

This class also did glue resist Ted Harrison landscapes.






and Dreamcatchers.

This is from the another Grade 4/5 class.  They also made papier mache sculptures as well as First Nation inspired landscapes.

We also did pastel resist animal portraits.

This grade 4/5 class did papier mache masks, the sketches we used for planning were also displayed.





They also made glue batik animal banners......

Fabric markers were used to add fine lines for definition.

This class also made woven eye animals as well.

Grade 2 made nautical canvases which I have showed you before but I love the presentation here with the details of the unit they studied in science.

Grade 1 displayed their Koinobori and pastel resist butterflies.

Further down the hall was their city skylines.

That was all the photos that turned out for me, school lighting is always tough.  Great job everyone!

I also wanted to show you some photos sent to me by Gina S. a Grade 3 teacher from Aurora Ontario of her school's recent Art Gala.

Love the addition of tissue paper blossoms on these Spring Trees for that 3D effect.

Here they displayed their woven trees hanging down the halls.

Thanks Gina for sending me the pictures!  I always love seeing the application of the projects.  Your students should be very proud.

See you soon.