Invented Beetles K6

5 year olds.
These little people have been studying mini beasts. Today they invented their own mini beast using construction materials. The base is a piece of foam board. I gave them a square each. Most children chose to cut it into their own shape. Some cut so much they had to have a new piece. Little cuts in the sides were enough to hold thread in place as they created the texture over the body. The wings are pieces of plastic bottles. I hot glued them on, where they directed me to. The legs are pipe cleaners, caught in the little cuts around the sides.
The children drew then painted a picture of their beetle.

weaving minis M12

8 year olds.
The children made a simple card loom... small cuts made at each end of a rectangular piece of card, with warp threads going between. The weft was woven using wool. A tassel was made with wool and added to the warp threads at the bottom. Paper beads were made and hung to decorate the weaving. The weaving was displayed on a card that some children had decorated with their own border.

Clay Bells M12

 8 year olds art.
The children made their bells a few weeks ago.
See Clay Bells M13
I fired them in the kiln and today was a completion day. The children painted the clay bells with water colour paint, then with a damp cloth, they rubbed the bells to emphasis the indentations. The paint can't be rubbed out from the indentations.
They used a darning needle to thread through one hole in the top, then through the little clay ball they made, then back through the second hole in the top of the bell. They tied a bow to hold the ball in place.
They actually make a noise when shaken.

Screen Printing R7

6 and 7 year olds.
The children are making their own library bags with screen printed images on them. This project has taken two full days so far. The children designed what they wanted to have on their bags. They were to think about things they really enjoyed. They filled a page with ideas, then focused on one of their ideas and drew it simply. I explained the screen printing process, which required quite a refined image in order to be successful. They drew the image on black paper and outlined it with white paint. They coloured it with chalk. This part is an extra to the process.
Today was full on and we are still not there. The children began by cutting out a large drawing of their idea. They were asked to keep the outside of their image and use it to make their screen print. A few children found that too difficult, and they used the opposite.
The screen printing process...The paper cutout was placed on the calico, then the screen is laid over top. A mixture of wall paper paste and dye powder is blobbed onto the screen and spread using a squeegee.
The next effort will be adding details using fabric pens and fabric crayons. I imagined this happening today but I needed to work with every child while they did the screen print and they weren't dry by the end of the day.
Then, luckily for me, a volunteer will be stitching the bags together. The children could help at this stage, but it will be slow.

Metal Tooling and Zentangles V1

9 and 10 year olds.
The children began by viewing You Tube clips of zentangle drawing. One woman described zentangles as organised doodling. The children divided a page into sections and practiced some of the ideas they had seen.
Next they draw a portion of a tiger, using photos for reference. The sketch was drawn using a blunt pencil, onto a piece of heavy tinfoil that they had rapped around a piece of card. They used their observational skills, drawing what they saw.
They placed their foil image onto a large piece of paper and extended the tiger picture. But this time, rather than continuing a true image, they used zentangles to complete their picture.
The children rubbed a combination of black ink and PVA glue into the foil image. We added glue to the ink as the ink on its own come off too easily. They polished the foil until they got the look they wanted.

Circle of Friends. R9

Six year olds.
The children were given a large square piece of paper with a tiny hole in the centre. (This step becomes obvious later, when they are cut and reassembled.) I asked them to draw 4 or 5 circles, each one larger then the one before. The first 3 circles were painted, then a circle had two layers of pastel applied. This layer was etched into with a stick. Another circle had a marker pen pattern coloured with coloured pencils. Another circle had marker pen designs with tissue paper overlaid. The remaining circles were coloured with wax crayons as were were running short of time.

I took a photo of their art before I cut them into quarters. They didn't look as horrified as I thought they would, because I had kept this step as a surprise. They worked in groups to assemble their work into a new patchwork piece.

I attribute this great idea to 

http://pamelaholderman.blogspot.co.nz 

Many thanks.