Last week of school activities, 2019

In addition to finalizing our portfolios for the year to take home, we had some fun in the art room during our last lessons together. Inchies are tiny drawings made in a one inch square. I challenged the students to complete 30 drawings in just 30 minutes based on the theme of Summer, of course!

We also tried the Play-Doh Challenge - each table had a tub of dough and tools like popsicle sticks, marker caps, and plastic buttons. I called out a category and the kids had a few minutes to build their sculpture. We took a quick look at all the creations before smashing them and going on to the next. Lots of fun and a good way to use all that energy!

Have a wonderful summer everyone! I hope your families have enjoyed all your art and I look forward to creating with you again this fall.

Sewing and weaving part 2, spring ‘19

My youngest stitchers use some tricks to keep them on track while sewing. For our first attempt with first grade names, we use our finger as a spacer for the stitches - once they get the hang of it, they can omit that step. Then we do the "down and up" part with the needle at the same time, so that we don’t have to turn the cloth over (see second pic). I also remind them to pull the needle from the bottom so the end of the yarn isn’t always sliding out.    

     

My kindergarteners sewed a sun shape and filled the middle with doodads for the face - really cute!

Fourth graders made embroidered portraits, some human and some animals :)

  





Lots of my older students enjoyed potholder weaving at the end of the year - many stopped by in the mornings before classes to get in a little weaving each day.

Magazine page sculptures, 4th grade

This is a fun way for kids to experiment with 3-D form without spending a lot of dough - use old magazines or newspaper! You will need a reasonable amount of tape, but that's it. Roll tubes from the pages and assemble! Start with a three or four sided base and go upward from there. Some classes raided the yarn scraps and paper strip scraps for additional details. Students could work in teams or independently.

Murals and shacks

Can you tell I'm trying to catch up on my sadly neglected blog? Doubling up on the content for each post :).

Fourth graders learned about community murals and their purposes - beautification, advertising, sharing a message. We drew plans on printed images and  used a planning sheet for working out/explaining what the intention of our mural was.

First graders looked at the art of Beverly Buchanan and created 3-D shacks from recycled materials we saved in the art room. Folk artists often use what they have or find rather than buying specific art materials.

Clay palettes and pots

Time is flying by, and my final Clay Day of the year was a quick but fun clay painters palette for my older kids. Here they are in the first stage - more pics to come! Also, a few shots of some super cute first grade pinch pots.

Sewing and Weaving!

All classes have been working on some type of sewing or weaving project in our fourth unit. Here are some in progress shots - we are wrapping it up very soon as our days in the year are numbered! The kids love working with fibers and always get really into it!

I will be posting a few how-to’s and step by step pics this week, I promise. I’ll also have pics of Kindergarten suns and 4th grade portraits.

Second grade flowers, made with running stitch and back stitch - a few had time to try the satin stitch.

First grade names with rainbow yarn - we used a running stitch.

Needle & Thread Clubbers are sewing some of their own creations, and also taking inspiration from artist Jessica Rosestitch on Instagram who makes embroidered sculptures. I’m making one of these as well - it's addictive!

  

  

 This face embroidery was inspired by an Instagram post from art_teacher_mama.



Fifth graders are learning to weave patterns on a cardboard loom - the end result is a wall hanging.


   

Third graders created embroidered monograms using the couching stitch.

I made magnetic boxes for needle storage this year and invested in a bobbin box from Walmart for the embroidery floss - working out well! You can also see my old method - storing in baggies.