Snowman Snowballs with Paper Mache

Paper Mache Snowmen turned out great!  We read Snowmen at Night and began the creating.  I did this with my 2nd graders so I tried to keep it as simple as possible. We started making snowballs out of newspaper then wrapped them in masking tape to keep their shape.  Then we used a flour and watered down glue mix to paper mache the snowballs.  I spray painted the balls white because we were running out of time and I didn't think they would finish them in time if we had to wait another week for them to dry.  They cut out the features from construction paper and we glued on poms to make the ear muffs.  They all had such personality.  We used a straight pin and ribbon to poke through the back to make the hanger so they could be hung on the tree. 

Folk Art Reindeer



 Well the idea was to create these bright cheery reindeer then design with lines and patterns a cool folk art style background to glue the deer on.  Unfortunately we ran out of time before Christmas break and the reindeer was all we finished.  They begged me to let them take them home and I figured after the holidays I will be ready to move on.  So we ended with these and will try another piece in 2012.

My book I used was Olive the other Reindeer by Seibold.

Reindeers, Trees and Cranes...OH MY!

More Christmas stuff from my students getting ready for the holidays.  This year we talked about the origin and meaning behind some of the traditions in the United States. 

Kindergarten and 1st grade did these burlap reindeer ornaments.  They glued a clothes pin on the back so they could hang on the tree or be used for other purposes.  They turned out great.  The hardest part for them was cutting out the burlap.  With persistence they did complete the circle.

5th and 6th grade, along with our Chinese teacher, read the book The Tree of Cranes by Allen Say  then made these great origami cranes to place on the tree.

4th grade is working on sewing for the first time (a project that seems to be taking forever).  They each cut out their own triangles.  They had to make 2 that were identical.  We have some that are very tiny and some that are about the size of my hand. 

 

Now they are sewing on beads for ornaments.  Next week we will stitch the two together, stuff and sew on a rectangle for the trunk.  Last they will add a ribbon to the top so their softie tree can hang.

My student created these straw blown Christmas trees that we used with our MyCards project to make cards for parents to order for Christmas.  If you are not familiar with MyCards it is a great easy way to make some extra $ for your art room, go to http://www.mountaincolor.com/.

Recycling the Holidays

So....both of these projects turned out great.  My 5th and 6th graders have gotten SUPER CREATIVE with their recycled can projects.  I posted some new photos of their work here.

See the book and steps I used below!  I have seen these much larger on Canvas and Paper to hang and thought I would adapt them for an ornament.

 The perfect book to go along with my tree's this year...

A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree

 

We are getting brave in my class!  My 5th and 6th graders cut apart aluminum cans yesterday.  I have titanium scissors from Dick Blick that worked great.  We are going to hot glue these together next week into ornaments...I'm anxious to see how they turn out and will post pictures soon.

3rd grade is rolling up small magazine like the bead making process to construct a Christmas Tree ornament...my fingers are crossed that they will actually finish next week before we take off for Christmas break.  Happy Holidays!!

Here they are! 

1.  After my students rolled a variety of magazine rolls they selected several and put them in order of size on their table with the shortest at the top.  They did this twice so they could glue on the front and on the back. 

2.  Hot glued ribbon onto end of craft stick to make the loop for hanging on the real tree.

3.  Leave a thumb with at the bottom for the "trunk" then begin gluing the longest roll at the bottom and build up the stick the remainder of the tubes.

At the top over the hot glue cut out a foam star and glue on the top.

4.  Repeat steps for the back.

5.  Embellish with sequins, glitter, etc.

Peace, Love and Health for the Holidays




My school is an International Studies and Health Wellness magnet (a mouthful, I know!)  So, in the spirit of our magnet theme my fourth graders this year made clay ornaments using soft colors to represent Peace, Love and Health.  We had many hearts, peace signs, hearts that were peace signs, and representations of the Earth.  They look great on the tree!