I inherited a treasure trove of old Arts and Activities and School Arts magazines from the 1960s and 1970s.
Plaster sculpture cast in a wax paper milk carton. Inflated balloons create interesting negative space.
The balloons created terrific negative space. It reminded me a bit of Henry Moore’s sculptures. I thought it would be cool to try this out as a Henry Moore sculpture lesson with my art campers. We looked at some images of his work, then got busy.
The campers were able to scrape and shape the damp plaster.
It was a huge mess, of course. But fun! The kids (ages 8-11) really enjoyed the process.
Stop the presses! I just discovered a FABULOUS source for online children’s picture books. TumbleBooks, available online for free through some Public Libraries in the U.S.
Some libraries require viewers to hold a library card, but some do not.
WANT TO TRY IT OUT? Google ‘Tumblebooks free’ or try my steps below.
STEP 1:
Start by clicking here and CLICK ON ‘Tumblebooks’ or this icon
The three books are available as a ready-made playlist running 17 minutes. Project and go!
Go to your local library’s website and see if they offer Tumblebooks. Some school districts offer it as well – check out the school library’s website. Tumblebooks has some iPad books for kids as well (note: I was unable to read Tumblebooks on my iPhone).
Enjoy!! Leave a comment if this works for you. Do you have a favorite Tumblebook?
How about a cool, retro how-to-draw book? You can read What to Draw and How to Draw It online. The second graders loved drawing owls using the illustrations in this book.
Everyone loves clay! I went to the San Diego County Fair in June, and saw three fabulous clay projects in the youth art show.
1. The Golden Horses (Fifth grade and up)
Fifth graders made these horses. I love how the horse is balancing on tail and two legs.
These are made with some sort of clay on a wire armature. I am not sure if it is air dry, polymer or regular ceramic clay. I think polymer clay on a floral wire and foil armature, oven baked and then sprayed gold would work. You could use all those horse calendars as reference photos, plus any model or toy horses if you have them (when I was growing up, some of my horse-crazy friends collected them).
Fabulous mane, tail and hooves.
2. Name Art Tile (Fifth grade and up)
Name art tile
Do you have a multi-slab clay cutter? I do, and it looks like this was made using two slabs. Gorgeous! Love the combination of incised and overlapping shapes. This would be a project that parents and students would treasure for many years.
3. Multi-Color Coil Bowls
Top view of the bowl
Top view of another bowl
Love the coil feet!
I don’t think I can guess all the steps that went into making these bowls. I will add you will have to add and dry those coil feet when the bowl is inverted – otherwise the feet will collapse under the weight of the bowl.
Happy summer!
Want to see more fair projects? Check out this post.
