Chameleons

As part of our jungle study, 3rd grade created clay chameleons and leaves to match.

We followed the lesson posted by Cassie Stephens to create these lizards. I love how different they all are, so much personality!

Van Gogh's Sunflowers

5th grade used a simple pinch pot method to create bowls. Then we added petals using the slip & score technique to turn them into sunflowers inspired by Vincent van Gogh's paintings. 

When a student asks if they can add a turtle in their sunflower, you don't say no. ^_^

This is my first time in many years using a kiln and my first time using glaze. All went well and they turned out super cute! You can find more information about this lesson and other Van Gogh lessons here. 

Scarab Necklaces

1st grade had a blast making these scarab necklaces based on the Egyptian myth of Khepri the beetle. We used model magic to create ovals. Then we used a wooden stick to make the impressions on the back and for the neck. We used the round end of the stick for the eyes. Then they used washable markers to add designs. We also made beads and strung them onto pipe cleaners to finish the necklaces. How cute are they?!

The Riddle of the Sphinx

5th grade started their Myths & Legends Unit by studying the myth of the Egyptian Sphinx! We created sphinxes from clay. You can find a video for that here. 

Then we wrote riddles to go with our sphinx. I loved this!

Textured Hearts

One of my favorite new lessons this year comes from kindergarten! As we explore the elements & principles of art, we created textured hearts on textured paper. I don't have many in-progress pictures of this; kindergarten moves faster than my camera.

We started by using oil pastels on texture sheets to create a textured piece of paper. Then we used Crayola Model Magic to create the hearts. First we pressed them into the texture sheets, then used heart-shaped cookie cutters (yes, this is a literal "cookie cutter" lesson) to cut out the hearts. So this could be adapted to any shape, depends on what kind of cookie cutters you have. The kids were amazed and the results are gorgeous. Can't wait to do these again next year. 

And a bonus surprise: I was going to glue these to their papers when they dried, so I had the kids set their hearts on their papers to keep them together. The hearts stuck to the papers, so I didn't have to glue them! :D 

Clay Sunflowers

5th grade viewed Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers series. We were inspired to create our own sunflowers using clay. Using the pinch pot method, we created shallow bowls. Then we added petals around the edges to turn the bowls into sunflowers.

After the bowls were created, we painted them using warm colors to really turn them into sunflowers!

Love how these turned out! 

Review:

We are also using Crayola brand air dry clay for the first time this year. It is by far my favorite air dry clay that I have tried. I have tried Blick brand and the air dry clay from Hobby Lobby. This clay is not overly messy, stays moist in the kids' hands, HL clay tends to dry out when we are using it) and the bonds were much stronger. This is the first clay project where I have had zero artworks break from being too brittle. Highly recommend!

Oaxacan Animals

4th grade created animals based on the folk art from the Oaxacan region of Mexico. We viewed original Oaxacan animals and created our own from clay. We painted them with bright colors and patterns to look like real Oaxacan folk art. Love the diversity of these animals!