Paper Mache Pets

This activity really exceeded my expectations, we have all had those lessons that seem like a great idea on Pinterest and don't always pan out when you execute them!  I wasn't sure if this would be one or not, but I had to try it because they were so cute! And I have to say, the kids were great in this class which helped.  They were able to finish these in about one week. 

 To begin I gave  each student a piece of poster board about 9x12 and I traced a curved edge on one side, they cut the line I traced.  I had them tape it into a cone shape (the curved edge they cut out went on the wide end of the cone) it gave it a flat bottom without them having to figure out how to get it to stand flat.  This would have taken too much time in my opinion.  

Next they created a ball out of newspaper and taped it to the point of the cone.  They then added a couple more pieces to it to make it larger, and shaped it with masking tape.  Students then had to decide if they were making a cat or dog.  If they were making a cat they had to add a small flattened ball to the front of the face, and for a dog a bigger longer snout.  

They were given tracers for the ears, long rounded ones or triangular pointed ones.  Dogs could use either, cats just pointy ones.  Students taped them on as well.  And then I had students create two legs and paws going down the front of the body.  If we had more time (we started these a week before xmas break) I would have shown them how to add back legs and a tail, so that will be an addition next time.  They covered everything in tape, and we then put paper mache on top of the tape  (although I am not sure how necessary this was.)  

Students were allowed to be as creative as they wanted with painting their pets.  They first chose an overall color, and the following day added details.  We used Sharpies to create the outline of the eyes, nose and mouth.  We looked at pics of dogs and cats to come up with overall guidelines for each animal.  The nose was the most obvious- for dogs it was larger and cats had a much smaller nose.  Most decided on simple black dot eyes, and for the cat whiskers we used pipe cleaners.

And finally, the collar!  I loved this finishing touch.  The students were given silver cardstock and ribbon to create a personalized collar for their pet.  They love their pets and I do too!! 

Southwestern Cacti

Students in 4th grade learn about he different regions of the US, and I wanted to tie in an art project to this.  I came across this lesson and thought they came out so vibrant and beautiful.  I had to get in on that!  I showed my class a Power Point reviewing the different regions briefly and then focused on the Southwest.  We looked at the plant life, weather, landforms and the artwork that is influenced by Mexico, and Native Americans.  The class really enjoyed creating the cacti and the patterns on the pottery.  We discussed warm and cool colors and I made them choose between a cool color scheme or warm color scheme for the sky.  They used tempera cakes to create the "sky".  Then on a separate paper they created the potted cacti with pencil, then black sharpie and finally colored with tempera cakes.  Once dry they cut it out and glued it to their sky background.  I had never used tempera cakes before this, next time I will have them use less water so the color come out brighter.