3rd Grade - Paper Mache Pumpkins

Paper Mache is messy... there is no way around it. But, it is an inexpensive 3-D project that I think every elementary student should experience. In the past, I've made pinatas and Chinese lanterns, but this time, it's pumpkins. First, I'll explain how I taught the project this time, and then I'll tell you what I'll change for NEXT time (we're always learning as we go, aren't we?). This is going to be a long post, and I apologize for the wordiness, but I'm hoping if you're hesitant about trying this, you might give it a shot if I explain how I did it.

Prep Work:

1. Because I only wanted to do one day of the paste (much easier, believe me), I pre-assembled the structure. I blew up balloons, and then attached a toilet paper roll at the end for the stem. To attach it, I cut slits in the end so it would "flower out" and stick to the end with masking tape. Sorry I don't have a picture of this... I also glue the students' name tags inside the tube so that I can tell them apart.

2. I also arrange my room in a different way to make things go easier. I use half of my tables for the pasting, and the other half as a "clean area" for students to go do a drawing assignment when they are finished. On the messy half, I lay out newspaper or some sort of covering for easy clean-up afterward... I can turn the messy tables into clean tables as students finish.

3. For the paste, I swear by Elmers or School Specialty Art Paste. It's a powder that comes in a little box and mixes with a gallon of water. The trick is to use cold water and stir as you pour so it doesn't get clumpy. It's unscented and doesn't mold like homemade mache tends to... plus it's cheap. It has to sit for at least 15 minutes after mixing, then I pour it into low pans.

4. Rip the newspaper. I like to do this in front of the TV the night before. I rip a whole page in half, against the grain, then rip 2-3 inch strips with the grain.

5. Have paper towel ready. Have large pieces ready to go. I take a roll and cut a slit in it, top to bottom, with a utility knife so the pieces just come off.

Mache Day:

1. I start out by quickly demonstrating how to dip both sides of a newspaper strip into the mache, using "scissor fingers" to squeegee the excess off back into the tray, and then smoothing it down onto the balloon and tube. I tell them they have to do at least 2-3 layers of newspaper, and then finish with ONE layer of paper towel. The only purpose of the paper towel is to have a solid color on the outside so you can't see the newspaper letters and pictures when you paint. The paper towel is just put dry onto the wet balloon, and then smoothed out with a little mache on the hand.

2. When students indicate they are finished with the newspaper, we check to make sure that there is no balloon showing, and also that there is no where that the newspaper is so thin that you can see the color of the balloon underneath it. If it's good, then I give them the paper towel.

The pumpkins need to dry about a week, and rotated throughout so all areas can dry. Before painting day, I pop the balloon and dent the bottom so it will stand up.


Then, they paint! I had a few students who don't celebrate Halloween, so they can just paint lines down the pumpkin for a regular fall pumpkin instead of a jack-o-lantern.


It really was pretty successful, though I might make a few changes next time. Someone at an art ed conference told me that instead of newspaper, they use colored bulletin board paper. This saves the step of painting. I'm thinking it might work well if we paper mached orange bulletin board paper on the balloon alone (no roll). They could paper mache a nametag on the bottom so they could be told apart. Then, after drying, the roll can be glued to the top and painted, along with a face. Less prep for the teacher, more doing for the students.

Almost all students agreed this project was a ton of fun (possibly their all-time favorite), even though I feel like a crazy frenzied teacher when we do it. Definitely worth it for all!

Halloween Mash-Up

Well, it's been a good long while, hasn't it? I guess starting out, blogging is difficult to be motivated to update without many followers. But, on the flip side, I'm not comfortable 'marketing' this blog until I have a good set of content to fall back on - and proof that I will actually continue to update so it's even worth following.

So, I am back. Now that I am getting used to our new schedule at school, I am ready to squeeze in some time to post.

I am a sucker for holiday projects, ESPECIALLY Halloween. I don't get into Christmas projects as much for whatever reason, but spooky, creepy, and silly lessons are where it's at. For the next few days, I am going to be overloading you with Halloween lesson ideas, as the 31st is coming up fast! Of course, there are always students who don't celebrate some or all holidays, so I have alternatives ready to go as well.

First, I have a Pumpkin Patch project, which I teach to my 3rd graders. It seems like a simple drawing, but there are tons of vocabulary words and drawing skills jam-packed in it. I start by showing my example, below, and asking students why some pumpkins LOOK closer than others. They are always inclined to say, "Because it's closer...", but I insist that it is not actually closer, I just used some drawing "tricks" to make them look that way. Eventually we discover together...

Objects that look closer are...
1... bigger
2... lower on the paper
3... overlapped in front
4... drawn with more detail



We also briefly cover horizon line, foreground, middle ground, and background, and I show them quickly how to make a road/river/railroad tracks that come from the background to the foreground.

Whew!

Students are then free to draw their pumpkin patch and add whatever details they want. It can be a Halloween-themed patch, but it doesn't have to - it can just be a farm or whatever. Before outlining with Sharpie and coloring in with crayons or colored pencils, I usually have students check their drawings with me to be sure they have enough DETAIL. I'll post some kid results later on.

Jim Dine Valentines

Jim Dine is the perfect artist to showcase this time of year. His pop art images of hearts go hand-in-hand with Valentine's Day, and allow us art teachers to feel like we're not just doing a silly craft (although those are fun, too, I admit). I've seen many variations of this project on other art ed blogs, but this is my take on it. I do this project with 3rd grade, in two 70-minute sessions. Because it is such a long class period and the watercolor part of it needs to dry, I do this in conjunction with a Chinese New Year project, which will be my next post.

During the first class period, it is all about watercolor. We fold a 12x18" piece of paper 3 times in half so that there are 8 sections. Each section has a different watercolor technique: Wet on wet, wet on dry, crayon resist, oil pastel resist, salt, plastic wrap, and two free spaces.

On the second day, we talk about Jim Dine and his pop art images. Then students choose 4 of their watercolor sections to be hearts, and 4 of them to be squares. I have square stencils for them to use, but they have to create their own heart "stencil" by folding a square paper in half and drawing half a heart. Then the squares and hearts are glued onto a 12x12" black square piece of construction paper. I stress the importance of laying everything out before actually gluing.

The projects make quite a statement in the hallway, if I do say so myself.

3-D Spaceships

These spaceships combine all the goodness of 3-D shapes, texture, crayon resist, and creative drawing. I use this one with 3rd grade and it takes about one 70-minute session. We begin by talking about what "3-D" means and the difference between actual three-dimensional objects and when things LOOK three-dimensional. Then we sketch some basic 3-D shapes together in their "Art Start" books (more on those later). For the final product, students draw a spaceship and background, color with crayon (I allow them to use my texture plates), make stars by pressing hard with white or yellow crayon, and then paint the space black. I usually get great results and I love the creative things students come up with in their drawings! One of my favorite memories of this project is a student trying to convince me that he should be able to leave a large planet in his picture white - I'm a big stickler for no white spaces in drawings. So, he told me, "Well, OBVIOUSLY aliens like this would live on a white planet..." like that explained everything. Awesome.

Art Classroom Tip: Art Start Books

For my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, it's really nice to have an art activity for them to do as soon as they get into the classroom, as they don't always have a project they are in the middle in. Therefore, I have them do an art journal, which I call the "Art Start". I have an open-ended question for them each time they come in written on the board, and they answer it with a drawing, writing, or both. If they finish drawing more quickly than everyone else, they can color the picture they drew or do a quick free-draw in the book, but I only give them a couple minutes so it doesn't eat up my 35-minute class time. We create the books the first day of class by folding about 5 sheets of cheap 12x18" manila paper in half and then have a folded 12X18" construction paper as the cover. I have a nice long extended stapler to put staples through the middle, and voila! The books are stored in their table folders, so the students can automatically distribute them as soon as they get into class without needing any assistance from me. This is great for those times when the classroom teacher needs to talk to me for a few minutes, or if I need to get supplies organized, since I don't have any time in between classes. The question last week was, "If you could have any super power, what would you choose?" I also love that this activity jump-starts the creative juices, and gives them a spot for sketches that go along with projects.