Tall Tales 2014- Elmer the Elephant

Today's book was Elmer by David McKee. 

After reading the book to the children, we started our 3 projects.

One project was a sponge painted Elmer. The students traced a large elephant shape onto a piece of white paper. They used square sponges dipped in paint to paint their elephant. For the sponges, I bought Miracle Sponges from School Specialty. They come in a pack of thin sponges that are easy to cut into whatever shape you want (in this case, small squares). Once they are dipped in water, they expand to their full size.

The second project was an elephant sculpture made out of air dry clay. The student made their sculpture and then placed them onto a piece of cardboard for transport (the parents brought cereal boxes that were cut into manageable sizes). The children painted the elephants with tempera paint. 

The last project of the day was an elephant made out of a milk jug. The jugs were cut in half and we used the part with the handle (this acted as the trunk). The children covered the jugs with tissue paper and watered down glue. They added googly eyes and ears (made out of foam sheets) and then decorated them with yarn, beads, and any other materials they could get their hands on.

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Tall Tales 2014- Gugu's House

Today's book was Gugu's House by Catherine Stock.  After reading the book, the children did a geometric painting, made a water bottle Ndebele doll and built cylindrical clay houses.

For the geometric paintings (Adventures in Elementary Art), the students started out by drawing lines with a ruler. Some of the students used symmetry, others, not so much. Once the lines were done, they were encouraged to paint the spaces first and then add the black outlines.

Our second project today, was creating an Ndebele doll out of a water bottle. I have actually done this project with my 4th grade classes before and had a lot of success with them. The students filled the water bottle about 1/2 way with water (so that they wouldn't tip over). Then they used polyfill and black fabric for the head and attached the head to the bottle with a rubber band. Scraps of fabric were used for the clothes and then they were decorated with all of the scrap materials that we have accumulated over the last couple of days.

Here is an authentic Ndebele doll: 

And here are the students' creations:

The last project was building a cylindrical house. The student started out with a slab of air dry clay. They created a cylinder and attached the 2 ends. They were given a piece of cardboard for the base. Tempera paint was used to decorate the houses in bold, geometric patterns. A roof was added by cutting a circle with the radius cut. This was folded to create a cone shape. The children used popsicle sticks and yarn to make the roof look thatched.

An Ndebele cylindrical house: 

The students' houses: 

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