Constructing Home

What if we could build our own home? What would it look like? Who would live there? What would exist inside it? What would exist outside?

Inspired by a lesson I stumbled upon on Pinterest here, I had my K-1st grade students at the Summer Arts Institute construct these imagined homes out of popsicle sticks and glue. Once we were well into our "building" stage, I introduced pastels as a way to add detail. I love how these turned out!

Supplies

* Black construction paper

* Glue sticks

* Popsicle sticks (Some cut into smaller pieces)

* Pastels

Book About Me

As part of the summer arts institute at the Institute of Music for Children, I decided to have my younger students make the “Book About Me” accordian artist books. K-1st grade students were asked to create these flag books by developing small drawings on separate small pages, each representing a different question, such as “If I could fly, I would go to…” or “My favorite thing to do with my family is…”  The drawings created by the students were extremely personable and expressive. I love how these books turned out!

Supplies

* Thick white paper pre-folded with accordian spine

* Thick white paper pre-cut into small rectangles

* Colored pencils, markers, crayons

* Glue sticks

* Colored paper (for covers)

Inside/Outside Self Portrait Exchange

Working at a Summer Arts Institute over the summer, I created this project for my older students to  explore relief printing as a means of expression. Each student created two relief prints out of foam plates, one of their representational self-portrait (outside self) and one of their symbolic self-portrait (inside self).

Supplies

* Foam printing plates

* Relief printing ink

* Pencils (for carving design into plate)

* Wood pieces (for creating plates with glued foam cutouts)

* Scissors

* White paper (cut into strips
* Binders thread
* Binders needles

After the printing plates were made, each student editioned their prints so that there was one for everyone in the class. After we exchanged prints, we bound them into an artist book using the Japanese Stab Binding technique.