Robots - Part I

What if you could build your own robot to help you? What would your robot do? Would it keep you organized? Would it make music? What would it look like?

We are doing this lesson with the 4th graders right now as an introduction to low relief sculpture using shapes. First we had a discussion about robots and students drew design sketches. Then we started building our robots using found cardboard, scissors, glue, and colored paper. These are the results of the first half of the project.

Supplies

* Cardboard pieces

* Scissors

* Glue

* Colored paper

* Pencils + colored pencils

* Markers + crayons

* Paint + brushes

* Found metal pieces

Blueprints

I did this lesson with the 2nd grade students as a 1 day introduction to printmaking. We had small discussion about relief printing and then talked about architecture and designing imaginary buildings. They really got excited when I demonstrated the printing process with my own building desingn.

All students were really engaged in the process and really loved the process of printing their relief plates. They also really loved that you could print the plates again and get multiples of the same image.

Supplies

* Foam plates

* Pencils

*Blue Ink

* Brayers

* White paper

Yarn Bombing - Part I

This is a lesson my cooperating teacher and I decided to do with our 7th grade classes to introduce weaving and street art. We had small discussion about traditional weaving, then discussed contemporary street art and yarn bombing. This really got the students excited to begin working.

We asked the students to bring in collected sticks to work with and we provided various color yarn. Some students wrapped the branches, while others tried basic weaving. All students were really engaged in the process. Once everyone finishes their individual pieces, we are going to yarn bomb the art room and create a collaborative installation.

Supplies

* Sticks

* Colored yarn

* Scissors

Table Monoprints

This is a lesson my cooperating teacher and I decided to do with one of our 2nd grade classes to introduce monoprints. We had the students paint freely and directly on the table. They weren't given any other direction than that. They had so much fun painting on the table!

Then they pressed a huge blank sheet of white paper and loved seeing their design print onto it. We cleaned our work stations then set out to turn the prints into something. We examined our prints and began discussing what they could be. We gave them crayons to add the details to turn them into whatever they resembled.

Supplies

* Large white paper

* Tempera paint

* Paint brushes

* Crayons