Art with Mrs. O'Neill

I saw this idea online and just had to try it. This lesson was a great way to teach sculpture and was easy enough for the little ones to do. We cut the top of brown paper bags in strips. (I told the kids to use their thumb as a guide to the width of each strip). We opened the bottom of the bag and twisted into a trunk. Then twisted the top strips into branches. I hot glued the trees to a small piece of cardboard to help them stand up and students tore paper leaves to glue to the branches.

In kindergarten classes we are reading cat books of all kinds...Pete the cat, & bad kitty seem to be the favorites. students created a 3-D cat"hat". Some used the paper cat sculptures as puppets, or just pals to set next to them on the tables.  This is always a fun project, but does require a little prep work on the teachers end. I pre-draw white lines for the body, tail, feet, & head. Students decorate their cat using construction paper crayons & metallic crayons & then practice those cutting skills!  I prefer to staple the cat together & can do it pretty quick as students complete their cutting. They can glue pieces instead of stapling but with staples there's no drying time. 

I have a wonderful student teacher right now- Ms. Hillenburg. She has been working with 5th grade  in groups to create these giant paper flowers. The results are beautiful & the kids worked great together to create them!