Wacky dioramas

I love giving kids unusual materials to work with.  They often become very careful and meticulous, and conscious of the special-ness of what they are being allowed to do.  For this project, I armed a few helpful adults with hot glue and lay out a table full of bunch of small fun stuff- recycled scraps, classroom leftovers, old toys that tend to go un-played-with, feathers, beads, fabric, magnetic poetry, buttons, etc.  Each child was allowed to take several turns through the supply table so that everyone had a chance to get some "good stuff."  These are some of the things kids made.  I think they're really interesting!

Rainbowed-out headphones

Start with some simple headphones.  Anything will do!

Standard cheap headphones like you get at the airport when you forget to pack yours from home.

Get some Perler beads from Amazon or Michaels or something.  I used around 325 beads.  Also get an exacto knife.  Cut a slit through the side of each bead like this:

Safety first!  Wear goggles.  For added excitement, do this whole project balanced on the arm of a couch.  What was I thinking??  #couchfullofbeads

You've got to thread these onto the wire, but from the side.  Here is the good news, and what I figured out through trial and error:  you can use the plug itself as a wedge to hold the bead open while you thread it on.  Like this:

Just kind of jam it in there

Wedge the wire in that space

You did it!

Now do it 300 more times.

Just keep going forever.  I found the thinner wires that are near the upper part of the headphones where they split fit nicely with the beads, whereas the thicker part of the wire that connects to the device showed a little seam.

no seam showing

seam showing

                                       
but it didn't really bother me.  Here's the finished product, a few hours later:

I left a little space between the beads to allow for more flexibility.

                                       
A nice thing about beading your headphone wires is that they don't get tangled at all!  They do take up more space though, and attract more unicorns.

Because of the rainbows!!!  :D

Self Portraits

There are lots of cool ways to make self portraits with kids.  Often detaching the goal of realism helps kids feel more comfortable experimenting with shapes, colors, techniques, etc.  Here are a few different ideas to try:  (A lot of these are mine instead of the kids', for privacy)

Scratch art portraits

See how to make your own scratch art paper here!

Masks using fabric scraps, pipe cleaners, beads, and paper cone cups

It is VERY important to bring in good fabric scissors or else this will be a very frustrating project for the kids- most kids art room scissors are much too dull to cut effectively.  MAKE SURE TO PUT AWAY PIPE CLEANERS BEFORE YOU BRING OUT THE GOOD SCISSORS.  One snip can ruin a good pair!

These were so fun I'm putting in a bunch.  These are simpy tempera paint on black construction paper.

I think they look so cool!!

We tried to leave black space between paint sections to keep the colors looking vibrant.  

As I've mentioned before, adding in some element of an unusual or unfamiliar art supply can really inspire kids.  Here, I had them choose one word from a magnetic poetry set that they felt described them.  Then they drew the feelings that word game them and glued on the piece.

Last but not least, one of my favorites- Andy Warhol-inspired portraits!

Oh my. 

The kids LOVED these.  Take a picture of each child making a silly face.  Then print out 4 side-by-side copies of it in black and white on plain printer paper.  Then color over them with colored pencils!

The frame here is made out of scraps of discarded art.  We did this a lot, and it helped us remember to get as many uses out of a single sheet of paper as we could!  (We also read The Lorax at the beginning of each week to help us remember to conserve and recycle resources!)

Icicle Ornaments

These are fun, nondenominational winter gifts that are quick and easy to make, especially with some prep!  They're also cute tied into present bows, or secretly hung all over the house.

Use medium-gauge wire and cut pieces about 3 inches longer than you want the finished icicle to be.  Curl the bottom into a little spiral using needle nose pliers.  This step can be done to all of them before you begin.  Let kids string beads and sequins on the wires, and then curl the top into a hook.  Note how the tops of the wires are curled in too (click the pictures to make them bigger!)- that prevents them from being pokey.  We used a big marker to make the top hooks even.

Decorate with wild abandon!