DIY: Pumpkin Planter!

Hey, y'all! Last week I shared that I created this Skull Planter. While at the same time I was makin' that mess, I also created this cutie! I finally got around to painting it and thought I'd share the process with you.

If you are looking for the supplies I used, mainly, Celluclay, you can find it here. 

Okay, now for the process!

Now I don't plan on keeping him out all year like my skull planter so...I did just drop a plant inside that was already in a smaller planter. That way, when the season is sadly over, I can just take it out. However...I love his happy face so much that I may keep him out past Halloween!

In case you would like to see more things I've crafted from Celluclay (and maybe a little inspo for spooky crafts), check out this blog post! 

Everything about this season makes me so happy. Including this guy!

Thanks for letting me share!

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Easy Pumpkin Sculptures!

Hey, y'all! 

I'm all about the Halloween projects lately and I came up with one that I know your students will love! I mean...I loved making it so even if you just need a fun little weekend craft to unwind, you may want to try this one on for size. 

You can find the supplies for this right here. But really...it's just foil sheets, plaster wrap and acrylic paint. Sticks, felt and pipe cleaners are things the average art teacher has in surplus so...you can add that to your shopping list if necessary. But if you are anything like me, those types of supplies seem to multiply in your supply closet!

I created a kid-friendly video for you to share with your students if you'd like. You can find it here:

Personally, I know my students would struggle with the face. So! I talk about embracing your mistakes a lot in the video. I also chat about practicing first. I would recommend doing the faces with a paint pen if you have younger students. I know paint pens like Posca markers are expensive...so maybe it's a station students can rotate to when finished.

But who's to say they have to add a face? They could designs like dots with a sponge brush. Or they could collage a face onto the pumpkin. That might be easier for them. OR you could bust out those googly eyes that also multiply in your closet. I mean, really, the possibilites are endless. Just start with a cute pumpkin base!

If you need a little time between pumpkins drying, you might want to check out this post. Students could work on this pumpkin drawing activity in addition!

Full video right here!

Most of all, have fun! And if you create these cuties, please be sure and tag me on social media. I love to see what you and your students create!

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My Favorite Sculpture Projects for Kindergarten through Fourth Grade!

This week, on my podcast Everyday Art Room, I'll be sharing my favorite sculpture projects, materials and supplies. Since so much of what I'll be talking about is visual, I thought I'd also put it all together in this here blog post. Please be sure to click the highlighted links as those provide the full lesson and, oftentimes, a video lesson!

Before diving in, I thought I'd share my favorite supplies to hoard for sculpture. Here's my Top Ten:

1. Toilet paper tubes! Just send out an email and you'll get more than you'll ever need.

2. SCHOOL paper towel tubes! The paper towel tubes at my school are super sturdy and thick and are my fave for sculpture.

3. Packing supplies! Packing peanuts (a rarity these days which is for the best) and what I call "packing pillows" are my favorites for sculpture.

4. Cereal Boxes! They are also great for when you run out of paper...they are the perfect weight to withstand paint.

5. Cardboard! Visit your school cafeteria manager and ask her what she often disposes of. Cans, cardboard, boxes...all of these items are perfect for sculpture.

6. Restaurant supplies! Okay, now I don't want no trash brought into my art room so I never take used items, especially ones that have held food. BUT if you visit your local restaurant supply, you'll find so many great items for sculpture. 

7. Aluminum foil! Dollar Tree sells aluminum foil by the sheets and it's the perfect size for the sculptures we create in my art room.

8. Egg cartons! You probably already collect these for paint...but they are also perfect for plaster molds (for candy! Scroll down!) and sculpture armatures.

9. Chopsticks! I love chopsticks or skewer sticks. We use them a ton in my art room.

10. Containers! My husband rinses out and saves nearly every lid (perfect circles!) and container we use for my art room. It may drive me bonkers but we use them all!

Now, I know what you're thinking: Stephens! I don't have the storage space for all that! To which I say, that's why you do this sort of craziness at the end of the year. Hoard it, bust it out and then send it all home. What you don't use, toss them in grab bags and let the kids create on their own at home.  

The following is a much shorter list of my favorite sculpture materials:

1. Activa Products Rigid Wrap. I LOVE plaster wrap for sculpture. It has replaced papier mache in my room. It dries super fast and leaves the sculptures rock hard. The only draw back is the price, it's not cheap. But it's my go-to and the kids love it.

2. Art Paste. If you GOTTA use papier mache (maybe you love it!) then I recommend Art Paste. It's great stuff.

3. Activa Products Celluclay. If you don't have a kiln, this stuff is great. It isn't like real clay...it's more like a paper pulp clay. You do have to mix it up (I don't recommend having kids do it) and it can be dusty...but I love the stuff. 

4. Model Magic. No prep, just open an pack and go. It's not cheap so we use this sparingly.

Okay! Now that we have that covered, let's talk projects!

1. Paper Sculpture! Paper sculpture is a project I do with my kindergarten kiddos on their very first days in art class...and every year THEY ROCK IT. This year, I did it with the entire school as apart of a project I called Getting to Know You Sculptures. 

2. Pipe Cleaner and Recycled Sculptures! This is another project that I do with my kindergarten friends. We use insulation foam, pipe cleaners, packing peanuts and, this year we'll be adding cardboard squares to the mix. You can read all about it here.

 3. TP Tube Pencils! Need a QUICK sculpture project that is a sure fire hit with your kids? Last year my FIRST GRADERS made these and loved it! They are made with TP tubes, snow cone paper cones (or tagboard rolled into a cone shape), aluminum foil and paint. All the details with video here! 

4. Crayons and Crayon Boxes! Another kid fave, y'all, and so easy. In groups, the kids used cereal boxes for their crayon boxes. This was also a great way for them to explore color theory as they had to come up with their own custom crayon color. They also had to come up with a name for the color. More here. 

5. Paint Tubes from TP Tubes! I think what some folks find daunting about sculpture is the notion that it has to be big and elaborate. You might have a small room, short class time and big classes...so manage your lessons around that. This lesson I think you and your students will love! 

6. Spilled Glue Bottles! Do you see a theme here? One of our art show themes last year was "art supplies"...so that's where the inspiration for all of these came from. You can tour that portion of the art show here. Details on these bottles here! 

7. Candy Hearts! These were so fun to make...while munching on candy hearts, of course. Created with tagboard and plaster wrap. The big box was painted by my early finishers, using a recycled box. All the details, with video, here. 

8. Jim Dine-Inspired Second Grade Hearts! These were created with tin foil and Celluclay. Colorful and fun with all the info here. 

9. Plaster Candy Hearts! My second graders are currently creating treasure boxes and they think it is the best thing ever. It reminded me of this project a couple years ago...my third grade had created these papier mache candy boxes with plaster candies. They had a BLAST! The candy was created from plaster poured into a variety of molds like egg cartons and ice cube trays. For more info, visit here. 

10. Taxidermy Creatures! This lessons has yet to be tested on my students but I've shared it in many workshops and it's a hit. Those teachers have in turn done it with their kids with great success. Just a little foil, Celluclay and imagination for this one. 

Happy sculpting, friends!!

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In the Art Room: Paint Tube Sculptures

 So, a while back I shared with y'all that my students were sculpting art supplies. My first graders made pencils, some of my fourth graders made glue bottles, my third graders made crayons, and my second graders made glue sticks and scissors (which I've not blogged about yet! Stay tuned!). Two of my fourth grade classes made tubes of paint. We JUUUUUUST finished them off this week as I totally forgot about them in the middle of us working with clay, sewing our pizza pillows and end-of-the-year/art show madness. So, without further ado, here they are! 

 For this lesson, we used toilet paper tubes as our armature. We wrapped them with Activa's Rigid Wrap and created the paint with Celluclay. Here's the video tutorial I created:

Instead of having the kids paint the words on the tube, which proved to be a touch difficult for me, they came up with their own names and wrote them on a white label. That was then attached to a black strip of paper which I hot glued to their tubes. 

 Once the tubes were created, we did the 100 Color Challenge to come up with our own unique color for our tube. The challenge was apart of my evaluation. You can check out more of that here:

Once the kids had come up with their color, they added that and their own concoction of gray to the tube. 

 Dreaming up the color names was probably the best part!

 With our art show just two weeks away, I'm excited to see all of our art supply sculptures on display. 

 If we'd had the time, I would have loved for these guys to create palettes and paint brush sculptures too...but the school year just isn't long enough for all the fun!

 For our art show, we're going to have quite the mix of 3D displays: art supplies, super heroes and pizzas! I've tried to think of a way to have them all make sense together...but they just don't and that's okay. 

 I also coulda spent an entire year having the kids sculpt art supplies, it was so fun! 

 I cannot wait to share with you how are art show is progressing. I'm sorry I've been spotty here...it's just the busiest time of the year! You know what that's like, right? 

 To seal these projects, they were covered in Extreme Glitter ModPodge...yes, that's a thing. For the bottom, ModPodge was added and then sprinkled with silver fine glitter.

 The kids and I are thrilled with how they turned out! 

 I'm down to just a few more days of art classes with this fourth grade bunch...which makes me sad. I've taught them since kindergarten...I hope they have as fond of memories of me as I have of them! 

 Thanks for letting me share this project with y'all...if you've given it a shot, I'd love to hear about it!

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DIY: TP Tube to Paint Tube Ornament!

A couple weeks ago, I was gifted this AMAZING rainbow wreath from Treetopia. I was also given a RAINBOW TREE which I'll be sharing the big reveal of right here, tomorrow...so stay tuned. Not even gonna be modest about it, it's amazing (catch a sneak peak here if you gotta). I decided a while back that I wanted to create an art supply-themed tree and wreath. My students will also be creating art supply sculptures in the next couple of weeks. These here toilet paper tubes to paint tubes is one that I'm super excited about!

These can be ornaments, sculptures, additions to other projects, you name it! I have a BIG idea for this whole art supply sculpture project...but I don't wanna get ahead of myself (as I often do) so let me stick with the project at hand. You are gonna be amazed at how simple it is to create these bad boys! Check it out:

 That's right! All you need are the following:

* TP tube
* 4 Squares of 4" square plaster cloth
* 1 pingpong sized piece of Celluclay
* Paint and glitter

My students have been BEGGING to make these since I created the display at the start of the year. They've been collecting and bringing in TP and paper towel tubes like crazy. I think I might add this to their sculpturin' to-do list. To speed up the process, I'm thinking of having them make the sculptures, I'll spray paint them silver, they can add some painters tape to block out what is to remain silver and they can paint the colorful part. I think this will speed up the process and allow for greater success with painting neatly (which can be a struggle). My plan is to do this with either my third or fourth grade kiddos. I'm working on a sculpture art supply lesson for my 1-4th grade kids so stay tuned (and I would LOOOOVE to hear your ideas so please throw 'em my way!). 

 I have had this "plain" wreath outside my art room door for ages and, while it's super colorful and pretty, let's be honest, I HAD to decorate it. I mean, have you even met me? NOTHING gets past me without being bedazzled, tackified and/or decorated in some sort of sparkly, paint-splattery fashion. 

Y'all are gonna have so much fun making these. Please let me know if you and/or your students create some of these paint tubes!

 If I didn't already have my spray paint cans up on the wall, I'd be tempted to make bigger versions of these for a color theory display! 

I'll be sharing how I created the brush ornaments tomorrow when I do the tree reveal...be sure and pop back by!

 I will say, creating these has me LOVING and LIVING for some glitter...even if it is currently on every surface of our house. Including the cat. 

Oh and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I'm thankful for all y'all readers, sweet comments and just general love every single day. Thank you!

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In the Art Room: Box of Chocolates UPDATE!

Join us tonight right here at 8pm CST on Wednesday to chat about BURNOUT. We've all been there. Let's share our stories and talk about ways of lifting ourselves out of burnout and getting the fire back into our art teacherin'. See you real soon!

Hey, y'all! Just thought I'd do a wee update on this incredibly fun project my students just wrapped up. They learned all about contemporary artist Peter Anton, created a heart-shaped box armature, covered it in papier mache and made fun plaster-cast chocolates. We are finishing them off this week and I thought I'd share. 

Here's the lesson video I shared with my students. This project took us about three one-hour art classes. 

 Supplies:

* Tag board for heart: one 8" square
* Tag board for sides of heart: 1" X 24" 
* Stapler
* Tape
* Newspaper cut into strips on the paper cutter
* Papier mache paste. We used wheat paste after checking for gluten allergies.
* Paint for the heart
* Plaster. We used Art Plaster by Activa Products
* Containers to make the "chocolate". We used ice cube trays and egg cartons
* PUFFY PAINT!

 Day One: We made the armature. We were in the middle of wrapping up another project so we did the armature in one class and early finishers completed their previous project.

 Day Two: We did our papier mache! It was good messy fun. Then we did an insanely fun clean up...

I hosed the tables down with shaving cream and let the kids spread it out and draw and play in it for a good five minutes. Then we had a Clean Up Game. Here's how it worked: I placed a tub of water and sponges on each table. I told the kids that WITHOUT TALKING, they were to wipe down their tables and get their table the cleanest in the room. I even provided old hotel key cards for the kids to scrape off the glue. You have never seen kids work so hard! If you go here, and scroll down a pinch, you can catch a couple short clips of my kids in action. 

Day Three: We picked out three to four plaster cast chocolates and painted them in a couple different shades of brown. While those dried, we painted our heart-shaped boxes. With about 10 minutes left of class, I busted out the puffy paint...and the crowd went wild! The boxes will be sealed with sparkle puffy paint before being placed on display.

This project was definitely a kid fave. Love to hear if you've given this lesson a go in your art room! 

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