Recycled Maasai Dolls

As mentioned before I love Africa, especially Kenya. Every year during our culture unit, I do a project about African art with the elementary grades. A favorite in the fifth grade classes are the Maasai tribe dolls.

The students learn about the Maasai culture and way of life. We view and discuss the traditional clothing and adornments that are typical of the tribe. The kids really love the bright colored fabrics and intricate bead work that the Maasai are famous for.

After discussion, the fun begins! We start making our own class "tribe" of recycled dolls. I have found that they best way to start the doll is simply with a plastic water bottle. The students fill the bottom of the doll with sand, which is so easily accessible since we are in the desert! Filling the bottle with a bit of sand keeps the doll from falling over when adding decoration.

Once the lid is put back on the bottle, the head of the doll is then attached. The students receive a pre-cut square of black fabric that they stuff with polyester cotton, and add a rubber band around the cap to keep the fabric from popping off.

The students are then free to add their own decorations including fabric, beaded necklaces, hair, and shields if they wish. I have done this project with fifth grade boys as well and it is always a hit!

In order to further the discussion on recycling, I usually show this video to my students while they are working: Recycled Art in Kenya. The students find it incredible that such amazing art work can be made from something as simple as a discarded flip flop!

Japanese Jewelry Boxes

So, I have been saving these cool cream cheese boxes for over a year for this particular assignment. The project idea popped into my head while I was making some cream cheese frosting for a delicious pumpkin cake that I had baked.

The boxes that come with this particular cream cheese product slide open and resemble a jewelry box. Once I had enough saved, my fourth graders took a look at the history of Japanese art. The students were then introduced to Japanese calligraphy. They practiced making symbols from hand outs that I had previously gathered, and then we began to paint!

The boxes were first opened all the way and painted a solid color. Some students chose black, others red. 

          

When the boxes were dry, students began painting their chosen symbols on the tops of the boxes. 

          

Wahlah! The finished product turned out beautiful!

            

The girls had a lot of fun with this, even the ones that did not necessarily "like" jewelry. The project itself took a lot longer than I had anticipated, it took about four 45 minute class periods. The students really took their time painting the symbols and decorations. Either way, we all had a blast and ended up with something really special. 

Pop Art Pizzas

I love Pop Art. What I love even more about Pop Art is teaching it! I always do at least one lesson on this art movement with every grade level, so I am always looking for new ideas. This year I stumbled upon a fabulous blog with this wonderful lesson: Pizza Sculptures so I decided to give it a try!

Before we started the project my third graders and I discussed a few important artists involved with this movement, one being Claes Oldenburg. The students loved viewing and talking about his giant sculptures. When I revealed our next project to the class, they literally cheered.

First the students cut two large triangles of some recycled paper I had been saving. At the beginning of the school year, our overseas supply shipment was delivered. There was so much packing paper leftover that I have giant black garbage bags full of the stuff waiting to be used! (Yay!)

 

As you can see, we had quite the mess. Paper everywhere!

 After the two large triangles were cut, they stapled both of the sides together leaving the top open. Students crumpled leftover packing paper and stuffed it into the opening. Once the pizza was full, they stapled the opening to form a crust.

The next class period third graders began painting red for the sauce and brown for the crust. When the paint was completed, they began to cut toppings of their choice. The toppings were then glued onto the wet paint.

 Our wonderful pop art pizzas were completed in only two class periods. We had so much fun with this!