Weaving on a loom

I got these small wood looms from Discount School Supply. We had loads of ribbon and lace, and yarn to weave.

(It would be fun to have this larger loom too, for group projects and ongoing weavings using leaves and twigs from outside.)

The kids really enjoyed it, and most spent the nearly 2 hours working on their piece. If fact, 6 kids borrowed the looms to take home to do more weaving.
  
 
I explained to the kids that this is how the fabric for their cloths is made. We also talked about Indian rugs and how hard it would be to make a picture or pattern in a weaving.
 

oops, looks like someone borrowed my camera! :-)

 
And with all that lace, a little impromptu fashion show.

 

And a little bit of time outside in the sunshine.

house construction

We had a full house (pun intended) for our house construction project. I asked the kids to brainstorm different types of places they might live--real or imagined--and then they set about to construct it.



shoe boxes, glue, tape, construction paper, foil paper, straws, cardboard tubes, telephone wire...all the usual building supplies.

Sophia and Kylee are building a duplex they will share.

Everyone was so engaged, the two hours flew by!

We had a table set up with supplies, and they could help themselves.

residences for superheroes

boathouses

small house, very large swimming pool

just the basics, art on the walls and a bowling alley.

Mansion. check out that giant bed with the lavender pillows!

A gated area for the dog on the roof

Two level home, with monogrammed rooms and in the middle, on the top level is a bed that reverses to a jacuzzi

Adinkra Symbols

A little time in the sun, before we started our project, drawing with sidewalk chalk.

A full class!
    
One of my favorite sources for art projects is Adinkra. These west African symbols are meaningful and fun to draw. I ask the kids to pick 4 symbols that represent traits they admire or aspire to be.
 
  
They drew four symbols in pencil, then oil pastel, then watercolored. They also chose one of the symbols and traced it, transferred it to fun foam and cut out a stamp. We did rubbings of the stamp, on cloth.

Bill Wechter, a photographer from the North County Times newspaper, visited the class and took photos. Click here to see his photos.
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I had the kids write the African word and the meanings of each symbol on their artwork.





Adinkra surface design! (They used their stamps and oil pastels to do rubbings on cloth)