Styrofoam Explorations

‘If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.’
— Rachel Carson

work in progress, 2nd grade student

These explorations are yet to be finished but the 50% mark (or so?) is so dear that I had to share them.
Each student had a cardboard tray, scissors and a glue stick.  I showed them how to thread a needle. The journey was theirs for the taking.









So today was the day, we were able to finish our styrofoam explorations.  Watching the kids create these was like watching the ocean ebb and flow as there was not a set ending point, it was constant creation.    As one student said,  "I can see myself adding more to this at home and turning it into a huge sculpture."

"I started off making 2 swords but now  I don't know what it is, I've kind of lost myself  while I 'm making it."
                                                           Ian, 2nd grade student


That my friend, is flow.

Puppets

Can you tell these were all made by boys?!  I find that the 5 and 6 boys can be quite a challenge as far as coming up with lessons that keep their interests high.  I definitely recommend this lesson if you too have that challenge. A, for the freedom to create a character and B, for the sewing.   First they were to create a character that was of their own  design.  They usually want to do something from a video game or a movie.  After a certain amount of "artist's block" they ventured out and came  up with some great stuff.  I also love the sewing part.  There's nothing like a room full of boys learning how to sew, it's as if they are in a trance of some sort.

Yes!  I got the thumbs up on this one!
In hindsight, yes, they're 10 or l1 years old, but they're
even younger at heart.


Steps:

1. Have them draw their character on a folded piece of large paper.  Make sure the neck starts at the folded edge so it will not come apart later.
2. Color in with oil pastels.
3. Have them draw a dashed line to represent where they will cut.
4. Cut out the character.
5. Hole punch all along the character.
6. Demonstrate how to thread a needle and how to do a running stitch.  We used about 4 feet of yarn for each puppet.
7. Remember to leave about 4 inches of yarn in the back (tape it so it wont move) so you can tie this to the other  end later.
8. Have them sew.
9. Tie the two loose ends together on the back.
10. Now you can cut where the fold is to separate the front and back panels.