I decided to give the kids a whirl with the felt balls yesterday and I’m so glad I did. I wasn’t sure how they’d respond to the warm water and the steady rolling and gently molding and all that. Turns out, they were pretty much pros after the first roll. Plus, they loved it and were introduced to a totally new medium. Proud art teacher moment.
The wool is from Sarastexturecrafts, who wrote a nice little shout out to me the other day. Thanks Sara!
If you’re over the whole Alien Nation thing, come back tomorrow, because when I got to Art Camp yesterday, the kids had been working on it all morning before I even arrived!
They even made up names, which I can’t wait to do for my Alien Army.
So when we were done, I got them ready for the oven…
And in between burning the whole tray due to a chicken nugget/sculpey combo incident, we were able to salvage this great hamsa and put it on a pin. (Note to self: toxic clay, food products, and children-not a great mix. Oy.)
I cant wait to do these glue batik t-shirts with my kindergartners. I think we’ll make a k family quilt from batik squares the first week of school. In the meantime, here are some of the tees the kids made. They came out great, were super easy, and the kids felt super proud of themselves. Win. Win. Win.
So, I had all these great plans for camp yesterday, including…
this cool drum stick monster
And this sculpey hamsa
But instead, all they wanted to do was this!
Which lead me to this, until about midnight last night.
Meet the new recruits.
We’re up to 72. New goal-200. Obsessed!
Sofia, age 10
A few weeks ago I came up with this alien collection box project. To be honest, I thought it was a dud. I didn’t think the kids would go for it at all. Well, was I wrong! They found it in my things and couldn’t wait to make it. I’m talking totally engaged for half the morning. Kids never cease to amaze. Here are some of their collection boxes. It’s a little hard to tell from the photos, but basically, it’s a box with an accordion folded paper glued in. The kids drew aliens and other things on the panels of the accordion.
Theo, age 5
Viv, age 6
Chaz, age 6
My idea to do an alien world shadow box was inspired by Joel’s aquarium. I just shifted the theme and added a backdrop from outer space. The results were pretty fantastic. Probably the best embellishment we did, thanks to Evan, was to add glow in the dark paint at the end. The kids LOVED that detail. Good one Ev. You’re such an artist.
Here art the steps.
1. Get a box (cereal box, cracker box, shoe box) and cut off one side
2. Paint the inside of the box to look cooool.
3. Draw some simple space shuttles and ufo’s with a sharpie and paste to the background.
4. Make cool alien dude drawings in sharpie on construction paper. Cut them out and glue onto cardboard. Cut slits with an exacto knife at the top of the box. Attach the wire to cool buttons to slide through the slats in the cardboard. (I added some sequins to my aliens to make them shiny and supercool.)
6. We added glow in the dark paint as a final touch. Big hit!
Here are some of the kids
Dexter, age 6
Theo, age 5
It was a busy weekend here at the Cherry house. We have enlisted a total of 55 new recruits to Alien Army 1st Infantry.
Our chief squad in the Chain of Command (clearly I am going to have to brush up on my army lingo)
Here’s the squad with several generals and first sergeant ________. (I am currently taking suggestions for names. If you send me a name that works, I will send you an Alien Army new recruit. First Sergeant is the purple dude with green dots.)
Here is the final stage of our Space Shuttles. They came out pretty awesome.
Jonas, age 5
And here are the kids Out of this World Wonder Wheels.
And of course, we can’t forget this little dude by Dexter, age 6. You can see the alien puppet tutorial here.
And this one, by Vivian, age 6
And lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to Sofia, my very special assistant, who worked her butt off today. Great job!
I’m psyched to make these alien puppets in art camp tomorrow. I know the kids will outdo my little guys here.
Materials-card stock (I reused some old folders), duct tape, brads, puffy paint, dowel, ribbons if desired
1. Cover card stock with duct tape. Draw your alien parts and cut out.
2. Hole punch spots for the brads and attach.
3. Puffy paint galore.
4. Tape dowel to the back and you’re done. Now play.
BFFS
I’ve been wanting to do this project for months. I found it in Todd Oldham’s amazing book KID MADE MODERN. Highly recommend! The Wonder Wheel is inspired by Ray and Charles Eames work. I added a little Out of this World Alien flavor and voila! I great art display for all your kids goodies.
I started off with a cork board circle from ikea.
I painted it white.
I painted six clothespins green and then glued them onto the cork board. Then I took puffy paint and decorated till my hearts content.
