Miniature paper towel roll collages

The other day my children were "visiting" in another classroom awaiting my arrival since I had part of the morning off.  When I came in they were painting and gluing feathers to empty paper towel rolls which the teacher was attaching ribbons to and hanging up sort of like wind socks.  When we left my kids begged to do it in our room too.  I had no feathers but I have a huge bin of collage odds and ends and tons of magazines so I gave them glue, paper towel rolls (that I am sure every teacher hoards by the hundreds in their closets), and the collage materials and let them go to town.  I figured that they would each do one or maybe two and tire of it, but I was very wrong.  They made them for hours on two separate days!
 I am not sure what fascinated them about making little collages on little paper towel rolls, although I just suspect that they were interested because it wasn't really like many other art experiences they had before.  In any instance I had dozens of them and wasn't really sure what to do with them, but after a few minutes reflection decided that I would string them on clothes line rope and string it across the ceiling.  This is an idea adapted from when I taught barely three year old children- they used to love to string paper towel rolls on a rope like beads on a string.  In the end this impromptu project looked pretty cool- but more importantly they enjoyed the experience of creating them.

Collages: What to do about space

One problem that I have often had with collages, specifically collages that involve cutting magazines, etc, in preschool is that there just never seems to be enough room.  The magazines get scattered all over table, they lose the picture they just cut out, and you start hearing "hey, you have your book on MY paper!"  It's a jungle... what's a teacher to do?

Now, I love the collages they make with magazines the best (although I love collages in general),  I love seeing the things that each child picks and the things that each one finds interesting- sometimes I am amazed by these things.  On the other hand, in the past, I have hated these the most for just the reason described above- there wasn't enough room, they couldn't organize their materials, and in the end there were scraps all over the floor.  So, as a solution, I have systematized the magazine collage process, in an easy, comprehensible manner suited (I believe) to preschoolers.

she is cutting on her tray; to the left you can see her collection of pictures

Set up:  Put trays on the table.  On each tray put a pair of child's scissors.  Put two or three piles of magazines on the table (with maybe five magazines in each pile so that they are easy to paw through).  On a shelf or other unit beside the table have glue ready.  For this activity I prefer glue with brushes or paste works really well for magazines.  Have a garbage close by so as the "scrap" pieces from the pictures they cut out accumulate you can toss them.

Instructions to the children:  Tell each child that he or she may use the tray that they are sitting in front of to collect their magazine cuttings for the collage and to let you know when they are ready for their big paper and glue.  (Once they are ready for paper and glue, help them to push the tray back on the table so that it is just behind their collage paper, then put the glue on their tray as well).

using the tray to keep her pictures organized as she pastes them to paper.

The benefits:  Each child uses the tray to put their magazine on and cut and set the collage items on.  Their "pictures" don't get lost, and it creates for them their own space.  It is easy to keep the magazines in order and not all over the table by either reminding them to put the magazine back in the pile or by putting it back yourself, as you are monitoring, once they have finished.  Some might not consider the following a benefit, but I do: they cut out many more pictures than they need and so they end up making two or three or six collages from what they have cut out.  By separating this into steps it takes a lot less time as well because they aren't going back and forth from cutting to gluing to cutting to gluing or losing their precious "pictures."  Because of this they do not tire of the activity; in the past they would "be done" after finding only a few pictures because (it seemed) they tired of going back and forth between the two activities.  Now, as I mentioned, they find dozens of pictures and make multiple collages from them.  For some children this is also an added bonus because it allows them to do spacial planning; putting the pictures on the paper before gluing to see how to make use of the space.

For a post about other types of collages go here!

Happy collage-ing!

Collages: A sticky topic

I used to have trouble finding the right type of glue for collages, and I wonder if others have had this trouble too.  If I gave them bottles of Elmer's glue it often would end up in puddle size blobs all over their paper- it would run, it would drip, it would spill over the edges as I took it to the paint rack, and in the end the collage "materials" would slide right off the edge with it.  Glue sticks didn't always keep things on the paper, especially weighty things like shells.  Paste was sometimes not the greatest to work with- stick materials to their fingers rather than their papers and not easily be moved to the papers, and would create globs all over their paste, that when dried looked like a clear version of  something that might come out of their noses.  (I apologize for the unpleasantness of that last statement, but it is true).
Finally, I came up with this idea:  I put Elmer's glue (we buy it in huge bulk containers) in paint cups for them and added a little liquid watercolor and paint brushes.

I put it on the table with whatever materials I had for collages. 

The materials above include mixed dried beans, buttons, colored pasta, scented rice, and a plate of sequins, beads, foam shapes, shells, little wood pieces, and other random things from the dark depths of the bottom of my collage bin.  Of course there are hundreds of options for collages; Although I really like to give them a variety of materials for them to use as they want to, it is very easy to do theme collages for theme type teachers; For Valentines day I recently saw some cute collages done with heart sequins, ribbons, heart buttons, and heart foam shapes.  (For instructions to make scented rice and colored pasta- see my entry here). 

 This truly has worked better than any glue substance that I have used yet.  I have been using it for about a year now.

They spread it over their paper in reasonable amounts (without any guidance) and it held everything to their papers.

Some of them actually use it like paint and then just put a little button here, a little paper there, but this also comes out looking very nice.

(Here is a picture of some voluntary sorting one of the kids was working on today that I couldn't resist putting up).

As far as clean up goes, soaking brushes and cups gets the glue off nicely, and works for the table too, although if you let the glue dry on the table it peels up in big pieces which can be fun- the kids always help me do that.

Enjoy!

"If it hasn't been in the hand, it can't be in the brain"

"If it hasn't been in the hand, it can't be in the brain."  Bev Bos

Here are some ideas to accomplish just that.  Most of these things can be used multiple ways- in and out of sensory bins, at home and in schools.  

#1: Mixed dried beans 

Last week we had beans in the sensory bin (actually there were peas and corn as well). This isn't really anything special, but it it really pretty and promotes sorting.  They were specifically fascinated by picking out the huge white lima beans. 

The mix of kidney beans, pinto beans, white lima beans, black beans, black eyed peas, split peas, and left over indian corn kernels make up this mix, but really any mixture of beans/ etc will do.  Below you can see there were spoons scoops and cups in the sensory bin but also sometimes ice trays or muffin tins can encourage sorting as well.

#2: Goop (also known as "Cloud Dough")

Last week we also made what my kids call "goop"- a concoction borrowed from Lisa Murphy, the Ooey Gooey Lady.   This mixture is made up of only two ingredients flour and baby oil- so you have double sensory smell and touch.  (I love the smell of baby oil).  

I let them help make the goop, they decided to have just slightly more runny than doughy.  

They also wanted to add a little blue.  

After a while they asked if we could have more goop in the sensory bin, so we made more- this time the "goop" was much more like dough.  

#3:  Moon Sand

Recently, a parent donated four small bags of Moon Sand with "Moon Sand toys" to our classroom.  While, yes, you can make really cool sensory things on your own or use just wet sand, Moon Sand is pretty cool, and versatile.  For anyone unfamiliar with it, it holds shape like wet sand and never dries out.  This Moon Sand came with some houses, a swing, some cars, and some people molds. They didn't care much about the swing or houses, but they (of course) loved the car, and also really loved the people molds. 

I put it out on box tops, (that we seem to have an abundance of), for easy set up and clean up.  They seem to enjoy it as a quiet activity.  This is also really great for any children that require sensory input. If he or she starts losing control I can just pop the top on the table and ask the child if he or she would like to play with Moon Sand (the answer is always yes).  For an "on the go" option, I can put it in a ziplock and stick it in my apron pocket, then when I need it I just hand the bag to the child and let him or her squeeze the bag.  It works for sensory input or as a transition activity.  


#4: Water, ice, snow

See entry here about water play.  There is really no end to what they can do playing with water in any form.  






#5:  Colored Noodles, Scented Rice


I took full advantage of the snow day today to create some new things for collages, mosaics, and our sensory bin.  


The scented rice idea came from this entry at teachpreschool.org. I modified it slightly, however.  In a bowl I mixed 2 packets of Koolaid with 3 teaspoons of boiling water and a teaspoon and a half of rubbing alcohol, until completely dissolved.  Next I put this liquid into a ziplock bag containing six cups of dry rice.  I mixed the rice and liquid completely.  Then I laid it out for four hours on wax paper before putting it in an air tight container. 

For the pasta I started with the instructions found here, but, again, modified it.  I used only a teaspoon of food coloring, and three teaspoons of rubbing alcohol, then added it to a ziplock bag containing 3 cups of pasta.  The instructions at the website above suggest that there should be more food coloring and less pasta, but as you can see below the pasta is quite dark and while they will lighten a bit when they completely dry, it will not be a lot.  

Purple mini rotinelle (wheels)

Green mini farfalle (bow ties)

mini orecchiette (shells)

Hot pink mini radiatori (nuggets)

Have fun and enjoy; I know we will. 

Fabulous Shaving Cream!

I was recently reminded, when scrolling through this blog, of a Bev Bos recipe for shaving cream art.  Instead of just using shaving cream and color, which does adhere to paper very well, you mix shaving cream with equal parts "Elmer's Glue."  (We used a generic version which worked equally as well).

In instances like these I usually just start out getting the supplies set up to work with as though I am going to make the shaving cream- paint myself and with in minutes I have the entire class gathered around begging to help; so... I let them ;-).

I let them empty the shaving cream container and whip it up, I had to pour the glue because the container is quite heavy.  They decided that they wanted to have blue and purple paint so I split it into two containers added blue to one and asked them what colors to add in order to make purple.  One child answered blue and red, another red and yellow.  We talked about it and took a vote to see which way we should make purple- we ended up with orange paint, so you can tell who "won."  I make a habit of using only primary colors fairly often so that they can discover how to make secondary colors on their own.  

The end product is a little firmer, a little more slimy, and a little more sticky. It is in every respect as GREAT as shaving cream though.  

Both of these bowls were completely full and I used only one can of shaving cream.  The result was enough for 14 papers with as much shaving cream as each child wanted.  

After they washed their hands they came to the other table where their papers were waiting for them with bottles of glitter and two baskets of odds and ends we use for collages.  As many of you know, there is no such thing as too much glitter.  

One of the most amazing things about this shaving cream is the amount of material it can hold on the paper.  All of these things went up on the wall as they are and lost little, if any glitter or collage materials from them.  It almost works better than glue it self.  The other amazing thing about this is how it feels when it dries.  I can't even quite describe it, so you will have to try it at home for yourself.  

Something that I often do in my classroom with art type things is to do the same thing the next day with a slight variation.  I do this for a few reasons.  First, children learn, experience, and experiment in repetition.  The other reason is that often even if they get to do the project two or three times the first day they would still have done more if they didn't have to leave or go to lunch.  They almost always are really happy to do it again the next day.  

The second day of this project we started out by making our own "sparkles," (their word for glitter, colored sand, or any similar substance), in preparation for the shaving cream art.  I poured them each a small plate of kosher salt, (I don't think it is important for it to be kosher, it was just what we had), and they went straight to work coloring it with chalk.  Each child made at least two plates, which were set aside for them to use later.  

 

While most of the children sprinkled the salt on like glitter, two of them mixed the salt into the shaving cream mixture.  When they mixed it in they were able to pick up the shaving cream off the paper in a ball of what looked and felt like crystallized dough.  They then squeezed it and water came out of the ball, and the ball compressed.  They had no artwork to show for it except the ball- which remained the same after "drying," but it was a really cool experience for them.  

Below you can see some of the artwork from the second time we worked with the shaving cream- paint. This time they chose pink and purple and remembered how to make purple from the trial and error session the day before!