Thursday, April 17, 2014

Three Crosses Silhouette Easter Craft

What a beautiful craft to celebrate Easter!  I saw a picture of this craft on Pinterest but never found a link. The idea: the silhouette of three crosses against a sunset.


I had the kids paint in yellow, orange, red, and purple, using a sponge to brush the paints across the plate.  


I folded a piece of black construction paper in half, then cut out the crosses.  After the paint dried, we stapled the crosses to the plates.  


Some more examples from the kids:



Thursday, March 27, 2014

Rockin' Robin: A Spring Craft

I'm always looking for fun kids' crafts that honor the time of year.  Found this "Rockin' Robin" (so named because of how you can "rock" your robin!) here.


All it takes: a circle cutout of stiff cardstock, tail feathers and an orange beak, some googly eyes, and tissue paper scraps.


Here's a closeup of our tail feathers:



Fold the circle in half.  Attach the tail feathers, eyes, and beak with glue.  Crumple up tissue paper and add them to the robin's breast.  I used traditional-ish robin colors, but any colors can be used.


Time to rock your robin!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

"Mental Image" Illustrations from Romeo & Juliet's Balcony Scene

It's been difficult to keep up with new crafts this school year, since I went back to teaching.  But it dawned on me the other evening, as I was hanging up my students' assignments on my classroom walls, that I maybe should also showcase my--and their--classwork on this blog.  During a short unit on the Renaissance, we read Act II, Scene 2 from "Romeo & Juliet."  My students' assignment was to pick an image from the scene to illustrate, and include a line or two of the play.  Of course, it ain't art class, so I always tell them that stick figures are fine.  But some students just have that natural artistic ability, and are happy to utilize it in English class!  Two of my favorites: