Art Class #3

If you read my last post about my Going Green in Art project, you'll know that it didn't go over so well with the age group I was working with. So, instead of doing the pt.2 as planned, I moved on to the lentils project.

Originally, I was going to have the kids do some kind of mural with lentils. But my mother pointed out that I'd been doing a lot of that kind of thing already, and--when I told her about how the last class went over--she suggested I just give them clay to work with.
I decided to do the lentil project using clay--and it was a big hit.

I was supposed to have three kids today--a 9 year-old girl, a 7 year-old boy, and a 5 year-old girl. However, the boy (whose sister is the 9 year-old) got swapped out for another girl.
(I didn't know before hand, but I'm pretty laid back, so it was okay. The girl is also 11, which is higher than the age cut off I'd originally set in place.)

Considering the age span, this was a great project. All three of them were really into it, and really excited about it.
(I'm not sure if the success of this class had anything to do with the class being all girls--like, if the girls were more comfortable together. I'm pretty much positive that boys would enjoy this too--mainly, it's the personality of the kid and whether or not (s)he's creative that matters, more than the gender.)

I had out two plates of orange and green lentils. I like to give the kids room to express themselves, as I've said before, so I gave them each a chunk of clay and told them to make whatever they wanted.
I told them they could stick the lentils on the wet clay, wait for it to dry and then glue them, not use lentils at all, etc. In general, I try to encourage each child to make the project her own.

The girls loved working with the clay, and were also fascinated with the lentils.

Lentils pressed in; some still fell off anyway.
Example I made the night before. Was a turtle, but his
still-drying legs broke off. Whoops. 

I personally have found so far that the lentils tend to fall out of the clay as it begins to dry, unless they are pushed in really deeply, or kneaded in before being sculpted. The clay projects are staying with me to dry until next week, at which point I told the girls they can glue on any that fall off.

Kneaded in. Not my preference. 

The 5 year-old asked multiple times for more clay, and ended up making a lot of little projects (in large part because she was less focused on details, being 5). A few times, I had to encourage her to try making something else because she'd finished before our class was over, but she didn't need much prompting and she didn't seem to get bored. The girls and I also talked about various things, and that helped keep everyone entertained.

This project was so easy. I used a tub of Crayola air-dry clay I bought at Target for around $5, and some lentils (I used some my mom had gotten already at the Farmer's Market). The finished sculptures were placed on different paper plates that they can dry on (and I can move around easily).

I was and still am incredibly pleased and impressed with the creativity the girls showed, as displayed below.
This was probably my favorite class so far!

Love this!!

The one I worked on while the girls were working. ;)
Think I'm going to try gluing the lentils on after it dries this time.