Paper Patchworking with Children

 Oh, goodness, it's all a bit blurry; I took some of these photos in a big hurry during class.  But wait until you see what the children did!  The picture above is my experiment sample.  I used some collage papers I made last spring and crazy patchworked them using a stapler.  I wanted to see what the upper primary class of after school art would do with the idea.

 Here's how!  Start with a square of fabric you like for inspiration.  Lay down a strip of collage paper or other colored paper so that the right sides are facing and the edges together.  Staple near the edge.

 Now fold the paper back and trim the excess paper off.  Wow!  It's gorgeous!

 Keep going in a spiral, always using a piece of paper which is a little too long, so you can trim it after stapling.  I had to demonstrate this several times.  It is kind of tricky if you have never sewn.

 So here is the finished demonstration, a first round of patchwork.  It started with the aqua, followed by the lime, then the stripes, and last of all, pink.  The next piece of collage paper would lay across the pink, aqua and lime.  Get it?

 Here are a few pieces of the children's work.  I like the way this boy decorated his papers before cutting them up and I especially like the white on royal blue.  Some of the children did not do a spiral, and that is perfectly fine; the results are dynamic.

 This one fascinates me.  I'd like to have a piece of art like this at my house.

This one is a spiral.

What do you think of this project?  I sure hope all these children like doing paper projects as much as I do!  I'm overflowing with ideas...Next: Swiss Papercutting with Children!

Geneva Botanical Gardens

 Except for the trouble of juggling an umbrella and a camera, a rainy day is a perfect day to take pictures of flowers!

 The raindrops are so beautiful on the petals,

and colors glow when the light is so gray.

This is a picture of a structure which provides lots of hidey-holes for pollinators, but it looks like sculpture to me.

And this is the most beautiful carousel I've ever seen.

More Cardboard Castles

 This is such a fun project I did it with a new group recently.  Some of the parents and I brought in lots of cardboard recycling.

 I put out lots of supplies on a table: beads, string, feathers, paper, markers, scissors, glue, pompoms, etc.

 A parent manned the glue gun for us.

 It took lots of work to figure out the geometry of the roof for this wonderful Big Ben.

 This child is creating an amazing waterwheel!

 This is a Turkish palace.

 The boy told me that a Turkish palace has doors like this.  Erik helped the boy make the wonderful hors d'oeuvres stick gate holder.

 Look at the steps!

 We always have wonderful flags in this class.

This fantasy of a castle makes me think of special cakes and pastries.

Woven Paper Fish

I got this great project from a homeschooling blog called se7en, and here's the link: http://www.se7en.org.za/2011/06/10/fabulous-fish-of-the-woven-variety  I had the kindergarten and first grade children paint backgrounds with some sky blue tempera paint I mixed up.  It got pretty gloppy because they were having so much fun pushing the paint around, so some never dried in time.

I had some of this deep blue paper ready just in case.  The children drew, colored, and cut out fish, and I used my craft knife to cut slits in the fish.  I recommend that you cut the slits horizontally.

I had a collection of strips of collage papers on a long table, including plenty of gold strips.

When they were finished they cut out their fish and glued them onto the background paper.  (You might need some tape to hold some of the strips of paper in place on the back of the fish.)  So cute!  

This was a day when I felt a little guilty that the children didn't have smocks on.  Paint went everywhere, in the hair of the girls who pushed their long locks back while painting, and on their clothes.  Some of the mothers laughed, thank heavens, but I had my fingers crossed that the stains would come out, and that the mothers would put the girls' hair in pigtails next time!  

Weaving Fabric Scraps with Children

 The children worked with great absorption, and this project had beautiful results.

It helps to have beautiful materials displayed in an attractive way.  These are strips of my fabric scraps from quilting.

 I made shoebox looms for everyone.

 After cutting some slots with scissors, you wrap string around the box until you have the desired number of warp threads.

 Tie the ends together underneath the box.

 Some of the children already knew how to weave, and some needed a little one-on-one help.  These children were 2nd through 5th grade.

 It was so fun to watch the children create their own color combinations.

 Look at the beautiful results.  At first, I urged the children to tamp their fabric strips down firmly, but then I noticed that some of them wanted to see the fabric patterns and I backed off.  In order to preserve the beauty of the weavings which show off the fabric patterns, next time I would leave the weavings on the loom.  Perhaps I would make the looms out of styrofoam trays, as we did in "Weaving with Children."

This boy asked to leave his weaving in the loom.  Isn't it striking in the black box?