Inventive Houses

This week the children were given an architecture project in collage form. They looked at various examples of unusual house based on organic shapes. The above houses were based on the Shell and the Mushroom respectively - stunning!

So I gave the children different objects to choose from; a crystal, some rocks, driftwood, mushrooms, brocolli, a pineapple and flowers. They were to design the exterior of a house based on the object they chose.

Here we have a great Crystal House:

Here we have a super vibrant Mushroom house:

Here we have a fun brocolli house:

And here we have a series of creative dwellings based on a bunch of flowers:

A really great project to get the children to look at things differently. See you next week! x

Junk Modelling Theme Park

For the first (rainy!) week back of Summer Term, the children got busy designing and making their own Theme Park Ride! I had been saving up my plastic pots and tubs for months and now we could finally use them.

The children had a choice of up to 6 plastic items, a roll of electrical tape, clear solotape, cardboard and kebab sticks. They were all given a wooden man to make sure that their rides were all a similar size - all 'to scale'.

They made some fantastic rides. The photo above was of a spinning ride - that actually spun! Brilliant.

The above photo shows a 'Flume' type ride which the little wooden man provided came sliding down and into the pot below!

The above photo shows a multi-ride - a swing, a tunnel and huts to climb into - all in one!

And below are two very fabulous 'Waltzer' type rides - looking good!

 

The final Theme Park assembled with just some of the finished rides - you can see a pirate ship in the back right - and the wooden man just off centre left. Brilliant work everyone. Well done!

Marionettes!

For the last few weeks of Spring term, the children made their own Marionettes! They looked so fabulous at the end it was certainly worth all the time and dedication it took to create them!

First of all the children drew out the Marionette on a sheet of A3 paper - positioning all the limbs so they fit on the paper and were proportionate to each other.

Then they started to cut wire to fit each limb and made loops on either end of the cut wires. To keep all the 'limbs' together we stuck them with masking tape to the drawing in between sessions.

Then they used newspaper and masking tape to form each limb, body, head, feets and hands. Some of the children chose to do animals, so their body parts were much different to those that made figures.

When all the body parts were made, the marionettes were assembled. This was where the fun really began as the children could see their creations come to life!

Next was the super fun painting stage.

Finally came choosing fabric for details and individual styles.

When the Marionettes were complete, we made cross-bars out of kebab sticks and attached the Marionettes to them with invisible wire. The children had so much fun interacting with their new creations! Here are just a few of the finished ones:

A girl

A Giraffe Bride

A Fish and a Tiger

2 Ladies

and a Chipmunk!