1st Grade

#1:  Paper Bag Houses

When I start off the year asking students what types of art-making they enjoy, such as drawing and painting, I always add, "and who likes building with Legos?"  Inevitably, those few hands that might not yet have been raised shoot in the air with excited expressions.  I assure my students that building with blocks and similar toys taps into your creativity.  Children are naturally good at playing and building, so I like to shake off the dust from our summer vacation and jump right into a project that gets these young artist to dive right in.  Using our "Artist Eyes" to transform boring paper bags into all types of houses was a great place to start.  Day one involved filling, folding, assembling, and adding collage elements.  Day two was the time to learn how to create pop-ups and add a backyard and street to their scene. 

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Students experimented with making doors that could open, folding paper for stairs, and even turning a simple pop-up technique into the Batmobile!