I thought I’d pop in and share these stylish clay birds and nests we made in After School Art Club recently.  We used air dry clay to construct a simple pinch pot for the nests, and then created our birds with two smaller balls of clay, plus a little beak. (I got the project idea from this YouTube video.)

Then I set out some beads, sequins, and feathers and we  bedazzled our  birds!  Which is always the most fun part,

After the clay had a week to dry, I provided some Modge Podge for the kids to paint on their birds and nests (over everything except the feathers).  This made their projects smooth and glossy, and protected all their little piece from falling off.  

While they Modge-Podged (I guess i can make that a verb?), I read aloud Ruby’s Birds by Mya Thompson.  In the book, Ruby learns the value of staying quiet and still to notice with her eyes and ears the beautiful birds in her park.  Every page of the book has various birds hidden throughout, and we enjoyed pointing them out.

During every session of art clubs I try to tackle at least one sculpture project. For Winter ‘22 I dove into paper mache.  Confession — I myself had not done a paper mache project since high school (I made a paper mache panda, it was pretty darn cute if I remember correctly).  I knew it was messy and I also knew it was relatively simple. So I was a little intimidated, but also knew that we could do it.

I decided to focus on a simple bowl form, using a balloon as a base. ( I got the project idea from this blog. ). When the kids first walked into the art studio, they were super excited to see a bunch of balloons in bowls.   Then we mixed up some paper mache with 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water; they shared with their neighbor and mixed it all up with their hands. Some of the kids loved digging their hands in and getting all gooey, some not so much. 

This project is great for using up scraps of paper from old projects or junk mail. Cut the paper into strips,  dunk it in the flour + water mixture, and put it on half the balloon.  We tried putting on 2-3 layers, but it was kind of hard to keep track.

Some tips I want to remember for next time: when the kids are done, have them clean up their little drips on the floor with a damp rag themselves. With the first art club, I cleaned the floor myself after everyone had gone home (and we had eaten dinner and put Ransom to bed). The drippings had dried, and I had to use a LOT of elbow grease. The next day the kids cleaned up their drops themselves (4-5 year olds) and it was so easy! Also, when walking to the bathroom to wash hands, have kids hold their hands together so there are less drips.  Sensing a theme?  Paper mache is messy!  But that’s why you have an art studio — a safe place to make a mess!

Anywho, the next week we had the joy of popping the balloons and painting our bowls.   They had a blast mixing the paints and adding color to their creations.

Another tip I’d like to remember for next time: painting the bowls completely white first makes the other colors much more vibrant.  I might insist on that next time. 

Either way, these young artists did a fanstastic job and really dove into this messy project.

A couple of weeks ago, our Mini Makers dove into this fun, open-ended sculpture project (the inspiration for this project came from the Art Bar blog).  When they walked into the room, there were cardboard pieces in various shapes and sizes all over the table, pre-hole-punched.  With tempera paint sticks and bright-colored dotters, the young artists filled those shapes with colors.

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While they were working, I read them the book Sandy’s Circus by Tanya Lee Stone. The book is about American artist Alexander Calder, who is known for making colorful, playful sculptures that moved.  That’s pretty much where we were headed as well.

Once our pieces were all full of color, we were ready for the next step. I passed out wooden skewers and a handful of air-dry clay.  They created a ball out of the clay, and then planted the wooden skewer inside.  From there, the young artists could build and stack their sculptures as they saw fit, using the cardboard pieces and small balls of clay..

Lastly, I had liquid tempera paint available to add even more color to their creations.

And here are some of the fun finished products!

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​Our focus yesterday in the Mini Makers class was Lines.  We were inspired by the book Lines That Wiggle by Candace Whitman.  It’s super charming and has lovely illustrations. 

After reading the book, my 4-5 year olds were eager to look around the room and point out all the different kinds of lines they could find — wavy, straight, zig-zag, dotted, curly . . .

Now for the project that was inspired by the book.  Our materials were . . .

• 8x10 black cardstock
• scraps of painted paper and construction paper
• scissors
• glue
• oil pastels

First, they filled their black paper with as many different kinds of lines as they could manage. I encouraged them to use a variety of colors, and even to overlap lines.

Then we made 3-D lines (and we discussed 2-D vs. 3-D, and that 3-D artworks are called sculptures).  One key step is to count to 10 slowly every time you glue a side down, otherwise it will pop right off when you attempt to glue the other side.

The kids really got into these paper sculptures.  It was a bit of an engineering puzzle for them to figure out different ways they wanted their lines to go.

(Project inspiration came from this blog post)

(This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)

Last week our Mini Makers class (4-6 year olds) made some clay pinch pots.  I have never done this project with such a young group and was so impressed with how well they did.

The pinch pot is a classic intro-level clay project. You simply start with a ball of clay, press your thumb inside to create a small hole, and then continue to pinch with your thumb inside, turning it around like a steering wheel, until you have a small pot.  You can use the surface of the table to tap the top and bottoms to make it level.

​I found this great visual explanation on Mini Matisse.

I don’t have a kiln, so we used air dry clay instead.  After forming the pots, I provided pony beads, jewels, and sequins for the students to press into the clay and bedazzle their creations.  

I love how the little pots each have their own personality.  

Now that the clay has hardened, I plan on sealing them by painting on a coat of clear varnish on each pot.

A great picture book to read with this project is The Pot that Juan Built.  I worried my little folks would find the repetition in the book a bit tedious (because I think that when I’m reading aloud), but they were super into it.  It follows the process of creating a clay pot, from finding the clay underground to baking it in a fire. And I love that it features a real ceramic artist from Mexico, Juan Quezada.