Creating a super hero standout figure

With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it. With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it.

I found a coloring page with comic panes that we used as a base and colored it using markers and crayons. The kids then chose a super hero or two or three to color and cut out. I showed them how to make stands to make it look like the figure was popping out of the page.

One of the kids kept saying "it makes it come to life" and it really does. The photos do not do the projects justice.

Lots of batgirl and hackman figures, a couple  of batman too. One of the kids did 4 then did not want to tape them down.

Or take a look at our video/slideshow of the figures coming to life~

3D camp with lots of media @ the WB Annex

I have to say that our project today is probably one of the best we have done at camp. we really took the time to get every detail on every one of them exactly the way we wanted them. then we spent time painting a mountain on really big newsprint paper. Just fun to do and a lot more painting than anyone ever expects.

we tried lots of things today with a focus on 3D and textures. We made a multi-layered object then marbled it with shaving cream paint. we liked it so much we did cards too. We made a butterfly with foil wings and a beaded body then gave the wings a coat of shiny paints. we used the marbling paint on coffee filters then made bowls and vases out of them and last we shredded a lot of crayons and made melted wax pictures. Thanks Kat Sands for teaching a lot of the sessions this week.

3D butterflies and bees mixed media page @WBCL

I did a  sample of this page for an online class and thought the kids and parents would have fun with it. I ran off pages made from stamped butterflies and bees that they could coulor or use as is and showed them how to layer them onto the page. Great use for the donated rainbow paper. I also found some foamy stickers to fill in the extra spaces and give the project even more dimension. 

Smash art with 3D effects @WBCL

 This project was a lot of fun but some of the kids like a lot more order and had to be really enticed to fill the center with shred to do the project. (some never did) I saw this on Pinterest and we did our own version. I cut picture frames from foam board then supplied everyone with a backing, a pile of colored shred, a few puzzel pieces, pictures from a calendar, and some scrapbook edging. They got into it and this is what they created.

bottle cap bugs @ WBCL

This is truly a recycled art project! The. body of the bug is a colored plastic bottle top and the wings are cut from gallon milk jugs and colored. Paint did not stick reliably to all the lids but crayon did and did well on the wings too so we used plain old fashioned crayon colors. We had some little odds and ends of chenille stems left from other projects which we cut into antenna and used small google eyes to complete the bug. 
Some of the bottle tops were hinged and resulted in movable bees. Interestingly the bugs flew threw the library for about 15 minutes before settling down and going home with their creators. 

Making Mosaics kid style @ WBCL

Kids love to create pictures using stones and glass pieces but they never seem to "get" why all the area around the design needs to be filled in with something. Maybe  unless you are walking on the mosaic, it doesn't. I handed out glass floral beads, glass sticks, and colored gravel along with pencils and plenty of tacky glue. Lots of stories about what their tile had on it and from the smiles, it was a fun project. It is one that almost any age can do which makes it great in the summer. 

Wild & Wacky Science art camp day 2

 we started our second day with a parks project to help understand a little about landforms. We used more of the salt clay and added sand, rocks, paper shred and gravel to give the project its 3D form. The kids were able to add a bit of paint to the clay to make the water areas blue and the grass or tree areas green. Lots of other structures appear in some of the parks including tables and bridges. Fun.
We reviewed some of the lighthouses around the world then made our own and checked them out to see if they would reflect light. We started with a 1/2 paper towel tube a a baby food jar. Each jar got a folded piece of foil inserted into it as the reflector. we then decorated the tubes with construction paper and made a conical roof for the top of the jar. The tube was then inserted into the jar and taped in place. Lastly we used flashlights to check and see if the lighthouses worked.
We switched to fimo clay for our last project of the day and used it to construct robots from spare computer parts, clamps, connectors and wire. Once the robots were completed I took them home and baked them to finish the projects. There was such a range of ideas and uses for the parts.

Twisty paper trees @WBCL

I have tried the paper bag trees before at school and love the look and the adaptability but sometimes they do not stand very well which frustrates the kids. This makes a great 3D project and used up paper that we might throw out otherwise so fits well into the recycled art category too.

 For this group we tried something new and it really worked well. We used the brown wrapping paper instead of bags and folded it a couple of times before cutting it into strips. We also used a sheet of black paper as a background to mount the tree onto when finished.

Everyone seemed to have fun twisting and shaping the limbs then adding the bits of tissue paper for leaves. Some had a few fallen leaves, some had a lot, a couple even put them onto the trunk so we could see they were falling but not down.

Animals & performers @ Circus on Stage art camp day 2

We started today with a group project using donated and recyclable materials --paper tubes, cardboard boxes, gift wrap, and lots of streamers. We created the cages for the animals in the circus to be made later in the day. I cut large rectangular boxes about 4" high for the tops and bottoms and got gift wrap tubes for the uprights. The kids glued them into the corners then made bars for the cages from streamers and decorated the boxes with the paper. A sign and they were done. Now who gets to take them home?

Our second project was to take coffee cans and a variety of papers, yarns and other bits and create the animals for the cages. We created lions,  tigers, elephants, bears, and horses. I heard the horses were getting a bit long in the face (piggish) at one point but in the end all the animals turned out great and were exhibited briefly in their cages.

I was afraid our last project would be a bit challenging but everyone did great creating wire sculptures of the performers and other circus items for their big top. Kathryn lead this one and I think her examples were the biggest creations of all. 


I will have slide shows of our entire day ready soon to share.

Clowns and balloons at Circus on Stage art camp day 1

Did we save the best for last? some of the kids thought so. The clown was a challenging project but everyone went home with one and the oohs and aahs when the clown was assembled were great to hear. We used a 2 1/2" foam ball, a cardboard cone form from OTC, ribbons, fabric, pom poms, wiggle eyes, yarn, and straw hats. First we created the head and put it onto a dowel then assembled and decorated the cone and added a body complete with bright fun foam mits. I am posting step by step directions on the patterns page.

Balloon animals and hats were our second activity of the day and Keighla led all the kids through creating great projects. I blew the balloons up in advance which was a bad thing/ good thing. The balloons lost a bit of air which made them much easier to work with for the younger kids but the creatures were not as firm. We did blow up plenty of the balloons at camp to do a few more.

Our last project was to create a poster about the circus or to draw and color a clown car. There is something special about giving kids large sheets of paper to use and seeing them go to work on the project. We don't seem to have any shy kids using only 1" of the paper. I think we even threw in a few bookmarks for some of the kids that were too fast for the group. Going home tired with lots of stuff to brag on.

Sunbursts, flying fish, Calder sculptures, and Picasso guitars @ 3D art camp day 3

Sometimes a project is just meant to be! This one looked attractive and had the potential for creativity so I scheduled it. What a great plan. We made the watercolor pieces earlier in the week then assembled our collage/paper sculpture of a sunburst adding paper curls and the results were definitely beyond what I expected. The kids liked doing the project and taught each other to curl paper and helped hold components so they would adhere to the paper.

We moved on to a sculpture in a can AKA Calder that is a lot of fun to do. We used tuna/cat food cans as a base with a styrofoam insert and clay over the top to seal it. We then created the sculpture from crazy straws, chenille stems, pompoms, beads and foam core cutouts.

Another project to complete was our paper lantern flying fish. This one kind of got away from us a little as we worked out the best way for everyone to create the fins and faces but in the end everyone had a fish and a huge smile. It was not as important to the kids that the fins be stiff as it was to the designer. It was a lot more hassle to attach the tissue to the thicker paper than to have fins that were a bit more loose. The loosest tail fin made of 4 pieces of tissue and no base paper actually looked wonderful and attached easily to the frame.

Our last project was a collage based on one of Picasso's guitar collages. We reviewed several that are one display at various museums and the discussion was centered mostly on the lack of color in them. Ours certainly did not lack color. We used a cardboard base and covered it with geometic shapes cut from scrapbook paper. we then added a foamcore chair and covered it with paper and ribbon. Lastly we added a blue denim guitar and embellished it with metallic thread, wire, buttons and other items. They turned out great.!

Watercolors and flying fish @ 3D art camp day 2

Doing water colors with spray bottles is really a lot more fun but the bottles present their own dilema: what to spray, your paper or your table mate? We used 4 sections of watercolor paper to create the basis for our sunburst collage. The campers wrote something about sunshine on the long one then painted all of them with a combination of yellow, orange and red and set them aside to dry. It was fun to see what happened when the painted areas were resprayed and how the paint ran as the papers were tipped.

The second project was our flying fish. We used a paper lantern as a base and made fins and all the details on the fish from tissue paper and paper crimp. Some are done but most still need a few finishing touches.

Butterflies & paper mache at 3D art camp day 1

We started this week off with 2 butterfly projects that really turned out well. We had a set of foam butterflies in a kit, a little hard to assemble but in the end a pretty good project. The 2 part butterflies gave us a bit more room to get creative. Students were encouraged to use the books on butterflies as a resource and create the butterflies by drawing, coloring and/or collaging them. Lots of great projects!

Our second project was to make a paper mache bowl from a berry box. This is by far the messiest mache I have ever worked with. We colored it in the mix and had them pat it onto the boxes so they could dry to be decorated on Friday. Lots of ewe..yuck--was heard.


The last project was one of optics using domed glass beads and stickers to examine which color and size magnifies more and if using a spacer alters the image more. They also got to have an old ribbon marble to examine.

3D art camp starts with Calder

What great projects these turned out to be! When we viewed the slides Calders installations generated a lot of discussion. Kat lead the group with a video presentation and lots of great supplies. We converted hangers and cardboard into our own balanced installations adding beads and corks and imagination. The variations in projects was amazing.


Our second project was to create our own windchimes. Although the kits with the chimes came from OTC, I cut them appart so we could actually make the whole chime with added decorative touches. Kids do not learn how to tie things, it seems. Well, many of them did learn how to thread and tie on this project but our knotting skills were definately used. It was a noisy project as each of the campers jiggled the chimes to check if they would ring--many times.

Making cork bugs @WBCL

What to do with a HUGE donation of wine corks that is both fun and able to be done by many ages of participants? The answer of course is make a bug from the cork. We had both plastic and real cork ones to work with and used both. I pre-drilled the leg holes on all of them and brought 16 penny nails to class to use as punches if needed.


We used colored chenille stems for the legs and to attach the wooden bead head while creating the antenea. Some added wings too.Each leg got a small wooden bead for a foot to give it some stability and counter the weight of the cork body. Some of the participants even created flowers for the bugs to sit on.