Spiders and their webs @ WBCL

Coming right after the spider guy presentation on Saturday, this seemed like a great project todo. I had a large stash of wooden beads that I sprayed black and inserted a small dowel into the hole. I made up two samples of these so that the kids could see how these spiders were assembled. Generally their skills at twisting the chenille stems are hardly equal to the task, but this time almost everybody got their spiders legs on with no difficulty.  we used a touch of glue you add a tiny pom-pom at the  front where the mouth would be. We also added wiggly eyes to finish the spiders. Some of the kids decided that the large body was the spiders head and put the eyes there.   for the spider web we cut sheets of black card stock diagonally then had the kids pencil in the lines of the web.  Many of the kids added bugs for the spider. Some said that they didn't like the spiderweb I did and instead had very curvy lines for their web. Guess the spider gets to go where he wants to go.

Make mine owls @WBCL

 Everyone loves owls and we had a lot of fun making these from recycled materials. I found a picture of an owl on interest that used egg carton cups for the eyes so we started with that used the rest of the cardboard egg carton to made them unique. So many different ways to create an owl  all using the same materials.

Aliens and other critters from bread clips @WBCL

This was another project that I found the inspiration on Pinterest. We have been collecting the bread clips since early summer. Finally we had enough of them to schedule this project. The idea of aliens and monsters fits right in October. I also found some wood pieces that kids used to help create their project. As always wiggle eyes are a real plus in creating a project.

Making Columbus’s ships @WBCLs

 We learned a bit of history, talked about Columbus, and created a picture of Columbus'I ships coming to America. Most of the kids didn't know anything about Columbus and the idea of him sailing over 500 years ago went over their heads. We were able to pull a couple of books and look up the information about him and his ships. This is another project where we were able to incorporate recycled materials and donated items.

Watercolor painting fall leaves @WBCL

 Watercolors are always fun to do because of the oh wow factor. I sometimes worry a bit when I get the much younger children in the class How they'll do but as usual they had a fantastic time creating this project. They even learned how to shade the edges of the leaves and scribe in the veins. Initially I had planned to have them trace their leaves onto the paper but decided that it would be better if I did that part and they did the painting part. We went over having a Clear water brush and cup and a color painting brush. First I had them paint one leaf with water then get a bit of the color and trace around the outside at. Sometimes they didn't do the same leaf that they had put water on requiring a quick fix to help the paint spread. It didn't take long before everybody had it figured out. Palette knives were in short supply last night so we used a number of other items like Spoon handle's and scissor edges scribe our leaves. What a great job they did.

Making piñata for Diez y seis de Septiembre @WBCL

 This project was just a little complicated but everybody was able to complete it with very little difficulty. We began with quart milk cartons and cut the bottoms off. I cut all of the lengths of tissue paper in advance and had the kids cut their own fringes from the long strips. They first had  to glue squarish pieces across the bottom of the carton. We then added layer after layer of fringes until we got up to the top. We opened the top of the carton and punched holes on both sides to insert a cord as a hanger. Most of the kids continued their fringe up to the very top of the cart. We then added a bit of streamers to the bottom and sent them home to fill it with prizes or candies or whatever they wanted. We had a discussion about how to break the piñata to have the items fall out. We also had a discussion about Mexican Independence Day.