Pasta Pilgrims 2013

For Thanksgiving 2013, an all time favorite is the pilgrim made from pasta. I did this with the K-1 class. Check out previous years' pasta projects as well.

To check out all the art photos click here. 

Catching up from last year

Here are a couple projects from last fall that didn't got posted to the blog back then:

Watercolor Fall Trees

I had the kids draw a bare tree with black oil pastel, and then had them use watercolor to color the background. Some kids made a sunset, while others filled the spaces with different colors.

Pasta Collage pilgrims

In time for Thanksgiving, the kids made collages out of multicolored pasta. Lots of fun!

Week 9: Thanksgiving Pasta Collage

What's Thanksgiving without food?  I wanted to use that theme in a mosaic/collage way, so I brought out the trusty dried pasta and beans.  I ended up buying a bunch of different bags of pasta and beans, so that the kids would have a variety of shapes and colors to work with.

To keep to the theme, I had a few samples of holiday images like turkeys, pilgrims and cornucopias for the kids to draw inspiration from. For the 1-2 graders, I predrew some pilgrims on their cardboard, so the whole time was not spent drawing.  The fun part is gluing the pasta!

Once the kids got a a drawing on their cardboard, they could start gluing. The turkeys ended up looking great with the multicolored/shaped pasta like spirals and bow-ties. The Pilgrims really benefied from black beans and rice along with the lacey pastas and wagon-wheels.

Week 11: Cutout Turkeys

Being the last week of art lessons before Thanksgiving, I decided to "trot" out some good old fashioned paper turkeys. This was also an easy project to shoehorn in after getting some kids to finish their Thanksgiving quilt squares from last week. I did similar, but different, turkeys for the K-2nd grade room and the 3-4th grade room. I think the younger-kid-version is a cuter idea (my part of the project-not the kid's part), but the work that all the kids did ended up adorable and full of personality.


For the younger kids I cut red paper plates in half to use as a base, and then had them trace/cut handprints for the back feathers. Then many used a foot tracing for the neck. Some circles for head and eyes, triangle for beak, and some accordian folded legs round out this "feast" of cuteness.


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For the older kids, I had them use a black background and lots of different geometric shapes for the feathers and head etc. In hindsight I would have had them do handprints as well. I am always amazed at how personal and unique each child makes their projects!

Week 10: Thanksgiving "Quilts"

ALL THE K-2ND GRADE SQUARES


I wanted to do something for Thanksgiving...partly becasue I feel guilty that I have not done many "seasonal" art or craft projects this year. I contemplated the usual pilgrims or indians made from oatmeal cans or paper and the turkey idea might pop up, but decided on a "what am I thankful for" quilt.  I won't be making it out of cloth since this is a pretty quick art class session every week, but at least I can piece together these paper squares into an even more interesting composition.

The actual process was not that hard: Have 9 inch squares of white paper and pens/colored pencils. The only rules I applied were that it had to be pretty colorful and also have the kids name visible.

Some kids did multiple images and some did single images. Some stuck to Thanksgiving imagery, while many used God and other Christian symbols (this IS a Christian school). Some also included their families. What cracked me up is that many also drew pictures of Star Wars characters, airplanes, trees and sports, which is adorably honest.

I will probably end up doing this with all the kids and I will post more pictures next week.