Fish!

For the summer, I'm working at a summer camp. I've worked at this particular camp since high school (yikes) and I used to be the Group Leader for the older school agers (so, 3rd-5th grade). Upon teaching for the county, I've realized I prefer the little ones! This summer I'm with Pre-K through 1st grade.

The first project I did with the kiddies is a lesson I use with 1st grade during the school year: pinch pot fish.

I taught the children how to make a pinch pot which, pinching, is a basic form of hand building when using clay. We didn't use clay for the project, but Crayola's model magic. I like to think of it as a middle ground between play-doh and clay. It air dries, you can color it with markers, or paint it, whatever! It's great stuff with little to no mess!

Anyway! The pinch pots turned into the body and mouth of the fish, then using pinching techniques we added details like eyes and teeth. The model magic was white to start.

We let the model magic dry over night then we painted the fish. Last, I added some gloss medium over the fish just to keep the colors pure and help support any loose pieces. They turned out great! 

It makes me really sad to say, but these kiddies had some better results than my students during the school year, and a majority of them aren't even in kindergarten yet. Remember, this is a lesson I do with 1st graders during the school year. The kids I work with over the summer have more exposure to the arts whereas my students really only have art through me. Once a week. That's only, like, 40 times a year-give or take. Which is sad, really sad. However! Working with a different batch of kids has given me ideas for how to better my lesson with my students; adapting it to their needs. So, that's a big, big plus. No lesson is perfect. It can always be tweaked, altered, or even tossed in some cases.

Yay, cute kiddie art!

<3 Kate