Emus

Grade 3 students made papier mache emus. They look so friendly and fluffy all lined up, swinging their plaited legs!

The idea for this activity came from Anne Farrell's blog "Use Your Coloured Pencils". You can see it here.

Day 1
After reading Edward the Emu, we scrunched up a couple of pieces of aluminium foil to make the base shape. Sort of an oval with a skinny neck. Then we bent the end of the neck to create the head. Next we covered the whole armature in papier mache. They took a long time to dry but being under a heater and turning  occasionally helped.

Day 2

Next we painted the head and while it was drying we plaited the legs.  

6 strips of fabric, about 4cm x 25cm were needed, 3 for each leg. Each group of three fabric strips were tied together as close to the end as possible, then taped to the table to be plaited. When the plaiting was at the end of the strips we just tied the two outside strips together which made three "toes". These were then trimmed to size.

Fortunately I had a work experience student this day so she used hot glue to glue the legs onto the bodies.

Day 3
I had wanted to buy the fluffy/hairy wool often found in $2 shops and have the students wind this around the body to create the feathers, but apparently this yarn is not available anymore in the shops. So, I bought a large, black, fluffy throw-rug and cut that up into rectangles to be glued and wrapped around the emu bodies. It was soooo hairy, the carpet looked like we had been attacked by emus and hairy cats, black fluff EVERYWHERE! Luckily our cleaner is such a fantastic and kind person. Thank you Glenda.

Some goggle eyes completed these fluffy emu sculptures.

sheep

Lambing season is well underway in our area and a big annual event, Sheepvention, is coming soon.

Grade 2 and Grade 3 students made these lovely little sheep which are now displayed in their classrooms and in our school's foyer.

The idea came from Anne Farrell at  "Use Your Coloured Pencils" blog here. Thank you Anne, it was a fun activity.

The body base is a piece of cardboard, legs are clothes pegs, a bit of packing foam to create a fatter tummy and lots of wool wound round and round.

The clothes pegs were purchased from a $2 store, and many of them were not even enough to stand up once the wool was wound on. These particular sheep needed a blob of plasticine to keep them upright.

pig masks

Grade Prep and Grade 1 had some fun today making a pig mask. The kids loved making and then wearing these masks.  It seems to transform them slightly and it promotes a bit of extra confidence when they are wearing their piggy creations.

Masks were made from

• half a paper plate
• a single egg carton section
• coloured paper
• elastic

The egg carton was glued on by hot glue (applied by
an adult) and the colouring in was done with oil pastel. This ensured the masks could be made in a one hour session rather than waiting for glue & paint to dry.