Tag Archives: art

Pop Art

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pop artIt’s a fusion of form and function as a classic self-portrait is transformed into bubbly pop art. Don’t miss the gallery at the bottom of this post!

We read Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist, written by Ruth Spiro and illustrated by Thor Wickstrom (Dutton Juvenile, 2008). Everyone in Lester’s family (Frieda, Winslow, Cornell, Pablo, and Georgia) is an artist, but Lester just can’t seem to find his medium. Then one day, during a visit to Uncle Edgar’s studio, Lester discovers his amazing talent for creating art with pink bubble gum bubbles. Confidence growing, he decides to enter the art competition at his school. But disaster strikes when Lester loses a front tooth on the big day! Fortunately, recalling a bit of artistic wisdom, Lester is able to rally and produce the most tremendous bubble ever.

You’ll need:

  • 1/2 sheet of white poster board (approximately 14″ x 22″)
  • Multiple pieces of tagboard or brown poster board
  • 2 small pieces of white poster board (approximately 1″ x 1.5″)
  • Hole punch
  • 1 piece of yarn (approximately 10″)
  • A box cutter
  • A selection of multicultural construction paper
  • A selection of construction paper
  • 1 pink balloon
  • 1 pencil
  • Markers for decorating
  • Scissors, glue stick, tape, and hot glue for construction

The project begins with the creation of your portrait frame. We prepped the following tagboard (or brown poster board) pieces in advance:

frame piecesIf it helps, here are their approximate sizes:

Top piece: 3.5″ x 8.5″
Corner pieces: 3.5″ x 3.5″
Side pieces: 2″ x 14″
Bottom piece: 2″ x 8.5″

The frame pieces were laid out on top of the white poster board “canvas.” Then we encouraged the kids to customize the corners and sides by shaping them with their scissors. A corner, for example, could be shaped into something a little more delicate:

cornerAnd the sides could be given a bit of a curve:

frame sideThen, we invited the kids to select some “frame doodads” from a big pile to bulk up their frames. We were very proud of our doodad pile. Here are a few of our lovely choices:

various doodadsUse markers to create scrolls, lines, and shapes on your frame pieces (metallic Sharpie markers worked great too). Then use a glue stick to attach the pieces to the poster board canvas.

finished frameThe last step for the frame is adding your “hangers” (you can see them sticking out of the top of the frame in the image above). To create the hangers, take two small white poster board pieces, punch holes in them, and then hot glue them to the back of the canvas like this:

hangersKnot the ends of the yarn in each hole, and the frame is ready to hang. The only thing that’s missing, of course, is the portrait! Use the regular and multicultural construction paper to create a shirt, face and hair. Draw the facial features with markers. I brought out the Bling Bin for artistic embellishments as well.

Now all you need is bubble gum! Use the box cutter to cut a slit in the portrait’s mouth, then poke the pencil through the slit to enlarge it. The goal is to make a hole large enough for the mouth and neck of the balloon to go through.

Starting on the outside of the portrait (i.e. the finished side) push the mouth and neck of the balloon through the hole to the other side. Here’s what the back of your portrait should now look like:Stand behind the portrait and blow into the balloon. Your portrait will blow a bubble! You can also blow up the balloon, knot it, push it through hole in the portrait, and hang it on a wall to admire your work from afar.

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Fly You High

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flying booksWe brought this flying book craft to a community event. It’s simple to prep, easy to make, and the smile you get when a finished book “flies” off the table is priceless!

You’ll need:

Start by cutting the construction paper into quarters, resulting in four, 4″ x 6″ rectangles. 1 rectangle = 1 book cover. Next, cut the standard white paper into quarters, resulting in four, 4.5″ x 5.5″ rectangles. The white paper rectangles will be the pages of your book. Fold two white paper rectangles into the construction paper cover and staple it to create a book.

Punch a hole in the top of the book, about 1″ away from the spine. Then run a piece of patterned tape (or color masking tape) down each side of the book to create a “spine.” Or, you can skip this step and simply use markers to decorate the spine and cover of the book.

book spine step 2One boy wanted to make a “monster” book, so I created a spiky spine on his book using color masking tape. To make a spiky spine, stick one piece of tape right on edge of the spine. Repeat on the other side. Press the tape together.

monster spine step 1Then cut out the monster spines!

monster spine step 2Use the markers to customize your wings, then attach a wing to each side of the book with glue dots. Finish by running a piece of elastic beading cord through the punched hole, loop the ends together, and knot. Dangle, flip, jiggle, and swoop your book at the end of the cord for full-on flying action!

book spine step 2

PVC!

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pvc cutterSay hello to my little friend! This PVC cutter is one of the most-loved items in my strange and bizarre box of outreach tools (also included – thunder tubes, egg timers, a train whistle, an overhead projector, and black eyeliner). Why?

Because PVC pipe is such a fantastic arts & crafts item. It’s cheap, it’s clean, it’s sturdy, it’s hollow so you can stick things in it. The only problem is that the 1/2″ PVC pipe I use only comes in 10-foot tubes. Enter the PVC cutter. It nips the PVC pipe down to just the right size.

pvc-pipe1I made my fantastic PVC discovery when I was racking my brain trying to find a cheap way to make 500 Harry Potter wands. The wands needed hollow centers for phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings, and unicorn hair. I was thinking about bubble tea straws but they were just too fragile and short. Then one day, wandering through the hardware store, I landed in the plumbing section and my problems were solved! I was able to cut 12, 10″ PVC wands from each tube for a grand total of 15 cents a wand.

After stuffing the core of their wands, kids wrapped them with color masking tape or brown masking tape. But wood patterned masking tape (or duct tape) would look fantastic as well.

If you’re looking for a few more Harry Potter ideas, check out this post. It’s a tally of all the Harry Potter activities we’ve done on this blog (and I try to keep it updated as we add projects).

Since my amazing PVC discovery, I’ve used it in projects involving marionettes, a boom mic for a camera set, sturdy flower stems, stick horses, robotic arms, butterfly nets, and more traditional magic wands (like the one that accompanies this fabulous little magic set).