MeXICo~! Calaveras!

Otherwise known as SKULLS!

This is a great introduction video for the kids. Evn though it starts off morbid, it gets the message across really nicely that the Day of the Dead is in fact a happy day and a true fiesta!

DAY OF THE DEAD ANIMATION

We started out with these paper plate Calaveras, moving up to large paper ones and then tried our hands at a salt dough skull too!

I guess kids like the idea of something scary being cute and of course, the chance to really put their art skills to use!

Paper plate calaveras!

Paper calaveras

Cavalera salt dough beads!

Africa...Beads!!

Using our great salt dough recipe (remember the topology map of Africa?!) We made our own beads!!

Given that the kids had already done the mixing for the map, I prepared the dough so they were ready to make the beads.

They got the hang of it pretty quickly and were careful too with the stick to make the hole.

Student's effort!

Teacher's effort as an example...

Student's effort!

Teacher's effort as an example...

 We painted them with acrylic paint and also acrylic paint pens for the designs. It got really messy, but that's part of the process! I varnished them too for a shiny 'keep-forever' style. A few however broke shortly after...!

Student's effort!

Student's effort!

Student's effort!

Finished result!

They LOVED this project so much and wore their beads around school all week!

Finished result!

Africa!! Topology project!

 This was a great project to undertake with my class. Being of mixed ages, the interest levels always vary and some of the kids don't always want to do as much as the others even if they enjoy it. But, here was a great task we could do in stages and kids could help out as and when they wanted!

We made Africa out of Salt dough! It was easy...seriously!

Making salt dough was fun - the kids loved the feel of it and just playing with it was a morning activity in itself!

The mixture I used was
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

This proved successful and able to dry by the time I returned from my holiday!

 

Adding the dough was great fun too  as we could take small or big chunks and push them on together! Even returning to the project a few days later, one of the older children helped me paint with water so we could add more dough.

We talked about mountains, hills, peaks, lakes and again, kids were able to listen according to their levels of interest.







One of my students already knew Kilimanjaro, while others were just happy to paint a big ocean!