Thursday Art Projects

On Thursday afternoons, Emma, our resident teaching professional, leads volunteers into the lion's den of feisty first-graders to assist with the scissors and glue of things, as well as provide a little fresh exposure to English communication.  While the focus of the projects is more fun-with-art than eat-this-English, the kids are being exposed to a little more English via the volunteers, and, most importantly, they immensely enjoy the activities, get to exude those creative juices, and feel the pride of having their artwork displayed on the classroom wall.   That said, we would like to note that, unlike books and other academia-based items, art supplies do get used and run out.  So, if you would like to help us provide more of these great activities, don't hesitate to contact us at lasmanosvolunteer@gmail.com or lasmanosfundraiser@gmail.com.  We have set up a permanent Amazon Wish List from which you can purchase a plethora of things for our budding artists to make messes with. The General Idea Our first project coincided perfectly with Mother's Day, so Emma came up with a great little activity for the kiddos: Mariposa (Butterfly) Mother's Day cards.  The project called for the construction of origami butterflies, which were then pasted onto a simple folded half-sheet of construction paper.  The kids colored their creations, got a selection of stickers and bedazzlements to put on them, and wrote a sweet message to their dear mamás on the inside: "I Love You, Mom."  (Oh yes, we managed to slip a little English in there.)  It was a fantastic sight that afternoon as sixty or so children clambered along the trails on their way back home, card in hand and smiles wide as the hugs their mothers would surely be delivering.  Volunteer: Jonathon   If you don't know what a wax crayon relief drawing is, then you are not unlike this previously uninformed author was just a short time ago.  Essentially, what happens is the kids lay a foundation of vibrant color on a page, covering it top to bottom, side to side with chalk pastels, after which they completely obscure the bright chalk with black crayon.  Put a new sheet of paper on top of these layers of seemingly lost hues and dark Crayola, sketch a picture, and then peel back the top page to reveal that there are now two drawings, one from where the wax crayon has stuck to the top and another very colorful result on the bottom where the wax crayon has been lifted off of the pastel packed sheet.  The kids, of course, were delirious with excitement when they saw their creations come to life. Volunteers: Nick & Amanda   Continuing on the march of swanky sounding art projects, the kids next adventured into "ripped paper collages".  This activity reinforced one of the storybooks the children had been studying in class: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? helps children learn the names of animals and a list of colors.  While the book promotes blue horses and purple cats, it created a great catalyst for sassy collage making.  Emma brought a load of animal outlines to class, a stack of magazines, and had the kids find the correct color for the animals in the magazine, rip sections of whatever specific color out, and paste them into the animal outline--no scissors!  They created some beautiful stuff. Volunteers: Dylan, José & Madeline   Again, reinforcing the English lessons of the week--body parts, the face--Emma packed up the paints and brushes and let the kids go wild creating portraits of one another.  All of the kids had a great time getting covered in washable acrylics as they studied the facial features of their partner classmates, and some of the kids, Emma proclaimed at the end of things, showed some real promise in the art scene.  When one of Earth Lodge's guests ran across one of the art participants later that day, she was very happy to tell him that she made the best picture in the world that day. Volunteers: Bronwyn & Satti