4th Grade Calder Inspired Circus Sculptures- 2nd batch!

This year my elementary school chose a circus theme and I started the school year off with circus themed projects to ease into things. I have most of my elementary classes for a whole semester but 4th graders switched for 2nd quarter. I decided since the first group enjoyed the process so much, I would repeat it with the 2nd group, and I'm SO glad I did. The kids blew it out of the water! They were so engaged and wanted to keep collaborating and adding cool features that it ended up taking the bulk of their art classes. Having class on Friday left them short 2 classes due to Thanksgiving break and Christmas break starting this Friday, but I'd rather have them do a really good job on a couple projects than be rushed through more.

We started pretty much the same way- talking about Alexander Calder's work and watching part of one of his circus performances- I didn't have time to read the book "Sandy's Circus" to the students this time but it is a great book that they enjoyed! I borrowed it from my local library but you can find a read aloud video online or order from Amazon.

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After the video, I showed students the tubs of objects available for them to use. We had pipe cleaners for wire, fabric scraps, yarn, beads, buttons, gems, cardboard, and all the scraps found in the collage center and recycling bin.

This was a collaboration between 2 girls- there is a horse rider in the front and trapeze artist hanging in the back.

One of the students made Dumbo complete a feather!

Bird Man

 

This is the group that discovered the recycling bin

When one group discovered the recycling bin, they maybe went a little overboard. In the next class we talked about transforming objects so that people could understand the new purpose. This group created a tank with someone holding their breath, turned a plastic cup into a stand for the spotlight and operator, made a packing material into a nest for Bird Man, and used a pop can as his perch.

Details of the circus performers

This group became very adept at creating little performers. They would get everything formed and just ask me to hit it with hot glue. I felt more comfortable being the hot glue gun operator. I stationed myself where I could supervise everyone and they just brought pieces to me to glue.

If you have a lot of random "craft" items or found objects taking up cabinet space, this project would be a great way to use some up in a creative way. If you ever want to do wire sculptures with your younger students but don't have the materials to do it safely, pipe cleaners can be an easy substitute!

1st grade Circus Drawings

My elementary school chooses a theme each year and this year's theme was circus! I like to kick off the school year having students create artwork with some choices within a theme and/or medium to ease into things so using the school's theme works perfectly. My 2nd graders looked at Marc Chagall's circus art and 1st graders looked at examples of Chagall's and others' artwork. If I ever need to find a variety of artworks based on a theme, I start with wikiart.org and just search for the keyword. That usually give me lots of options so I can show a bunch of different styles, time periods, cultures, etc.

After looking at the artwork, I asked the students to think about what kind of act they might like to do if they were in the circus. They thought of clowns, tightrope walkers, horse riders, and more.

The students sketched their ideas in pencil first then added color with marker. I'm usually not a big fan of markers and honesty considered just recycling my old markers because students tend to be sloppy with them, but then I received a box of Sargent Art supplies when one of my students got 1st place in the Kansas Sargent Art Contest last year. Included in the box was a class set of 12 count brush tip markers and I decided to let the students try them. You guys, they were SO CAREFUL with the "fancy" markers! I got out the broad tip markers we already had for big areas, but they did a great job using the finer brush tip markers for little details. 

Students starting to add color to their drawings

When the drawings were finished we put them up in the display case across from the 1st grade classrooms. I used butcher paper to make the display case look like a circus tent.