Second Grade Egyptian Art: Clay Cartouche & Cat Mummies

Second graders created their name or initials in a clay cartouche. We discussed Egyptian written language and they practiced on a drawing of a cartouche. They learned that when looking at hieroglyphics, if they come across a cartouche it means the person whose name is inside the cartouche is royalty. I showed them how to neatly carve into the clay to make the image or sculpt it and use the Score-Slip-Squish method to add it. They also had the option of adding a border.

I typically don't glaze with kids, as my kiln isn't in my classroom and it's two elevators to get to my kiln. BUT, I decided these beauties deserved some glaze. 

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While our cartouches were drying and firing we created cat mummies. I found this project on Pinterest and thought it was super cute. Add in that my paper towel rolls were getting a bit out of control, and we just had to make them. I cut paper towel rolls in half instead of using TP rolls because they were a little taller. The TP rolls were just a bit too short to give them enough space to use line on the body. 

After folding the top of the roll they covered the whole roll with masking tape and then painted them either gold, bronze, or silver. 

When dry, we looked at the heavily lined eyes of traditional Egyptian style and then used permanent markers to add the face and a line design on the body. 

See our galleries here and here. 

Egyptian Masks

Fourth graders just finished these amazing Egyptian masks. We used mask molds and plaster to create the face. They painted the whole mask gold and then added details with other colors of paint. 

To finish up their masks, they used construction paper to create a headdress. I cut up scraps of gold paper that the first graders used for their gold collars and let them cut shapes to add to their headdresses. 

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Egyptian Collars

First graders looked at Ancient Egyptian collars. They noticed that the collars are symmetrical. We talked about color theory and focused on analogous colors. Students chose four analogous colors to work with and either made two of their shape or made their shape symmetrical. 

I made a template of the collar shape and pre traced them all on the back of the gold paper. I got a roll of gold paper from School Specialty but in hindsight, it was a thin as wrapping paper and if I do this again I'd just wait and buy gold wrapping paper after Christmas and save some money. The kids cut the shape out and then folded their paper in half. 

I show them how to glue one symmetrical shape on the fold to make the whole collar symmetrical. We talked about using two identical shapes to create symmetry and I showed them how to glue a shape on one side and match the second shape to the first. They added a bit of glue on top of the second shape and then folded their collar to make it transfer to the other side. 

When finished, students chose a color that fit with their analogous color group for the background paper.

Papyrus Painting

The fifth graders are finishing up painting Egyptian symbols on papyrus. They were given a sheet with a variety of symbols on it and practiced on scratch paper before starting on their papyrus. Some kids have a lot of knowledge of Egyptian mythology and choose a different image than what was on the sheets.

I showed them how to mix colors and how to blend on the paper and we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each technique. 

They were given the option of adding permanent marker once the paint dried and then were asked to mount them on colored construction paper. They chose the color that they thought made their artwork "pop" the most. 

Egyptian Art: Clay Pyramids, Spinxes, and Scratch Art Ankhs

My third graders just finished these clay sculptures of pyramids of Sphinxes. We used watercolor and Crayola Texture Medium to create the sandy look.

I used my sample to show students what the clay would look like with each of the brown watercolors in our set and with the medium over or under the paint. 

The whiter look on the right was achieved by putting the texture medium over the paint. The left side has the paint on top.

See our galleries here and here. 

While our clay was drying and being fired we created scratch art Ankhs. The Ankh is the hieroglyph for eternal life and was often used in jewelry and decor in ancient Egypt. Students designed their image on scratch paper and then darkened each line. We taped the designs to the scratch art paper with the drawing facing the scratch art paper and scribbled hard on the back. The image transferred onto the scratch art paper so they didn't have to redraw anything. 

Students had the option of adding some paint details.

See our galleries here and here.

Clay Scarab Beetles

My kindergartner are in the middle of creating these adorable Ancient Egyptian Scarab Beetles. So far they are sculpted by not painted. Here's the process we used.

I chose to use air dry clay for this project because I wanted the kids to be able to press the legs and eyes into the clay. I have a bunch of old Model Magic at my other school, so I am using that there but it's a little more limiting. It is already in colors, so there goes the painting step and the white doesn't take paint as well as clay either. Although, air dry doesn't take watercolor as nicely as bisque ware does either. I used my earthenware wire cutter to cut the clay into small pieces for each kid. 

Here are the supplies we used. I got these great cardboard trays from the cafeteria ladies. They have "Yogurt Parfaits" once a month and the yogurt containers come on these trays, which they save for me. I made a tray of eyes and a tray of legs for each table. I also got these odd cardboard things donated (pictured below) and cut them in half so each kid got one half. 

Their first step was to roll the clay into a ball. We discussed the shape of a beetle's body and that they are more oval than circle and I showed them how to use a little bit of water to smooth out the clay. They then used the cardboard to press the lines of the beetle into the clay. Finally, they pressed the eyes in and six legs. 

Here's what they look like right now, as they are drying. 

I picked up some bottles of Crayola mediums-some pearl for this project and the other texture for our third grade clay project (post to come). Next art class, we will first paint the watercolor on the beetles and then start a new project. While painting my samples, I discovered how slowly the paint dries on air dry clay compared to bisque fired clay. We will definitely need time for them to dry before adding the pearl medium. 

Anansi the Spider; An Ashanti Folktale

My kindergartners just finished painting these cute Anansi spiders. Anansi is the an Ashanti folkstory from Ghana, Africa. I began this lesson by reading the book to the kids. Anansi has six sons, who each have a special talent. There is See Trouble, Road Builder, River Drinker, Game Skinner, Stone Thrower, and Cushion. Each son has a different shape on his body to show his talent. When Anansi gets into trouble the sons use their talents to save his life. 

After reading the story, students were given pencils and white paper. I used guided drawing on the SmartBoard to show them how to draw a triangle (they insisted it's upside down) with an oval on top for the head. I asked them to show me on their fingers how many legs a spider has. They all showed me five on one hand and three on the other so I asked them to add one to the three and subtract the thumb on the hand with five. I showed them with my hands that I now had four fingers up on both hands and that's how a spider's legs are arranged on their body. I showed them how Anansi's legs overlap and asked them to draw four legs on each side. 

While they were finishing up their drawings I passed out pallets of black paint, but no brushes yet. I then demonstrated how to use the edge of a flat brush to make a smooth line around the shape before filling in the insides. They had the option of using the same flat brush for the legs or using a detail brush. I showed them tricks for both brushes. Finally, I gave them brushes and asked them to paint in their drawings. 

The next class period we looked at a picture of Anansi on the SmartBoard and talked about the web behind him. It is created with pattern instead of traditional spiderwebs. I showed them how to make both a patterned web like the book or a traditional web and let them decide how to fill in the background with marker. Finally, I gave them pallets with red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple and used my document camera to walk them through painting the face and other details on their spider. We started with orange and painted a V for the lower lip and a triangle like the body for the top lip. Then it was a T for the nose and bottom of the headband with a strip a little above it. Next, we skipped to blue and painted the triangles above the eyes and the nostrils. Yellow was next for the eyes and then a red stripe on the headband. Last, we talked about and looked at the images of the six sons and noticed the different shapes on the bodies. They used purple to add any shape on their spider's body. 

African Baskets

While studying Morocco, fifth graders created these baskets with plastic canvas and yarn. Full disclosure, I would not do this project again. I thought it would take 3-4 class periods, but there are kids that are STILL not done and it was our first project of the year! It's never ending and making me crazy. However, some turned out very cool. 

I made a template and cut out a plastic canvas. Next, I used a permanent marker to make the canvas dark and photocopied it for each kid to use to design their basket. I also traced this template three times on each sheet of canvas and roughly cut them out. The kids cut them out neatly and then started sewing. My yarn needles were too big to fit through the holes, so they had to use a tiny bit of masking tape to make a needle on the end of their yarn. 

When they finished sewing, they sewed the two ends together and then added a circle of plastic canvas for the bottom. 

See our galleries here and here.

Egyptian Sneak Peek!

I've been working on samples for my Egyptian lessons and am very excited to get started! Here is a sneak peek, we are currently flying to Egypt, learning about the country and designing the concepts for the projects. 

Warm & Cool Zebras

I'm a little in love with how this project turned out. There are a few that look a bit...well, Picasso-y, but many are completely adorable! It also has a lot of content! Here's what we did...

First, I told them that I was going to teach them about a very important tool that artists use called a color wheel. I put an image of a color wheel on the SmartBoard and explained that artists use the color wheel to choose which colors will work best in their work of art. I drew a line between warm and cool colors and then explained the two color groups. We then played a game. I would say a color and if they thought is was a warm color they'd fan their faces. If they thought it was a cool color they'd wrap their arms around themselves like they were shivering. They had a lot of fun with the game, and I was able to see how they were understanding. Of course, many watched their friends but it still helped them to get which colors were in each group so I'm fine with that. 

After our warm/cool game I demonstrated how to glue strips neatly, using tiny dots of glue. I cut paper into half inch strips and put them into trays of warm and cool. I asked them to choose from one tray of colors for all of the stripes. 

After these were dry I drew on the back to ensure students would get all of the zebra body parts out of the page. I drew a straight line about the middle of the page vertically. A little above the halfway mark on the right I created a rectangle and added stripes below it for the neck and four legs. When the students arrived for the next class I had them draw a large oval in the biggest portion of paper and a medium oval in the other square. I showed them how to cut all those pieces out as well as create ears from the corners and place it into a zebra. When their pieces were cut out they were instructed to choose either white or black for the back and a color the opposite color group from their stripes. They glued the color to the black or white and then glued down the zebra. I was sure to tell them to glue the body and head only in the middle so they'd be able to lift the edges for the mane and tail next class. 

For the final class, I created a tray of black strips of paper and white squares and another tray with pieces of black yarn for each table. I showed the kids how to create a fringe on the black strip and how to measure how long they'd need to be along the neck of the zebra. I encouraged them to add some between the ears too. The white square was for them to draw and cut a circle to create an eye. They were allowed Sharpies to add the pupil, a nostril, and hooves if they wanted them. Finally, they made a large puddle of glue under the back of the body, folded a few pieces of yarn in half and glued the tail down. 

When the projects were complete, students were asked to fill in the assessment pictured below. Most of these kiddos can't read yet, so I put images of fire and ice to help them know what colors I was looking for on each side. For the full assessment, click here.