Ndebele Dolls by Elan Ferguson

Ndebele Dolls from the South African Ndebele tribe. This project was the hardest project that I have done and took two days to complete. Most of the supplies I used for these beautiful dolls was from the Materials for the Arts. I love that program. It is so helpful for not-for-profit organizations.

Supplies: Black Paint
Toilet Paper Tubes
Red, Black and White Fabric
Beaded Trim
Plastic Christmas Ball Decoration
White Puff Paint
Beads

I will write the rest of the information at another time since my children are interrupting me, right now.

Torn Paper Collage

Supplies: Glue
Scraps of paper

This project is great for developing fine motor skills in Toddlers. Tearing paper is not easy for little ones. So, if they accidentally get too enthusiastic with their new found skill and manage to destroy a loved book or new magazine, remember, they are developing a very necessary skill. Coordinating the muscles in your fingers with messages sent from your brain is a wonderful thing!
You can buy another book.

This project can be done with old magazines, newspapers and/or paper rubbish (not soiled). The clean up can be fun as well. It can become a game of who collects the most or practice with a little broom and dust pan.

Flower Power by Elan Ferguson

Supplies: Glue
Pretty Patterned Paper
White Paper
Ribbon
Foam

The child can place the petals, pointed side, toward the center. A small ornate piece can also be placed in the center. Due to choking hazards, be cautious with small objects around a 2.5 to 4 year old . This project can be done with any arrangement of papers. Vocabulary: center, middle, pointed, round, petals, stem

Pie in the Sky Project by Elan Ferguson

Pie in the Sky is a children's book by Lois Ehlert. It is about growing cherries and making a delicious cherry pie. It has a recipe inside for cherry pie and beautiful illustrations done in collage.

Supplies: Glue
Brown and Tan Paper
Red Paper
Red/Copper glitter
Red Crayons
Cinnamon

First pass out round paper with crust like edges. The children can then color the inside of the pie with a red crayon. I like to pretend that the red crayon is like the cherry juice. Drizzle glue in the center and have them place a certain amount of red circles (cherries) in the middle of the pie crust. The child could sprinkle red/copper glitter and cinnamon. They should smell the cinnamon first so that they learn or be reminded of it's smell.
The top crust should be applied by first doing the three to four vertical lines and then three to four horizontal lines.
This project encourages touching, seeing, listening (for step by step instruction) and smell

Vocabulary: crisscross, vertical, horizontal, middle

Wise Old Owl part 2 by Elan Ferguson

This project was done with my daughter's second grade class. I used an anonymous poem called The Wise Old Owl:
The Wise Old Owl sat in the oak.
The more he saw
the less he spoke.
The less he spoke
the more he heard
Why can't we be like that wise old bird.

This was inspired by Calder's mobiles. Some kids paint the trunk, they all make their own owls and I help put all the pieces together. This project encourages teamwork, individuality, project development (from a drawing to reality) and clean-up responsibilities. It took about 30 to 45 minutes.

Butterfly Puzzles by Elan Ferguson

Supplies: Markers
Tape
Large White Paper

Each child gets a piece of the butterfly to color and one marker. Teams of two can be made for large pieces.
The hardest part is putting all the pieces back together again, while the children watch. Numbering helps a bit but can get confusing. Team effort needed on this project.

Butterfly Fairies by Elan Ferguson

Supplies:
Glue or tape
Construction Paper
Translucsent Paper or Tracing Paper
Little people drawings
Marker and/or Pencils

The first part is to create little people with no faces and make xerox copies of the drawings. These little people should have no faces so that the children can give them faces and color in their clothes.
Second they place the wings on and add the paper behind the wings. This is done to give a stain glass window affect. If the wings are done in tracing paper there is no need for extra paper cut outs. Sticks can add some adventure to the project as the children can pretend that the butterfly fairy is flying.
For this project I used a stencil of a butterfly from an art store.

Abstract Faces by Elan Ferguson

Abstract faces is a mixture of different faces, all cut from different magazines.
Supplies: Glue
Scissors
Magazines

The teacher cuts out the faces, lips, eyes and noses and then after the children construct the face they are given colored pencils to enhance the background.

Wise Old Owl Project by Elan Ferguson part 1

This was the first time I did the Wise Old Owl Project. It goes with a anonymous poem:
The wise old owl lived in the oak.
The more he saw
the less he spoke.
The less he spoke
the more he heard.
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?

Supplies: Pretty Paper
Stamper made to look like a tree with branch (Cardboard)
White and Green Paper
Glue
Black Foam Core

I think the picture gives a very clear description of each step. The children would first stamp the tree on the black foam material and place the moon in the opposite corner as well as glue the leaves. Then the body of the owl would be placed on the extended branch. Next comes the two eyes, one beak and two wings.
With this project you guide the child with the placement of the glue. You place the glue in the area the object should go and direct him/her to put the shape on the glue. You will learn that even with such close direction children always manage to make their work different.
Directing with the glue also helps the vocabulary. "Put" and "on top" are used often so they are introduced to listening and understanding basic instructions.

Fish Stamping Collage by Elan Ferguson

The Fish Stamping Collage project has several steps in preparation. The paper, fish and stampers have to be prepared before the class.

Supplies: Glue
Cardboard
Orange Paper
Blue Paint
White Paper
Roller for inking the stamper

First the stampers have to be made. I made mine out of cardboard. You can also purchase foam and/or stampers in any art store.
The paper is cut like a rectangle but the top has a scalloped edge. The children will create a repetitive pattern with the stamper and then glue the fish on the top. It can be hung differently. One class put them of the wall in a wave formation, another placed them all on a ribbon and hung it across the wall.
Vocabulary: pattern, repetition, printmaking

Pumpkins Everywhere Project by Elan Ferguson

A classic Fall project is the Pumpkin Face. What I have done to this project is used scrap or damaged white paper. Since we plan to paint it the slight damage does not damage the final piece. The children paint the pumpkin shape orange and then I give them an assortment of different eyes, noses, and mouths to insure diversity amongst all of the pumpkin faces.

Supplies: Glue
Orange Paint
Black and Brown Paper (for stem)
Recycled White Paper

After the children are done painting the white paper, they are given one body part at a time. I place eyes on the table and allow them to pick up two each. This encourages them to count. Next the nose and finally the mouth. The paint can possibly be used like glue and/or you can also use glue. Any Halloween or Harvest book goes well with this project.
I encourage in most, if not all of my projects, that we reuse paper so that large quantities of new paper does not get overly used. Painting over scrap, printed on and/or ripped paper helps conserve and encourage artistic expression.

A Snowy Day Project by Elan Ferguson

A Snowy Day is an Ezra Jack Keats Classic that I love reading during the winter time. The final project is suppose to resemble the part in the book when Peter makes snow angels in the snow.

Supplies: Glue
Red Paper
White Paper
Brown Paper
Optional: popsicle stick, red glitter, string or ribbon

Since I teach over one hundred children, pre-cutting for this project was a chore but the final project came out beautifully.
The little brown oval should be placed on Peter's body first and then the body can be glued to the white paper. And last but not least, the children can glue the stick to the back of the white paper but if you would rather hang it up like an ornament all you would need is a hole puncher and string or ribbon.

I'm A Pig Project by Elan Ferguson

I had all of this soft pink fur and pink construction paper from the Materials for the Arts and no idea what to do with it so I came up with this idea. I loved reading this wonderful book entitled, I'm a Pig by Sarah Weeks to my two little ones so I decided to use it as my inspiration. In this story a pig boast about being a pig. It is a fun story that encourages confidence.

Supplies: Glue
Black Permanent Marker
Hole Puncher
Ribbon
Pink Paper
and any other color to make a hat or bow for the pig's head

I used the soft pink fur material for the nose of the mask and then used the marker to make nostrils. The children had a great time snorting and acting like pigs.

Anasi the Spider by Elan Ferguson

Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermont is a wonderful tale about father spider Anansi and his helpful sons. It comes from Africa and is beautifully told and illustrated by Gerald McDermont.

Supplies: Black Construction Paper
Orange Paper
Red Paper
Blue Paper
Glue
String

The spider that you see in the example is made to resemble the illustration in the book. Depending on your age group and ability, you can make the pre-cut body with or without legs. I find it doable for children 2.5 to 5 to glue the legs on individually but you can save time.
This project encourages counting, feelings and story sequence. Also the shapes used can reinforce shape recognition.
Depending on how his mouth is placed a child can tell the parent and/or teacher whether Anansi is sad or happy and why? This then encourage story sequencing.
The string can be placed on back of the head. It is optional due to displaying purposes.

Bear Project by Elan Ferguson

The Bear Project can accompany any children's book that includes a bear family. I read, Goodnight, Baby Bear. It is about a mama bear and baby bear getting ready for hibernation but the baby bear is having a hard time going to sleep.

Supplies: Glue
Yellow Paper
Brown Paper
Light Blue Paper
Green Paper
Tempera or Acrylic White Paint (acrylic dries faster)
Paper with patterns is optional, use what is available

With this project it is important to start with the background. The children would first sweep a brush with white paint across the bottom of the page. This is to look like the snowy mountains. Then they add the trees and sun. Ask the child where they would like to place these objects and then put the glue in the spot.
Now that the bears are added. To give the paint some time to dry you can have the children enhance the brown bears with brown crayons. If they are ready right away placing the bears on top of the white paint can save some glue.
Encourage the children to name the bears and if you have enough time to pre-cut enough bears, it is nice that each scene has a bear to represent each member of their immediate family (for example: mom(s), dad(s), brother(s) and/or sister(s).

Fruit Bowl Project by Elan Ferguson

Fruit Bowl Project by Elan Ferguson
Supplies: Glue
Construction Paper
Felt or fabric
nice patterned paper

This is a great scraps project for 2.5 to 5 year old. Make sure that each white piece of paper is pre-cut to be about 4x5 inches so that we can work smaller using less paper (this helps the environment).
I used basic shapes, such as squares, triangles and circles so that it can reinforce the names and colors of the shapes. I use felt, fabric and construction paper in order to bring texture to the project. When it dries the child may use it as a learning tool that reinforces shape, color and touch. The wrapping paper adds a nice wallpaper look to the background of the art.
The first step is to have the children construct the table. They can be given all five black squares and guided by the way you place the glue. During this time you may use words such as: across, under, first and last.
After the construction of the table they can be given the triangle bowl and circles (fruit). Allow the child to decide how they would like to place the bowl and fruits by placing glue on the tabletop area or giving them some glue to use and place the objects down.
For older children, it is nice to have them name their still life. Names can get very creative. I have examples above.

Little Yellow Leaf Project by Elan Ferguson

Supplies: Recycled white scrap or copy paper
Yellow, Red and Brown paint

This project was inspired by children's book The Little Yellow Leaf. It uses recycled white paper, yellow and brown paint and some glitter. This is a very easy project since all the children have to do is paint the leaves and sprinkle some glitter. The tree trunk material is up to the teacher. I just used some stiff brown construction paper.

Romare Bearden inspired people by Elan Ferguson

Supplies Needed: Construction Paper
Glue
Scissors for early preparation of pieces

I have taught this lesson to 2.5 to 5 year olds and have found it to be like a puzzle for them. All of the pieces should be cut before the time of the class. They will need heads, arms, shirts, pants or skirts and shoes.
This project encourages sequencing. For example, after the background is placed glue is spread in th center vertically. The children are told first the head on top, next the shirt, third the pants or skirt forth the shoes and last the arms and hands.
Vocabulary: first, second, third, fourth, center, vertical, Romare Bearden