Recently as I was considering what art project should come next for our grade 6 class, I realized our materials stock included a large supply of brand new bottles of white pvc glue. I wanted to work on something three dimensional for a change after the class had spent a lot of time drawing their wonderful mandalas, and the glue seemed like a place to start. We also have a wonderful suppy of yarn I've been wondering how to use, hmm... what could we do with those two materials?
One of the joys of the internet for art teachers is the incredibly easy access to a wealth of lesson inspiration. After a little searching, I discovered a way for students to learn a new technique and develop their skills working in three dimensions while making good use of existing materials in our classroom. These baskets were made by briefly soaking yarn in glue, then wrapping or applying the yarn to a mold. When the yarn was dry the mold was removed and we had baskets! The project took a while to complete and was pretty messy, but the students learned a new technique, got to make some interesting design decisions and ended up with a pretty cool product, don't you think? Clicking on any image gets you to the picture gallery. I'll be adding more images next week.
