Remember my branch?
I wanted to make something sort of like this:
So I bought myself some ribbons and beads in my classroom color palette, and wrote each student's name on a ribbon. I tied the ribbon to a glittery pipe cleaner, and told them to pick three different beads from the tray. String the bead on the pipe cleaner, and then twist the pipe cleaner somewhere on to the branch.
I had enough variety that no one felt like they didn't get a bead they liked. And it turned out that the little color sorted bead packs were only two dollars at Wal-Mart. I got this chip tray from the Dollar Tree.
I learned A LOT from watching the kids string the beads. It was a quick hash out of who had fine motor skills and who didn't. And, as it turned out, not all of the beads had openings large enough for the pipe cleaner to fit through- so I also got to find out who were problem solvers and who went straight to helpless "do it for me" mode. And, ah, yes, kittens, soooooo many of them went straight there. It's going to be a rough road this quarter.
It was also interesting to see how they managed to twist the pipe cleaner on the branch. A number of the pipes fell off as soon as I lifted the branch. So I'm thinking a lot about how to integrate fine motor activities into the day.
But here is the current branch:
It's pretty. I like it. the kids like it. Now I've just go to get those little canvases straightened out. They are going to be my birthday tradition art work pieces. But at the moment, they are cluttering up my wall. Will work on that this week.
My hope for this chandelier is to have adults that visit our room also tie things to the branch. And I'd like to send ribbons home for the parents to write hopes and wishes for their kids on so I can tie those on as well.
Are you making any collaborative art projects with your kids this year?
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