Spooky Mobile

Here is the first in a series on Halloween, Bonfire Night and Autumn themed arts and crafts lesson plans to inspire a creative curriculum. I hope that you find them useful.

Brief Description:

Students will exercise their scissor-skills, learn a few things about balance,motion and movement whilst they create their own unique Autumn themed mobile.

Keywords:
Mobile, movement, Halloween (and word related such as ghost, witch, pumpkinetc), spooky, autumn, kinetic, Alexander Calder

Materials Needed:

Paper, card, pencil, wool or thread, watercolours or felt tip pens,templates, cello tape and pipecleaners

Instructions:

The Hanuted house will make the main feature of the mobile. Ensure this is drawn on card or heavy weight paper

 1. On a piece of paper, plan out the design of your mobile. Think about what your theme is going to be and what objects, images etc you want hanging from the bottom of the mobile. For example you could choose to make a tree with lots of leaves hanging off the branches. These could all have a different words for Autumn written on them; or you could have your central piece as the horn of life with harvest festival items hanging from below. For the purposes of this worksheet I have chosen to work on a haunted house theme.

Sketch out your central piece using a pencil on a piece of card. For my mobile this will be a haunted house.

The children can be encouraged to drawn their own characters as I have above, alternatively you can google clip art to get ideas

2. Sketch out your objects that will be hanging from your central piece on a piece of card. I have chosen to use a witch, a bat and a ghost. You can have as many items hanging as you like but try to think about the balance of the piece and where they are going to hang. If you have a large shape on one side and a small shape on the other the mobile will hang crooked.

I have chosen to have a ghost, a bat and a witch for my mobile

3. For my mobile I have chosen to use water colour paints to add colour. There are lots of mediums you can use such as felt tip, coloured pencils, oil pastels, crayons and even collage materials – the choice is yours.

My witch on a broom stick will hang under the spooky house

I used watercolours to paint my house but you can use any medium

4. Once the pieces are all coloured cut them out ready for assemblage.On the back of all of the hanging items secure a piece of wool with some cello tape. You can staple these on but using cello tape leaves no marks on the front image of the mobile. Using a ruler find the centre point of your main piece (the house) and mark with a dot. Secure one of your hanging objects using cello tape where the dot is.

Cello tape the hanging piece to the back of the house

5. Once again using a ruler measure the distance between the centre of the main piece (the house) to the left edge. Half the distance and mark with a dot. Secure one of the remaining hanging piece to the spot you have marked with a dot. Repeat this process on the other side.

Completed Haunted House mobile

6. Finally add a piece of wool to the top to enable you to hang your mobile. Using cello tape secure the remaining two hanging piece to the dot marks you have made.

Differentiation:

Key stage 1: You can use pre cut shapes ortemplates for younger children to colour and cut out. This is a great activityto practice scissor skills, however if you are making a spooky themed mobilethe children can rip and tear the images out giving your rough edges – addingto the effect. Painted hand prints upside down with a pair of google eyes makeexcellent ghosts – give it a try.

Key stage 2: Why not extend the mobile by addingone of more layers to the hanging section? This can be done by cello tapinganother shape to the bottom of the shape above. Once again you have tocarefully think about weight distribution and balance. If you make one side toheavy the mobile will tilt. Instead of using string why not use pipecleaners toattach the hanging images. You can bend the pipecleaners into lots of differentpositions so the hanging images don’t all hang in the same direction.

Analternative method of adhering the hanging images to the central image could beto use a hole punch and tie the hanging images in place using wool.

Gifted and Talented: Think about the use of symmetry withthe mobile design. Imagine there is a mirror held in the centre on the image,both sides should look alike and mirror each other. You can make the sameshapes to hang each side with maybe a slight colour change. Consider colouringand working on both sides of the images so as the piece spins around presentinga 3D feel to the mobile.

Consideradditional impact such as cutting out the windows of the house, having a doorthat opens etc to create areas of interest to your mobile and make it standout.

This is an alternativeidea for the mobile.

Acrostic poem idea

Additional idea:

Why not use this mobile making activity as a creative writing tool?

 You could link this activity to a class project. I have mocked up a version of a mobile based on the theme of Autumn. I have drawn a wellington boot as the central image with a puddle underneath and my poem forming the splashes. I assembled my mobile using pipecleaners which allowed me to bend the pipecleaners to make it look like the boot was jumping in the puddle. I have then used the word “puddle” to make an acrostic poem, writing each word onto a separate piece of card. These pieces have been attached individually underneath the puddle. These look great as part of a wall display.

Spooky Book Marks

Part three of my Halloween ideas brings you these stunning spooky bookmarks. Guaranteed to inspire children to pick up a book and put them to use.

Brief Description: What a great way to inspire young readers - create your own unique book mark. These cute bookmarks have been designed with an Autumn or Halloween theme, but these can be adapted to any theme. Intricate designs can take time to complete to  make this a full lesson or designs can be supplied to make this an extension activity. This activity can also be used for fund raising ideas for school fetes, with children making numerous bookmarks that can be sold to friends, parents, governors and stakeholders

Keywords: Book mark, design, flexibilty, shape

Materials needed; Paper, felt tip pens, watercolours, scissors, crimping scissors, ribbon, laminating pouch, laminator, glue, google eyes.

Instructions:

1. Decide on the width of your book mark. I found that the average school class ruler is an ideal width. Using a pencil lay the ruler on a piece of paper and draw down both sides

Marked out and ready to add detail

2. For my bookmarks I have made a “topper” for the top of the bookmark. Ask children to think about their design, connecting with the theme/project given. I have chosen a Halloween and Autumn theme for my bookmarks. Using the ruler as a marker, draw a further column. Draw the topper over the top of the column as illustrated in the picture to the right. Make sure the topper is slightly wider than the column- this will allow the topper to sit on the top of the book page.

Make sure that the images that are going to be placed at the top of the book marks slightly overlap the edges of your ruler marks

Back grounds drawn on ready for painting

 3. Colour in and cut out you book marks. I have used watercolour paints for my examples but you can use and drawing or painting medium for this project. I have also cut out the word “Boo” on my ghost bookmark for additional effect.

I have used water colour paint to add colour to my book marks

Paint your toppers before cutting them out, this marks it much easier - plus if you go over the edge you can cut it off

4. Mount the bookmarks on a piece of brightly coloured card. I have chosen to use a red piece of card to clash against my green bookmark. This will also highlight my cut out lettered “BOO”. Glue in position using a glue stick. When dry cut around the edge of the bookmark leaving a slight boarder. I used crimping scissors but you can use a rota trim, scissor to cut a wiggly line or even rip around the border for rough edges.

Cut out the backgrounds and toppers

Mount the bookmarks onto a piece of coloured paper

I have used crimping scissors to create an interesting edge

 5. Using sticky foam pads (or a piece of cardboard and some glue) adhere the topper to the top of the bookmark. If you want to make your bookmarks more robust, before you stick the topper on place the two parts, the bookmark and topper in a laminating pouch and laminate. You will need to cut them both out again and can still adhere the topper to the bookmark using sticky pads or a small piece of cardboard and glue.

Stick the topper on the top

6.For a final touch add a bit of ribbon to the bottom.

Add ribbon on the bottom for the finishing touches

Why not laminate the bookmark for added protection

Differentiation:

Key stage 1: There are lots of websites where you can get pre-printed bookmark designs that younger children can use and colour in (website address listed at the back of this pack). Alternatively you could encourage the children to use stencils and various collage materials on their bookmarks – using wool to create spider webs, stickers of themed subjects, you can even encourage the children to collect a leaf from outside place it under the piece of paper and rub over the top using a crayon to create a unique autumn leaf bookmark.

Keystage 2: Encourage the children to write a short poem on the back of their book mark that will compliment the design on the front. Rather than have just one topper on the bookmark, children could create a series of images to adhere to the bookmark. If the bookmark was a witches broom stick you could add a witch and one end, a cat in the middle and a spell book at the end. An autumn day could have an umbrella at the top, leaves and rain drops whirling around the centre and a pair of wellington boots at the base and so on and so forth.

Gifted and Talented: Think about the use of line, the idea of design and the method of technique in the medium used to apply colour. Ie. If the children are working in coloured pencil or pencil, look at the use of shading and range of colours that can be applied. If using collage materials are they appropriate for the image, do they enhance the piece? You could also encourage pupils to add an intricate border feature patterns, words or symbols related to the centre images, or even use a needle and thread and blanket stitch a border.

Furry Spider

Here is quick and simple idea that is ideal as an extension activity on a busy day or for an after school club.

Brief Description: This is a great little extension activity and if the whole class make one of these, this can create a stunning wall display. Children will use pipecleaners and pom poms to create this furry looking friend.

Keywords: Halloween (and words relating to) , Spider, twist, furry, texture

Materials Needed: Pipecleaners, fur or pom poms, PVA glue, google eyes other collage materials

Instructions:

1. Decide what colour your spider is going to be. I have chosen grey and collected four pipecleaners and a scrap of faux fur. Alternatively you could use a pom pom.

Make sure you have everything you need prior to starting

 2. Using three of the pipecleaners, roll the pipecleaners in the fabric. Add a dab of pva glue at the end. If you are using a pom pom skip to the next step.

Add a dab of glue on the faux fur and role the pipecleaners up

 3. Using the remaining pipecleaner, wrap this around the centre of the fur bundle and twist close to the fabric. This will secure the pieces together. You can then fluff the fun to cover the join. If you are using a pom pom, lay three of the pipecleaners on the pom pom and use the fourth one to wrap around as above.

Wrap the pipecleaners around the faux fur or pom pom

 4. Bend the legs into the position required.

  

Legs all bent into position so the spider will stand

   5. Finally glue the eyes into positions and your spider is complete

I have chosen to add 4 eyes on my spider why not look up on line how many eyes a spider has?

The completed spider

 Differentiation:

Key stage 1: An alternative method of making the spider could be to twist the four pipecleaners together roughly in the centre. The children can then move the legs to the required positions. Try to encourage them to create shapes with the legs like a reverse letter “r” or a “L”. Children can glue either a piece of fur, pom pom or some wool on the top for the body part and finish with google eyes.

Keystage 2: Children can experiment more with pipecleaners by twisting two different colours together for the legs. This will make the spider more colourful and dynamic however this will make to joining of the pom pom slightly more difficult due to the added thickness of the pipecleaners. Children could try adding a pom pom or piece of fur on the end of each leg for a foot.

Gifted and Talented: Children can be asked to consider other materials that they can use or add to their spider, such as sequins, feathers, wool etc. Encourage the children to think very carefully about how these materials will enhance the spider rather than adding materials which could make the spider look busy. 

Pumpkin Power

If you have read my blog before you will know that I like to explore mediums, make, create and inspire others. This blog is a bit of break from my art blogging and about a fun activity I take part in each year with my family - Pumpkin carving. Each year I try to bring something new to the competition and last year I started painting my pumpkins. I was really impressed with how well the paint took to the surface and created a smooth finish to work with. This year I thought bigger, bolder and more sculptural for my entry........

 The front view of my original pumpkin carving - BOO Trio. The letters B.O.O were carved out of the pumpkin and then the paints came out. The pumpkins were given a coat of acrylic paint outside and then the inside of the pumpkin was painted with luminous orange acrylic to add to the glow!!!

 The back view of my pumpkin with three painted designs, the bottom picture is of a bat cave, the middle picture is of the spooky castle the bats fly to, the top picture is a witch flying past a moon with the tips of the spooky castle just in view.

 Unfortunately I wanted my pumpkin ready for Halloween and as a result, my lovely entry was carved far to early for our competition. As you can see from this picture, my pumpkin slowly went mouldy!

 Eventually the inside collapsed and the pumpkin was not more

 However my sister came to the rescue with a spare pumpkin, so we mocked up a smaller version of the pumpkin, recycling some of the original parts.

 These skeleton figures, were made out of the pumpkin seed, glued together and painted and then embellished - cool huh?

 And here are some of the other entries - This one was done by my young nephews, Brandon and Joshua, Love the use of Mr Potato head bits and bobs.

 Here is my Mum's entry, she was convinced she would not win so literally plastered this over the pumpkin - Genius.

 My elder brother's entry, Jason. These are characters from a children programme - Obviously going for the young votes. Like me my brother made his too early and his started to go mouldy. Fortunately his fitted in his freezer so he was able to preserve his for the competition.

 This is Amy, My nieces fun entry, with smiley faces and messages carved around the pumpkin

And last but by no means least, the winning entry (yes I hear you gasp, I did not win !) This is the winning entry completed by my niece Zoe who is studying for her foundation in art. This pumpkin was carved in the style of Banksy, you can make out the balloon girl in this picture. No hard feeling Zoe - Game on for next year...

Papercraft Pencils

This afternoon I was lucky enough to 'crash' one of my colleagues, Angela Ferguson's, after school art club. I was really pleased to see that Angela was using one of the ideas that I has previously taught on one of my papercraft staff training session - papercraft pencils.

This is such a cute idea and simple to adapt to any project theme I thought I would share it on my blog!

The activity basically involves using a piece of paper to create your own unique pencil. Angela added the use of funky foam to create a little pencil topper.

This is cost effective activity and quick to do. It can be used as part of a design project to create your own stationary set (paper, envelopes, cards etc that coordinate with the pencil), a nice little extension project at the end of a session or even as an idea to raise money for the school (making lots of pencils and selling them at Christmas Bizarres, fun day etc).

 The children thoroughly enjoyed making these in today's session, as you can see in the picture below. These are some of the amazing Halloween designs the children came up with in just over half and hour!

 You can use this project to help assess children's fine motor skills and scissor skills -

Here's how we made our papercraft pencils...

 First you need to chose your piece of paper. This can be any type of paper from magazines, comics, wrapping paper, printed image, drawn images etc as long at the paper is not too thick to roll. You will need to cut a strip the same length of your pencil and wide enough to wrap around you pencil.

Generously glue both long sides of the paper, pritt stick is best for this. Line the pencil up carefully to one edge of the paper (make sure you have your paper up the right way).

 Taking your time, roll the paper tightly around the pencil. Glue the final edge of the paper and smooth this down. Make sure you apply enough glue to ensure the paper sticks.

 For the pencil topper we used funky foam but you could use strong card instead. Draw your design in pencil on the funky foam. For younger children you could use template for the children to draw around. We worked on a Halloween theme with the children using pumpkins, ghosts, stars etc

 When you are happy with your design fold the funky foam in half and cut out two of your shapes. By folding in half this will give you two images the same size which can be glued back to back either side at the end of your pencil. Felt tip pens can be used to add fine detail.

Voila! The finished article.

The children got quite creative with their pencil toppers. Amazing what you can do with a bit of paper, time and imagination.