Art Facilitation 02.8

In this post I will show you about:
Making fantasy animals: make-believe animals, monsters or dinosaurs.

Theme:
'Unspoken fears'

Aim:

• To explore the subject “what is scary?”
• To develop fantasy/imagination and to express it in three dimensional terms
• Stimulate discussion about imaginary or pretend creatures; although we know that they are not real we can make believe that they are real.  Talking about scary animals or people gives them an opportunity to speak about fears in a safe place.

Activity

Anything can be used. I used recycled material: the top of the milk bottle + handle as the head and a sturdy cardboard box was used as the body. The head and body are joined together by making a hole in the appropriate places and using a toilet roll to link the two pieces. We added string tails as well. My only cost was the glue, glitter glue and paint.

Materials:

• Milk bottles,
•  boxes, 
• toilet rolls, 
• egg boxes,
• string, 
• wool, 
• fluffy material, 
• magazines, 
• paint, glitter glue
• glue.

Art Facilitation 2.06

Bee by girl aged 8 years.

Egg box animals

Theme:
Finding common ground in the group. (As drawing was more anxiety provoking for this group I planned the construction for them. They all participated enthusiastically and created very individual looking bees.)

Planning and creating.

Aim:

• By using construction skills which were similar in ability bring a feeling of artistic equality within the group
• Develop dexterity in construction.
• Develop imagination and fantasy. 

Further construction

Activity and instructions:

Have some egg boxes prepared (cut into strips) and demonstrate: I showed them models of insects (ladybird, worm, dragonfly and bee). Encourage them to make their own creatures. It is best to construct the whole insect first and then paint as the cardboard gets soft and mushy. It becomes dissatisfying for them when their creations fall apart while under construction. Masking tape, staplers and split pins are a good option if you or the children are looking for speedy results. Once the paint is dry you can glue on the other decorations.

Materials:

• Egg boxes, 
• boxes, 
• split pins, 
• masking tape, 
• glue, stapler, 
• pom-poms, 
• eyes, 
• wire, 
• pipe cleaners,
• beads, 
• paint, 
• pencils,
• pastels. 

Bee by boy aged 12 year.