Exploring Toothpaste Batik and personal symbols

Second and third grade are working on investigating traditional forms of batik making in Indonesia and Africa through exploring their own personal symbols on fabric.  First we watched a video on Indonesian batik and looked at some amazing patterns and how they were made.  Then the kids sketched personal symbols in their sketchbooks, understood how resist works with white crayons and watercolor, and then applied these to fabric in a repeated pattern of choice, showing their interests.   After this dried a couple of days, they painted over the top using tempera, let that dry and then washed it out for lovely effects! We use a half and half mixture of toothpaste (basic Crest works best) and hand lotion.

sketches and application process

final Batik examples

Third grade watched a video on Bristlecone Pines and learned how they are one of the world’s oldest living trees and we talked about human vs. geological time scales. We touched on the importance of Earth Day and how we can appreciate the natural world and learn from it in order to protect it.  Then they learned about museum dioramas, scale and miniatures and built their diorama!

The dioramas

4th & 5th Graders made slime, glue nebulas, oil pastel animal eyes and botanical illustrations!

Fourth and fifth grade explored connections between science and art and realized that skills scientists use are the same as artists, such as observation, investigation and hypothesis.  The kids made glue nebulas after learning about how stars are born and die, close up animal eye observations and twisted botanical drawings using satire and humor!

Nebulas

Animal eyes

The kids learned about the evolution of animal and human eyes through a video and then touched on how to use proportion and shape and size relationships to use the science and art skill of observation. Drawing an animal eye up close with oil pastel not only helped them discover the diversity in eyes, but also see things more abstractly.  Everyone was amazed at how great their work was!

twisted botanical illustrations

The kids looked at the work of Edward Lear’s Nonsense Botany.  After discussing what satire is, and looking at an example, they started to draw and observe a botanical drawing and change it into something humorous.

2nd & 3rd grade worked on the chemistry of slime, shaving cream prints, a nebula painting and eco-sculpture!

Second and third graders made fun connections with science and art play in hands-on activities! First they made glue nebula paintings and then created slime and shaving cream prints.  The glue nebula came after watching a video on the cradles of stars.  Lastly, they delved into ecology by making a sculpture of choice out of recycled materials to have save the Earth.

Nebulas

Shaving Cream Prints

recycled sculpture