art project for a rainy day- paper beads

aaah how fun! i never posted a project on myspace before. it so has nothing to do with my music; but, has everything to do with my background working with kids. i tell you, i was a queen of glitter and i danced around to music not in english and was all about art lol. yes, they thought i was a bit crazy but that works really well with the elementary age crowd lol. i literally have years of art curriculum that i designed sitting in boxes, so every once and a while i will share an one. anywho, short art project:



old magazines (national geographic is great)

white glue

scissors

small paint brush (if no tip on the glue or if you have multiple children)

pencil (chopstick, pen)

embroidery string (or whatever kind you have)



*choose super colorful or crazily designed pages and rip from the magazine

*cut them into long triangle shapes that have one end about inch and a half or so wide, and the other end a sharp point (you can play around with your shapes)

*starting with the wider end, start wrapping it tightly around the pencil (chopstick, pen), and continue to wrap until there is very little of the point end left

*apply a a small amount of the glue with the paintbrush (or the glue tip...i have also used a toothpick for applying glue with older children)

*finish wrapping completely and hold down until the paper will stay down on its own

*make as many beads as you wish

*let completely dry and then put them on your string in the way that you wish and of course, wear them!!!!



-just some notes. you can choose to mix about equal parts of glue and water and lightly brush the beads once the have done their first drying. the best way to dry the beads if you choose to do this is to put them on a piece of string and hang them so that they don't stick to any surface. you can also add glitter to this glue mixture. this mixture will leave a slight shine and will make the beads a bit more sturdy; although, they are surprisingly sturdy on their own.


-whenever i would do this i would give a brief history on beads. it is also an opportunity to talk about recycled art! in terms of child development, this is good for hand eye coordination and fine motor skill development.

-the internet was not as on and poppin when i originally put these projects together lol. so many projects are shared between educators that it is really up to you and your children to put a twist on them. as i always told my children, "art is how you want to make it". being that i can find cool things on the internet now, i will give you a couple links for a visual and history:

http://members.tripod.com/tagartcreations/images/Tutorials/Bw.jpg

http://tradebeadsofafrica.com/bead_history.html

-have fun!

love

m