Cardboard, wool, foil painting

Another activity I found to take into my Spec Ed art room but would also work well in primary is painting on foil.  It's not my idea and the place where I found it can be found on my Pinterest.  I just thought I'd share why I chose it and the results!

This is a three step activity that covers lots of different sensory materials and fine motor skills as well as the manipulation of materials.

For each student you will need:

• a piece of cardboard
• a piece of aluminium foil just larger than the piece of cardboard

Shared resources are:

• wool
• paint with some dish washing liquid mixed in (makes the paint stick to the foil).

Step one.  Have small cuts along the edges of the cardboard.  Using a length of wool to make a pattern across the cardboard.

Step two.  Cover the front (or patterned side) of cardboard with aluminium foil, securing is at the back with either sticky tape or masking tape.

Then feel across the front for the wool patterns.  Run your fingers along the wool, making it stand out in the foil.

Step three.  Paint each section in the pattern in a different colour.

TIP:  Paint on its own will not stick to the foil.  Mix some dish washing liquid with the paint.  I used the cheap brand and it did the trick beautifully.

This is a great 45 minute activity for middle to upper primary school students.  The use of every day items to produce an interesting multi-step piece of art work kept students engaged to the end.

The stringing of the cardboard was the step most students found the trickiest.  Understanding how to weave the wool and use the slits in the edge of the cardboard challenged student thinking.

The reason I chose it for my Spec Dev art room is that it's all very tactile with everything having a different feel (and in the case of the foil there's also the sound).  The card, wool and foil all give different sensations which the students found very engaging.  Running your hands over the foil afterwards to create the geometric shapes to paint provided yet another tactile sensation.

The multi-step process (rather than just being painting) also changes the activity regularly which keeps it interesting and catered to certain students I have with quite short attention spans.  It kept them on task by providing a new goal at each step.

The last reason was the big one.  Many of my students do very well when the activity is very regimented and, while I always include steps so that the students can personalise their work, this one has a very liberal approach even though the method remains a constant.

Winding the wool around the cardboard even proved to be a roadblock for some.  "How do I do it Mel?" I got in every class.  This is exactly what I was aiming for, to move outside of that heavily structured way that things are done in their activities, and often their lives, introducing them to an element of randomness some of them don't often get.  Some of them I had look at the work of others on the table and others I took for a wander of the room to have a look at the wide variety of results the other students were producing, using the work of their classmates to inspire their own creativity.

Sometimes it's good for everyone involved to have those boundaries pushed a little.  In this case, for example, some of the students were put on the path towards a new concept regarding creativity.  Their classmates, who those having trouble observed for inspiration, got the chance to be inspiring to their peers.  In a few cases some even dived into the opportunity to be the expert and take on the role of teacher, explaining how they wound their wool and why, how to wind it to make certain shapes (squares, triangles, rectangles etc) and so on.

Of course it was also an easy one to differentiate to varying year levels looking at different aspects of the curriculum by changing aspects such as using primary colours or secondary colours and so on.  For my classes in Spec Dev, where one class can cross curriculum boundaries very easily, this ability to differentiate on the fly is something I am constantly on the lookout for.  

It is very important to me that my students participate in the same basic activity as on a personal level it helps to promote class unity.  It's not always possible because of the Spec Dev arena I am working in, certain students simply need to be far more individually catered for, but getting as close as possible is always a primary goal.  It also avoids the challenging behaviour that can arise when you hear "but I want to do what Timmy is doing!".  

The last thing on this list is that it helps the students focus on their own work.  When everyone is doing almost the same thing it is less distracting as there's not so much "different to look at" when glancing around the room.  It relates directly to their own work so, as has been discussed, it can be inspirational to them and encourage them to think outside of their own box.  At the same time it is "far less attention grabbing" when all students are focused on the same task.  This particular aspect is serving me very well in keeping students engaged in and enjoying their own work.

All in all I felt this was an exceptionally worthwhile activity for a range of classes in the school I'm working at.

Regards,

Mel.