Requirements
Scraps of wood panelling, wood bits, bottle caps, corks, beads, wire,plastic bugs, faethers Hot glue gun, white glue Coping saw, jig saw (optional) Drill or dremel tool Various colours latex paint and brushes
Objective
Description
This is a great project to celebrate a special occasion such as Mother’s or Father’s Day. In this example, the children have portrayed their parents as an anniversary gift.
The main body of the figure consists of 3 1/2″ tongue in groove pine paneling cut to about 2′ lengths (free offcuts from a local woodworker).
The children are asked to make an outline of head and waist. Encourage them to maintain the elongated character of the medium. An adult will have to cut these out using a coping saw. OR you can eliminate any cutting by simply gluing on a round piece to act as a face ignoring the right angle shape of the background.
The kids can cover this with “hair” made of yarn fringe, or curly kate scrubber or buttons strung on wire and attached by drilling holes through the wood).
When they have their general body shape, they can now begin to define body features and clothing using small bits of wood, old game pieces, bottle caps, popsicle sticks, beads etc. (A great source for such things is the dollar store where you will also find feathers, beads, plastic bugs and frogs etc. Kids love this stuff!) These are glued with white glue and where necessary clothes pegs or bulldog clamps can be used to secure the pieces as the glue dries. Another valuable tool for sticking odd shaped things or metal is a hot glue gun.
At the next session the class can begin painting. The best results are achieved if the child first paints the entire figure in one color. When that dries, it acts as a background for any further painting or decoupage. When decoration is complete, several cup hooks are screwed in the thickest areas for the keys to hang on. A screw eye can be attached at the top through the thickness of the wood for easy hanging. Blue tack at the bottom underside helps it to hang vertically.
