We made an igloo......

About a month ago my sister asked me to come into the school to help her make an igloo from milk bottles. The children had been saving milk bottles for months and they were super excited to get going.... Two weeks later we finally made it to the top of the igloo feeling very happy with ourselves. From the outside it looked really cool, if a little wonky.

Here's the 2 cheeky scamps playing inside it....

Having finished it Friday night we left it over the week end only to find it Monday morning like this, completely melted....

I was determined to finish this after all of our hard work. So I went back in on a Friday afternoon with 30 very excited and very helpful little children to put it back together. For anyone else attempting this you really need a base when starting off to hold its shape, which we thought we didnt need, oh how wrong were we! So we moved it into the corner of the classroom so that the corner walls could support the shape and began again to put it back together. 

30 Glue gun sticks, 1 roll of gaffa tape & 1 large bottle of PVA glue later and we were back in business.....

Again we left it over the week end to fully dry out and hold its shape with a little help from some garden canes I found in the shed. When we came back in on Monday morning we found it....all in one piece... hurrah.

The children were amazing taking it in turns to help collect bottles, arranging them into sizes, then working out how many would fit into the rows and spaces and most importantly holding them down to make them super strong. They often worked as a team always offering help and assistance to each other. Whilst they were waiting for a turn they made lots of snowflakes and clouds to add the finishing touches. 
 Who said learning has to be boring. 

Next year we'll be experts : )

Getting in the mood for summer.....

Another week and another topic, this week we looked at seascapes. Here's my seascape of Holywell Bay in Cornwall which always brings back happy memories. It's looking a bit empty at the moment but next week i'll be adding life into paintings so I'll add some people and a good old wind breaker. 

Here's all the lovely students getting creative...

Feeling the cold.....

January has been full of germs for me but that hasnt stopped any creativity, maybe slowed it down a little : ) My classes are in full swing and we have one more session until half term, where does the time go?

Last week we looked at a winter snow scene in my Oils and Pastels class and I did a little simple scene working wet on wet. It can be quite frustrating work wet on wet as the paint moves around a lot! But if you go with it and have a little fun experimenting it can be a fun way to work. 

I'm always blown away by the work of the students and there's been no stopping them so far this term. Here's what they created.....

I love the fact that everyone is different and they all bring their own unique quality to their work which is always a joy to watch.