Second Grade Paper Mache Bugs

In Second Grade, we just finished looking at a sculptural technique called paper mache.  The students were shown various paper mache artworks, some by artists who created their sculptures in life size scale and others who created more smaller scaled works.  The students enjoyed seeing the variety of possibilities that paper mache allowed the artist to create.  We started off the project by brainstorming a bug to create, then sketches were made.  Students worked off of these sketches, treating them like building plans... which, when most artists work with sculpture they have some type of plan to guide their work.  In total, the project lasted about 6 days.

Students first created the Armature of their sculpture, this is a lot like the skeleton of the paper mache.  It is what provides the shape of the end result.  Upon completion of the Armature, students then began adding paper mache layers onto their sculptures.  I was worried they would not like the feeling of the paste, which is quite slimy and gooey, but they enjoyed the process of adding their papers onto the Armature.  After the projects dried, students then painted their bugs according to their sketch.  Some chose to get creative with their bug's coloring while others stayed true to their bug's realistic appearance.