This project came about when I discovered that if you mix cotton with glue, you get a pretty hard adhesive that can do amazing things.

What you need is:
A box of ear cleaners (preferably unused)
Elmer’s Glue bottle
scrap paper
some scraps of cardboard

Divide the class into groups and explain architecture such as bridges and towers and maybe show a few pictures too.

Begin by taking some glue poured on a scrap piece of paper and dipping one end of the cotton swab (ear cleaner) in the glue and try to break down the well formed tip of cotton. A few swirls will do it.

Stick swab on cardboard standing up and repeat. A pyramid shape works the best when starting out. Some of the buildings my sixth graders created were fantastic. We even tried to see if the buildings could support a small toy when the glue had dried.

To create a wave effect you will use cotton balls, water-based colored markers and plastic containers such as egg cartons or used meat trays. You will also need a piece of cardboard and some scraps of paper for the end of the project.

With a blue marker, color in one of the cups of the egg carton.

Then fill in just a bit of the glue to soak one cotton ball. Remember this is messy so be prepared.

Swirl the cotton ball in the pool of glue until it takes enough of the blue glue mess and then stick it on the cardboard. Repeat until you have enough to create a wave. Let harden.

You can add tiny surfers and sharks to the wave with scraps of construction paper.

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Here is a way for anyone to use up the old manila graph paper you may have stored around the house or school. You do need the 1 inch square kind as the smaller graph paper may make your kids go batty…

You will need a classroom of about 20-25 kids
Crayons
Cut Manila Graph Paper with 1” squares
glue and a bigger piece of poster board for use after the coloring is done

What I like to do first is explain who Ellsworth Kelly is and what type of art he created. I usually show examples of his random grid paintings.

I then give pieces of the cut manila graph paper (between 16 to 25 squares total depending on ability and age, to each student. If you decide on one set number for a class that works out the best)

The student should color each square a different bright color except for 8-12 squares which should be colored black. It depends upon the original numbered graph paper passed out.

The entire square should be colored in and no spaces should be left uncovered.

After all the pieces are colored, I glue the students works into one square and you would have an Ellsworth Kelly representation. It is a good idea to make sure that the students separate some of the squares that are colored black and not to create a glut of squares of all the same color. Two or three can touch but that is it.

You could also reverse the painting with white replacing black and certain colors with complimentary colors. This is a neat way to explain the color wheel too

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