Project Ideas

Everyday Objects

Drawing – Choose an item of cutlery; look at it from several angles. Feel the shape of it in your hand. Can you describe it?
Make a drawing of it.
Look at some other items of cutlery. Can you make drawings of them? Use different tools, e.g., pencils, pastels, coloured pencils.

Paint and Colour – Is there any colour in your cutlery? What colour are the handles? What colour is the metal?
Using paint or pastels make a picture of some items from the cutlery drawer.
Try to get the colours as close to those of the cutlery you have.

Print – Look closely at some items of cutlery. Could you make stencils in these shapes? Try it and make rubbings of them.
You could also use the stencils to mask out areas of a monoprint.
Look for some ‘found objects’, e.g., sponges, toothbrushes, string, corrugated card, etc. Use these to make prints of items of cutlery – be inventive!

Clay – Roll out a slab of clay. Press items of cutlery into it. What can you see? Feel a piece of cutlery in your hand, what shapes can you feel? Describe them.
Can you make these shapes with the clay? Invent a new piece of cutlery with the clay!

Construction – Let’s see how inventive you can be! Look at some items of cutlery. What are they made of?
What materials could you use to construct pieces of cutlery? Card? Paper? Tinfoil? Wire? Other?
Think about it and have a go!

Fabric and Fibre – What cutlery do you use to eat dinner? How do you set the table?
Using fabrics could you make an appliqué of a place setting for dinner?
Be inventive with the textures and colours of the fabrics. Have fun!

Walls

Drawing  – Take a really good look at a wall. Get up close, what can you see? Would a magnifying glass or torch help you to get a good look into the cracks?
Is there anything living in/on the wall? Feel the wall, what texture can you feel?
Can you make a drawing of a section of the wall?  Try using a viewfinder to choose a section to draw.

Paint and Colour – Can you see any colour in/on the wall? Is there anything growing on the wall? Is there anything hiding in the cracks?
Decide what you would like to paint about the wall. How good are you at mixing colours? Can you get your colours like those in the wall?

Print – Do you remember how to take rubbings? You turn a crayon on its side, place the page over the object and rub with the crayon.
Could you take rubbings from the wall? Try using different colours. Overlap the colours and see what happens.
Could you make prints of the shape of the bricks/stones in the wall using found objects such as sponges/stones/bits of Lego/scrunched up paper/old toothbrushes?
Could you make stencils to make a print of the wall or something living on the wall? How will you add texture to your print?
If you have rollers, Perspex and block printing inks you could make monoprints of the wall or something about the wall.

Clay – Feel along the wall with the tips of your fingers. What does it feel like? What would happen if you pressed a slab of clay against the wall? Try it.
What has happened to the slab? If you pour some plaster of paris into the slab and let it dry you will get a model of the surface of the wall!
Roll out a slab of clay and use some found objects to create the texture of the wall.
Can you make ‘stones’ or ‘bricks’ with your clay and construct a wall with them?
Did you find any interesting crawlies on the wall or in the cracks of the wall? Try making models of what you found using your clay.

Construction – Have you any construction toys in your classroom (wooden blocks, lego or knex)?
Do you think you could construct a wall using any or all of them?
Can you think of any other materials that could be used to build a wall?
Try using stones (any size), using peat. Could you make a collage of a wall using paper?
How would you texture the paper to make it 3D? What colours would you choose? Would you prefer a stone wall or a brick wall?

Fabric and Fibre – Think about the interesting things you noticed about the wall. Could you use scraps of fabrics and fibres to make a collage of any of them?
What about making a wall-hanging based on what you saw? You might like to make a weaving about what you saw.

Water

Drawing – Choose your favourite drawing tool and make a drawing about water as it moves.

Perhaps you could make a drawing about:

• water coming out of a tap
• water moving around inside the washing machine
• a waterfall near your home
• a toyboat sailing on the pond.

What other ways does water move? Maybe you’ve had an adventure in or on water, such as a boat trip, a day at the beach or a visit to an aquarium.
You could draw a picture about that!

Paint and Colour – What colours do you think of when you think of water in its different moods?
What colours remind you of a stormy sea, a sunny day at the beach, frogs in a pond, a heavy rain shower, or bubbles in a bath?
Paint a picture about a chosen scene using only the colours that remind you of water. Of course, it need not be a scene.
It could be a pattern painting where you use only lines, dots, dashes, squiggles and shapes.

Print – What interesting creatures live in water? Choose one and make an outline drawing of it on a small block of wood.
It could be a starfish, a seahorse, a water snail, an octopus, or any other animal or plant that lives in water.
Glue draught excluder or string over your drawing to make a printing block. Print with your block onto paper or fabric.

Clay – Have you played with clay? Can you poke it, prod it, push it, roll it, and stick other things into it?
What kinds of underwater creatures can you make with it? Get a ball of clay and turn it into a jellyfish.
Roll your clay up again and turn it into a fish. Roll it up again and then turn it into an octopus, then into a starfish.
Choose your favourite to finish with, let it dry and then paint it.

Construction – Have you ever tried making a diorama? A diorama is a bit like a miniature stage set. Work with a group of your friends to make one.
Here are some ideas: (1) an underwater scene, (2) a scene from a book or story that involves water, (3) a harbour scene, or (4) a scene inside a submarine or ship.
You choose. Start by getting a box and using all kinds of materials to make a scene in the box.
You’ll need to decorate the floor, ceiling, sides and back of the box and you can use paint, collage, or montage techniques for this.

Fabric & Fibre – Explore your dressing-up or costume box and see if you can find things to make a costume for a character connected with water.
It could be a sailor, a mermaid, Neptune, or any other character. Or perhaps you would like to make a fabric picture about water?
Work on a small piece of Hessian and weave or sew threads in watery colours onto it.