Mexican Folk Art meets Easter Peeps

Today, Bear Paw Art Kids accomplished what I thought might be impossible--blending a bit of Mexican folk art with an Easter theme and working with paint, clay, Easter grass, and feathers all in one session!  These young artists did a fantastic job, finishing in record time and with beautiful results to take home for their Easter tables.

The lesson:  First our Mexican Folk art bowls needed painting,

. . . so we looked at photos and displays of colorful Mexican designs on plates, figurines, paintings, and clothing to admire the bright colors and repeating designs used in folk art.

Next, everyone dove in and painted their paper bowls bright yellow (tempera paint was used) and added a repeating design after the yellow paint had dried.

Then we broke out the clay to make some Easter peeps (you can find the recipe for this self-hardening cornstarch clay, or "Play Clay," at argostarch.com).  

A large peep was made by patting out some orange clay and covering a small plastic Easter egg completely with the clay.  The plastic egg is used since otherwise the clay would be too heavy and dense to dry properly. We added beaks, eyes, and feathers to finish the peep.

Gretchen works on one of her peeps.

A second, smaller peep was made by simply rolling a ball and adding a beak, eyes and a top feather.  The baby peep fit nicely in the bottom half of a large plastic egg shell, where it could just peek over the rim.  The shell was fitted with a clay pillow underneath to keep it from wobbling around.   

Hailey has her green-eyed, purple-feathered peep done.

Madyson has a little peep finished and is getting ready to put it in a shell.

Melody made a snail to keep the peeps company.

Gretchen, showing her cute peeps.

And Madyson, in her colorful hat, is a good peep maker too.

The finished peeps were then put in the bowls painted earlier, with Easter grass to keep everything from shifting around and getting mashed.  The clay peeps will need to be dried thoroughly at home for a day or two before they harden up.

Amy with her colorful bowl full of clay peeps.

 And Madyson's bowl is a riot of peeping color . . . .

. . .  and so is Melody's.

 So Easter and Mexican folk art really can be combined in one busy, and slightly crazy-fun lesson for 7 year olds!