Arctic Habitat and Penguins

    It's cold outside!  So what better time to learn about the Arctic and Antarctic?  The playground last week was pretty icy, which I found out first hand during the surprise fire drill in the middle of the lesson.  On the way out, some of the kids were sliding down the ice like little pengins (which they're not supposed to do), but it was a great segway into our art lesson. Once we were allowed back in (thankfully the classroom was warm), we reviewed the Arctic and covered the Antarctic briefly.  We talked about penguins, where they live, what they eat, and how they take care of their young.
    Next I showed them the demos of the penguins I made for them.  One was realistic, one was cartoony, and I asked them to point out the basic shapes.  Since the realistic penguin would take too long, we opted for the cartoony penguin, which the kids were excited to make since it was cuter.  Plus it had googly eyes, and who doesn't like that?
    Once the kids all had their materials, they did great.  It helped that this clay was not nearly as messy as the traditional clay we used for the elephants (nor will it explode- since it doesn't need to be fired).  However, it was pretty cold and stiff, and it took a while for the kids to be able to warm it and mold it. Once it was warm, we did a step by step lesson making basic shapes of the cartoon-like penguin (sphere, cyclinder, cone...) by hand building.
    By the end of it, each student had formed all the pieces to make the penguin and the only thing left to do is to stick the pieces together and put on the googly eyes.  That will have to wait until next week when I come back to help them finish up.
    I came really close to finishing with enough time for cleanup, and I would have too if it weren't for that fire drill!  Grrrr.  Anyway, moving on...
  Next time we'll finish our penguins and paint our elephants (and for those whose elephants blew up, you'll have a chance to remake one).  It'll be a work day and I look forward to finishing the projects.  See you next time!