Paper Mache Animals

 

 From toilet paper rolls to paper mache covered animals

 

 Cheetah (student wanted to make the cheetah look like it was running)

 

Penguin 

Giraffe 

Horse

My second grade finished off the year with a 3-D project with animals. The classroom teacher came to me over a month ago with an idea to work together and create a lesson that coincided with her animal unit. With only a limited amount of time (four 45 minute classes) I stayed away from clay and decided to attack it with paper mache. We started out with a 2-D drawing of the animal (students brought in books and pictures found). The second class we all started out with a half of a Pringles can and six toilet paper tubes. The students figured out how they would use the given supplies to create their designs. With the penguin and fish I allowed the students to use a full Pringles can. Using tape the students connected each piece to the "center body" Pringles can. The third class I asked to teacher if I could keep the students for an additional 45 minutes over my lunch to cover the animals in paper mache. 

Paper Mache Directions

I got this technique from my cooperating teacher during student teaching (2010). Each student received a brown paper bag from the grocery store. The students cut the bag two inches from the bottom. The bottom remaining piece becomes a TRAY to hold the paper mache pieces. The top paper piece becomes the paper used to cover the animal structure.  The students rip the top paper piece into four smaller pieces and crumble each of them into small balls (repeat eight more times). By crumbling up the paper the students soften the paper and have a little fun. When it is time to paper mache the students come up to me one at a time with their paper tray and ONE piece of crumbles paper. I grab the paper and dunk it into a gallon bucket of paper mache paste. After I take the paper out I squeeze it (removing most of the unneeded paste) and place it on the paper tray. The students go back to their seats and unravel the paste covered paper ... tearing it into smaller pieces if need to cover the animal skeleton. When the students need more paper they grab another dry crumbled up paper and bring it to me in their paper tray. repeat till animal is covered.

Students brought their pictures and books along with them to the last class to aid them in painting their animals. We painted the animals with one color at first, covering the whole animal with paint. Once the paint was dry, the students added details with multiple colors of paint. The classroom teacher added the eyes and yarn for the horse main and tail. With only four classes, I think the students did a fantastic job!