Wooden Cityscapes

Sometimes I think that I should bring this project out earlier in the year but I know that if I did they would never be this good. Tiny humans need the year to go through the ups and downs of fine-motor development and to develop the skill of creating fine detail. Let me tell you, they LOVE this project. They love working on an unexpected material. I need to incorporate that surprise more often.

MATERIALS:
+ wood blocks
+ sandpaper
+ Sharpies

I think I've mentioned it before, but we have this amazing reuse store called the Scrap Exchange. It's here that I bought about 50 lbs of scrap wood for less than $10. Our head of maintenance cut them into easy-to-use pieces because he’s simply the best. The first step was to use 150 and 100 grit sandpaper to condition our working surface. We spent about five minutes at my back table on smoothing the edges, sides, and flat surfaces. 

With our surface conditioned we set to work on building our cities. I demonstrated overlapping buildings and encouraged the creation of unique buildings. Students used my examples, some reference books, and even the images of previous country studies to draw their cities. After they have enough fine detail they can add color. The city is the emphasis and I encourage students to finish those before moving on to the sky. 

We spent less than an hour class period on this simple project. If a student didn't finish they had other opportunities to finish coloring before I sent them home.

What unexpected item do you like to create art on?