Cat in papier mâché , part 3

Part 3 .
Painting your cat .

Material needed :
* your cat in papier mâché
* gesso (or white acrylic paint)
* HB pencil
* acrylic paints (as many colors as possible )
* old newspaper (to cover the tables)
* paintbrushes of different thickness
* small cups of water (to rinse the paintbrushes)
* rags or paper towels (to wipe out paintbrushes )
* small plastic plates (one per student) to put a small amount of acrylic paints of different colors
* Varnish (to protect the paint from chipping off )

Activity :
(1) Each student should take their cat , now entirely covered with newspaper ...

and apply a couple of coats of gesso (or white acrylic paint). You should plan that one day ahead of the painting of the cat itself, so it has plenty of time to dry . If you are an art docent and are limited by time like I was (I only had one hour a month !) , you could go to school and apply the gesso on all the cats yourself . It will save you some time and ensure that all the students will have enough time to paint their cat entirely .

(2) Each student now has a "white" cat . They can take an HB pencil and draw the outlines of their cat's eyes , nose , a particular design , etc.

(3) Now they can choose the colors they want to paint their cat with and put a small amount of each color in a small plastic (or paper) plate . Ideally it would be a good idea to put two coats of paint , but again if time is limited , one coat of paint will do . Each student should have a small cup filled with water to rinse their paintbrush , and a rag to wipe it out .

Here is the finished cat ...

Once the paint is dry , don't forgot to apply some varnish to protect the cat . (It will prevent the paint to chip off too easily .) I would suggest that you do day the day after the painting .

Other examples of cats :

When I did this project with these 5th graders , the teacher had a classroom filled with "Garfield"... so we made some "Garfield" cats...Here is an example from one of the students ...

Examples of cats with random designs...

A black cat. Perfect for...Halloween ...

I hope you and your students or children had fun =0)

Cat in papier maché , part 2

Part 2 :

How to make the cat itself .

In part one , I explained to you how to make some papier mâché paste . I gave you some alternative recipes as well. Now we are all ready to start the "real" lesson : the students will learn to make a cat in papier mâché . How exciting ! They will love it !!!

Material needed : Here is what you will need :
* some clean empty plastic bottles ( like Gatorade , soda or juice bottle )
* some uncooked rice
* some dry beans
* a funnel
* a plastic spoon
* some labels (one for each student)
* sharpies
* some aluminum foil
* cardboard (from old cereal or cookie boxes)
* a pencil
* scissors
* masking tape
* newspaper (that you will have collected from the students )
* papier mâché paste (we made in part 1)
Activity :
(1) Each student will fill the bottle with some rice (using a funnel and a plastic spoon). They will add a little bit of dry beans and then mix .(The rice and the beans will put some weight in the bottle , which will prevent it to tip later on .) Close the bottle .



(2) Have the students write their name on a label with a sharpie . Then have them glue the label at the bottom of their bottle . (It will make the identification of each cat easier after they dry !)



(3) Next ask each student to make a ball with some aluminum foil .

They should cover it with about half a page of a newspaper ...



and secure it with some masking tape at the top of the bottle . This will be the head of their cat .


(4) To make the tail , each student will need another piece of aluminum foil . This time they will roll it as if they were making a snake with play dough ...

They should cover it with a newspaper page as well and secure it with masking tape ...


And attach it to the base of the bottle with masking tape as shown .



(5) For the ears , the students will simply draw two triangles on a piece of cardboard ...

cut them with their scissors ...



and attach those two triangles to the head with masking tape . The ears can be a little bit tricky to secure and some students may need your help with it .



(6) Each students will then gather a few (2 to 4) pages of newspaper and and tear it up in pieces of all sizes and lengths (long , short , wide , narrow).



(7) The students are now ready to dip their strips of paper , one at a time , in the papier mâché paste .(Each student should be provided with a small paper bowl containing some papier mâché paste .)



After dipping the strip in the papier mâché paste , they should directly adhere the strip to the bottle and smooth it with their fingers . They should start at the bottom and work their way to the top , go over the head , the ears and of course the tail . Once they are done , they should go over a second time , so they will have two coats of papier mâché .




Now they will have to let it dry...until next lesson ...