by Andrea Mulder-Slater
If you are looking for a sure fire way to get a great response from your students, walk into the art room and tell them they will be “drawing with glue.”
I can remember Jantje and I going into a school to teach a particularly skeptical (and unsure) group of ten and eleven year olds. When we told them that they would be drawing fish, they silently stared at us as if to say, “yeah, right.”
Undeterred, we proceeded to hand out the initial materials required for the lesson which included black poster paper (half a sheet per child) and a bottle of Crayola® School Glue (the kind that dries clear).
And with that, we gained their interest.
Drawing with glue is a terrific activity idea for kids in grades 3 and up. The concept is simple — draw with clear glue on black paper and let dry for a day. Then, use pastel (chalk or oil) to “fill in” the spaces between the little glue ridges that are on the paper. The results are very much like stained glass.
On KinderArt, we have two lesson plans which walk you through how to draw with glue. The first, written by Karen Larmour and yours truly, is called Glue Fish, the results of which can be seen above. Find that lesson HERE.
The second lesson is slightly more involved. The theme for this one is totem poles. So, in addition to creating with glue, students will also learn about Indigenous cultures as they design their own personal totems. Find that lesson plan (complete with informational handouts) HERE.
Try it yourself the next time you have a couple of class periods available (as the glue needs to dry overnight). I guarantee fantastic results and lots of smiles and excitement all around.
