Playing with Basic Elements
For All Grade Levels
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Inspired by Fletcher Benton: The Alphabet
(July 30, 2009–July 3, 2010)
Fletcher Benton has another strategy for working. He uses a group of small basic elements and combines them in different ways to create small sculptures. Then he looks at all the sculptures and decides which ones are most interesting. These he turns into large-scale sculpture.
Materials
Select a half dozen elements and give each student a half dozen or so of each. Some everyday objects that might be easy to include as elements are:
- Cotton swabs
- Peppermint puffs
- Styrofoam packing pieces
- Sugar cubes
- Cotton balls
- Toothpicks
- Geometric shapes cut from cardboard
Ask each student to build a small sculpture using whatever means they can to get things to stay together—twist ties, glue, etc. Evaluate each sculpture using the evaluation included with this lesson plan. Choose one sculpture to make a larger version. Have each student build a version of that sculpture, adding color. Compare these sculptures. How are they the same? How are they different?
New York State Learning Standards
- English Language Arts Standards 1 and 3
- Visual Arts Standards 1–3
Today
Monday
May 21
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