Fairytale House - Rapunzel

Level One: Grade Prep

Discussion
Read the story of Rapunzel to the class and discuss what it might be like to be locked away in a room without a door and only one window. What would they do all day to amuse themselves? How would they escape from this room?
Talk about other stories that might feature a particular type of house. What about the houses made by the Three Little Pigs or the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel.
What materials might you use to create a castle, how would you make it stand up, how would you cut a window out for Rapunzel to look out of?
Explore rolling, bending, fringing and joining a sheet of Corrugated Cardboard.

Materials
Corrugated Cardboard A4, Giant Mosaic Squares, Poly Ball 40 mm, Merino Wool Tops, Permanent Marker, Cover Paper A4, Stapler, Supertac and Acrylic Wool

How to create a Fairytale Castle

1. Fold a sheet of Corrugated Card to cut various shaped and sized windows in different positions across the sheet.
2. Roll the Corrugated Card to create a cylinder and staple the edges together.
3. Fringe the base of the cylinder and use Supertac to glue it to a torn sheet of Cover Paper. The torn edge creates the impression of it sitting on the ground.
4. Cut decorative shapes from Corrugated Cardboard to add to the top of the castle, changing the straight edge of the cylinder to resemble a castle.
5. Decorate the castle with Giant Mosaic Squares to add colour.
6. Use half a Poly Ball to create Rapunzel. Draw on a face using a marker and create a hairdo with a long strand of Merino Wool Tops and Acrylic Wool.
7. Glue Rapunzel to the castle, just above one of the windows.

Castles

Level 2: Grades One and Two

Discussion
Bring in visuals of castles and discuss the features that most castles have. Build up a list of words such as moat, drawbridge, tower, turret, gatehouse, battlement and dungeon etc.
Who lived in castles and who lives in them now? Why were they built? Are there any castles in Australia? Where are they?

Materials
Corrugated Cardboard Natural, Cover Paper A3, Stapler, Supertac and Patty Pans Mini

How to create a Castle

1. Use Corrugated Cardboard to create the castle you would like to live in.
2. Create at least four cylinders from Corrugated Cardboard and fold, cut, join and decorate them to create your castle.
3. Use the both sides of the Corrugated Cardboard to show contrast in your design.
4. How would you make a drawbridge? Will your castle have a moat?
5. Use Patty Pans to create a garden surrounding your castle.
6. How will you glue the towers of your castle to the torn Cover Paper ground?

 

Gaudi Inspired House

Level 3: Grades Three and Four

Discussion
Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish architect who was famous for his unique style. His work seems to reflect an intention to avoid using any straight lines in his sculptural designs. Look at some of his buildings and describe them, what can you see? Do you like them? Can you find buildings around Melbourne that may have been inspired by Gaudi?
Mosaic work features dominantly in some of Gaudi’s buildings; can you find other artists that use mosaics in their work? Do you know how to create a mosaic? Are there any mosaic murals or sculptural pieces in your school? 

Materials
Corrugated Cardboard A4, Coloured Cardboard Squares, Coloured Sentence Strips, Paper Stripping 25 & 50 mm, Giant Mosaic Squares, Glass Mosaic Stones, Stapler and Supertac

How to create a Gaudi Inspired House

1. Create a number of cylinders and cones from different types of coloured card.
2. Change the shape of the cylinders by cutting away or adding shapes to the top edge. Remember Gaudi avoided using straight lines.
3. Use a stapler, slits, flanging and glue to join all the forms together to create the structure of the house.
4. Decorate with Giant Mosaic Squares and Glass Mosaic Stones

Tree House

Level 4: Grades Five and Six

Discussion
Originally the Korowai clans of New Guinea lived in one to five clustered tree houses (khaim). To build a tree house, they would select a solid tree as the central pole. The top of the tree was removed and the floor was constructed, supported by four to ten poles.
Can you research this group of people and find out more about their tree houses. What would it be like to live in a tree house, what would be the advantages and what would be the disadvantages?
Have you seen the film Avatar? Describe the tree the Na’vi people lived in on the planet of Pandora.
If you were to build a tree house in your backyard, what would you build it out of? How high off the ground would it be? What would you put inside it?

Materials
Brown Kraft Paper Roll, Armature Wire 1.5mm, Popsticks, Paper Magiclay, Coloured Matchsticks, Acrylic Wool, Cover Paper A4, Tissue Paper and Supertac

How to create a Tree House

1. Tear and scrunch a piece of brown Kraft Paper to form the framework of a tree.
2. Wrap Armature Wire around the brown paper to secure and shape the tree.
3. Glue the base of the tree to a torn sheet of Cover Paper.
4. Use Paper Magiclay, Coloured Matchsticks and Wool to shape structures to appear in the tree house. Consider platforms, rope ladders, swings etc.
5. Cut leaves from Tissue Paper and glue these on to the branches of the tree.