Here are some vital points to keep your art programme moving this year...

Need to be ORGANISED, planning is essential and be EFFICIENT

• If you are the Art teacher, work out a practical timetable which allows you “clean up time and travel time and set up time”.
• If your trolley is to be shared amongst grade teachers, nominate one teacher to be the Trolley Supervisor.
• It may be more economical if a trolley is purchased for each section of the school; P-2, 3-4, 5-6. This may be cost effective and reduce overstocking and hoarding of materials and equipment and allow space for other classroom materials and equipment.
• Return all things to the trolley as it can be very frustrating when things are not replaced. Have a checklist of Trolley contents to be completed and signed by each classroom.

Timetable the Trolley out to classrooms

• This will need to be done in conjunction with everyone’s timetable. Either half day blocks or full days or in year levels or cluster groups.
• Organise a system whereby shortages may be emailed to the Trolley Supervisor. Alternatively, organise a small notebook or clipboard where items can be listed for restocking.
• Have a central place for the trolley to be kept and leave a post it note to say who borrowed it.
  Nominate students in each classroom as monitors to help you set up. Use Yr 6 students as special trolley monitors on a term basis to assist the teacher in charge of the trolley. These students could be responsible for helping you tidying it up and listing materials and equipment that need to be re-ordered.
• Discuss with staff the benefits of the trolley. It must be borrowed as a complete item. At staff meetings remind teachers of OH&S and safe use of equipment etc.

Stocking the Trolley

• Stock the trolley with basic tools such as scissors, glue sticks, tape, oil pastels, pencils, staplers, drawing paper, decorative papers, markers, fine line pens etc.
• Bulldog clips are great for keeping paper together
• Tote Bins or Store Away boxes are ideal for storing open reams of A4 paper
• Use a Tote Bin or Store Away box to collect paper scraps for a collage box
• An All Purpose Carrier is a handy storage option for markers, pens, rulers, scissors or even glues.
• Label the outside of each bin to identify contents

 

• Suggested Art activities linked to the curriculum might be kept in a plastic folder for class room teachers or art teacher. The activities are only starting points for you the teacher, students will come up with their own ideas and creations.

• Use a mind map to brainstorm ideas before commencing the art activity. Discussion and research are extremely important with any art activity.

• If the school is on 2 levels, you may need to buy two trolleys because of OH&S difficult and dangerous to lift it up and down stairs.

• Stock a Trolley for each area or floor of a school building with products and tools suitable for their programmes.

• A Literacy Trolley might be set up for a group of grades to share with speciality products such as Posca Pens, Metallic Fineliners, Water Soluble Pencils, Craft Cut Scissors, speciality papers and card to assist in creative presentations of work.

• A Construction Trolley or Modelling Trolley, custom stocked with products and tools suitable for focus area.

 

• Keep Paper Magiclay airtight when not in use by tightly wrapping it in the plastic it is wrapped in or Cling Film. Ideally keep it out of the sun e.g. in a cupboard.
  
  
• Plasticine can be purchased in 500g blocks and in assorted fluorescent or 24 Fun colours in one pack. Look at the project you are doing and determine which colours would be used the most. Purchase them in the 500g blocks and then buy a smaller quantity of the assorted packs for details.
  
  
• Empty Stackables are a great way to dispense and store small beads, sequins, eyes etc.
  Use Toothpicks to join heads to bodies.
  
  
• If you cannot afford to use Poly Balls or Poly Eggs as a form to start a model with, scrunch-up newspaper into a ball, secure the form with Masking Tape and then work the Paper Magiclay over this form.

No Fire Clay

• If you want students to experience working with clay and do not have a kiln teach the skills of rolling, pinching, joining etc. with normal clay which is inexpensive. When the students are ready to make a model, use No Fire Clay as this does not need to be fired. No Fire Clay is a soft and pliable modelling clay which air dries, it is non toxic, made from natural materials and manipulates as a natural clay with water and tools. As with clay, the No Fire Clay must be worked with water, keeping the clay moist. The easiest and cleanest way to do this is to have pieces of foam rubber saturated with water on the work table. If the clay shows any signs of cracking when being worked, just moisten fingers on the foam and work the moisture back into the clay. To join clay shapes together, each surface of the clay must be scored, wiped with slip ( clay and water paste with a drop of PVA. ), pressed and the edges smoothed together with a modelling tool. A small coil of clay needs to be added into crevices or cracks caused by joining these shapes.
  No Fire Clay will keep in the plastic airtight bucket it is packed in, make sure the lid is securely replaced when not in use. A quick tap around the rim of the lid with a hammer does the job. Place the used No Fire Clay in an empty airtight container, not back with the unused No Fire Clay. It will take approximately one week to ten days to dry in room temperature.  When dry it can be painted with Chromacryl or Vipond.
• No Fire Clay is ideal for schools without a kiln, but I do suggest that normal clay is used first to teach the skills of clay modelling and that the No Fire Clay is used for the end product only.

Dry Felting Tips

• Felting needles are made from hardened steel, usually with a triangular profile, and are very sharp. They have tiny barbs or notches near the point of the needle. The brittle needles are likely to break if they are flexed; they require a straight up and down action into the loose fibre. When the needle is repeatedly poked in and out of a mass of loose wool, its "barbs" tangle and interlocks the fibre and eventually makes felt.
• Needle felting doesn't require strength, but it does require patience and concentration.
• The needles are very sharp, so a block of foam rubber is an essential piece of equipment to prevent the needle pricking the artist’s fingers.

Other projects with Felt and Wool

• Felting Zebra
• Felting Jester
• Felting Spider
• Wool Hanging
• Wool Lion

 

• Dispense It by Zart is a fabulous new product which provides you with a convenient and tidy way to store and dispense your wool. Say goodbye to tangle yarns with this great storage idea. Available in Acrylic Wool CQ060 or Fancy Yarn CQ080
• The teachers could get S hooks or butcher hooks and hang off the trolley i.e. raffia, ribbons, etc.
• Keep any pulled Hessian threads in a collage box as they make great hair or texture in artworks.
• Ask students to keep any ribbons they receive around presents as they are fabulous for weaving through Hessian.
• Ask students to start collecting buttons, as they make great eyes, and decorations for puppets and other collages.

Construction Tips

Joining	Paper & Card	Wood, Balsa, Popsticks, Pegs & Matches	Fabric, Tyvek & Threads	Other: Polystyrene, Egg Cartons, Construction Foam
Adhesives	Spray-Adhesive Clag, PVA, Cellogel Low Melt Gun Glue Sticks Clear Gum	PVA Hot Melt Gun Supertac Tarzan Grip Arbee Craft-Glue	PVA Supertac Arbee Craft- Glue Tacky Glue	Supertac Tacky Glue
Tapes	Masking Tape Clear Tape Cloth Tape Double sided Invisible Tape	Masking Tape Gaffer Cloth Tape Packaging Tape	Invisible Tape	Masking Tape
Pins	Drawing Pins Berry Pins Dressmaker Window-Dresser T Pins Lills	Dressmaker T Pins Window- Dressers Push Pins Drawing Pins	Dressmaker Pearl Window- Dressers Safety pins	Lills Push Pins T Pins Pearl Window-Dressers
Other	Hand Plier-Stapler Tacker Paper-Fasteners Paper Clips	Paper-Fasteners Tacker, Nails Tacks, Leather Plasticine Modelling-Wax	Hand Plier-Stapler Needles; stitchery Velcro	Hand Plier-Stapler Toothpicks Elastic Bands Velcro Wire Pipe Cleaners Chenille Stems
Cutting	Paper & Card	Wood, Balsa, Popsticks, Pegs & Matches	Fabric, Tyvek & Threads	Other: Polystyrene, Egg Cartons, Construction Foam
	Utility Scissors Zart Scissors Snap Off Cutter Utility Knife Craft Cut Scissors Hole Punch	Utility Knife Snap Off Cutter Craft Snips Scissors Saws	Rotary Cutter Pinking Shears Dressmaking Scissors	Craft Snips Utility Knife Snap-Off Cutter Poly Cutter Coping Saw
Decoration	Liquid Glitter Bulk Glitter Feathers Zart School Colours Paint Vipond-Acrylic Chromacryl Metallic Paint Fluorescent	Vipond Chromacryl Metallic Paint Fluorescent-Paint Decoupage with Rice-Paper Chenille stems Pipe Cleaners	Stitchery with Embroidery Thread, Wool Dyes Fabric Paint Pom Poms Sequins Beads, Jewels Buttons Markers	Glass Enamel Liquid Glitter Metallic Paint Fluorescent- Paint Chromacryl Vipond Pearl Pins Sequins

Wire
Armature Wire: A soft aluminium wire, which is easy to shape and twist into shape. Available in 1.5mm or 3mm gauge in 1kg, bundles. Use old scissors, combination pliers or wire cutters. Twist, wrap or join single strands of the wire to build an armature to support a sculpture of Modroc, Sculpta mold, Zart Paper Mix or Papier Mache. Decorate wire sculpture with cellophane, threads, fabrics etc.
http://www.zartart.com.au/html/activityhtml/ChildsPython.html
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/webzartextra/zextra_t104.pdf
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/Product_Info/Paper_mix.pdf

Florist Wire: Silver colour and quite pliable but not as soft as Armature Wire. Can be used with Armature Wire for less detailed work.

Florist Wire Rainbow is a soft coloured wire ideal for decorative wire work on smaller models such as mini beast antennae, jewellery etc.

Chicken Wire: Foundation wire for large constructions, to be used with Armature wire and Florist wire. 12mm hole x 22 gauge; 90cm wide. Cut with wire cutters.

Craft Aluminium Wire: A soft 2mm coloured wire that is easy to manipulate and fun to work with. Blue, Gold, Green, Purple or Red in 10m rolls

Creative Soft Wire: Great for jewellery, no special tools required, bends easily and cuts with scissors or wire cutters. This pack of 30m includes 3 different gauges:18, 22 and 24 gauge, with 11 colours.

Wireform: A fun, versatile aluminium modelling armature for sculpture, model making, arts and crafts. Available in fine, course or medium mesh. Stretches and moulds over forms. Use with other wire and construction materials.
Warning: It does pin prick the skin and may draw blood. Wear cotton gloves if necessary.

Polystyrene
Available in balls, blocks, eggs, stars and flat sheets. Ideal for mobiles, puppet making, decorations and general construction activities. 
Polystyrene Sheets are great lightweight display boards that may be mounted on walls with Velcro. 
Polycutter: Easy to use hand-held polycutter smoothly cuts through polystyrene to create the shapes you want. It is battery operated and very safe for all ages to use. It can be adjusted to cut through different thicknesses of polystyrene.

Basla
A lightweight material, easily joined, cut, textured and coloured. Ideal for exploration of constructing forms, for creating toys, carving and as a block for printing.
Box No. 1: Contains a selection of blocks, sheets and sticks.
Box No. 2: Contains blocks only.
Box No. 3: Contains sheets only.
Size of each Box is 50 x 30 x 30cm, but note that sizes of balsa pieces vary from box to box.
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/webactivities/seaflyer_t1_08.pdf
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/webzartextra/zextra_t107.pdf

Construction Foam
A3 sheets of foam ideal for construction. Easy to cut and glue with Supertac, Craft Glue or Low Melt Glue Gun. Construct and decorate with paint and collage. Use the Polycutter or a Utility knife to cut out display letters and numerals and other shapes. Score the foam to bend.
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/webactivities/za_SpaceMural_01_09.pdf
http://www.zartart.com.au/Images/Images_ZartExtra/Fathers%20Day09.pdf
http://www.zartart.com.au/html/activityhtml/MelbourneTram_side.html

 

Book Week Tips

• Involve the whole school in Book Week by assigning a shortlisted book per grade.

• During Book Week have a book character parade where students and teachers come dressed as one of the characters in this year’s books.

• Name, date and title your work, preferably on the back of the artwork.

• Display the artworks with the Picture Book the work is based on. Let the audience know what the book is about, using the students’ words.

• Ask the students’ to write about the book and what they liked or disliked about it.

• Send images of the artwork to the Publisher. Hopefully they will pass them on to the author and illustrator of the book.

• Don’t copy the illustrators work but use it as inspiration for your own artwork.

• Book Week is about encouraging students to read; to learn about new books; to share favourite writers and illustrators; to look again at old favourite books in maybe a different way; to take time to be alone and just read. Share with the students your favourite books and why you loved them.

• Invite an author or illustrator to speak to your students leading up to or during Book Week.

 

Printing Tips:

Hint when using paint for printing activities
(a) Have a damp towel on each table to wipe slightly messy and painty fingers.  The towel can be kept in a plastic bag and then washed at the end of the day after several lessons.
(b) Stamp printing with preps - make stamp pads with plastic fried rice containers, a sponge and add the paint.  The paint is refilled easily because I put some paint into a plastic container - Shower Gel with a pump action dispenser.  Only small amounts come out and this is easily carried around from room to room in a box.
Hints sent in by: Rita Di Grazia, Strathmore Primary School

Printing for Primary School children
Written for Zart Art by Lois Windridge

What is printing?
The process to repeat a shape that you made once

What do we print with?
Straws, Cotton Filters, Rollers, Screwed up Paper, Lids, Natural Objects, Fingers/Feet and hands, Sponges, Cardboard, etc.

What skills do we learn when we print?
Cutting into: With carving tools on wax/soap/plaster.  The surface can be a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE design, i.e. dig out design or cut away background.
Adding Onto: Raising the surface of wood/cardboard by gluing on shapes, string, etc.
Stencil Prints: Can be POSITIVE or NEGATIVE design.
Mono Prints: Paint on table/acetate sheets/glass. Printing can be applied to paper or fabric.

ACTIVITY: What do we do with our prints?
Display them in their own right.  Use as background for murals.  Decorate with them - on book covers and tins.  Cut out and create other creative shapes.  Use as backgrounds for individual collages, drawings or paintings.  Wrapping paper, etc.

ACTIVITY: Finger Prints
Use a stamp pad to create finger prints and fine point markers to turn them into characters.

ACTIVITY: Hand Print
Turn it into something by using collage scraps.

ACTIVITY:  Rubbings with Drawing Blocks
Use shapes from formcuts, found outside or natural objects.  Turn them into something when finished.

ACTIVITY: Build Up Surfaces
On cardboard, woodblock, etc., with cut out cardboard shapes.  Use P.V.A. to adhere shapes. Allow to dry.  Roller Paint over top with a soft roller.  Print.  (Use hard roller to roll over cardboard).

ACTIVITY: Carve a Design
In soap, plaster, wood, wax, lino or plaster.  Wax, soap and plaster is best for primary school children.  Cut a little bit...print a little bit...change colours.

ACTIVITY: Splatter Prints
Cut a shape out of cardboard and place on paper.  Hold a screen over the top of it and brush wet paint/food dye over it with a toothbrush to create a splattered effect.  Use different colours.

ACTIVITY: String Prints
Fold paper in half, open up and place painted string inside (use a brush to coat the string).  Leave the ends hanging out, fold the paper, hold down firmly with one hand and pull string out.  Repeat with another colour.

ACTIVITY: Bubble Prints
Add liquid detergent to food dye.  Blow with a straw.  Lay paper over the top to create a bubble print.

ACTIVITY: Sandpaper Prints
String can be glued onto sandpaper/PVA dribbled on.  When dry, print.  Line and texture will be emphasised.

ACTIVITY: Vegetable Prints
Cut vegetables in half.  Try corn, strawberries, pears, cucumbers, radishes, oranges, apples, avocado, onion, tomato, lemons, etc.  Carve shapes out of a potato to print - use carving tools, spoons and blunt knives.

ACTIVITY: Stencil Prints
Cut a design out of the middle of a piece of cardboard.  Roller over the negative design AND the positive design.

ACTIVITY: Footprints
Roller paint on the bottom of feet, sneakers or gumboots.  Take a walk on paper.  (Shoe designs can be coloured in later with crayons or markers).

ACTIVITY: Roller Printing
Glue yarn design on rollers, tin can, rolling pins, bottle or cardboard tube.  Roll on cloth or paper.  Cardboard shapes can be pasted on also. (Hair rollers and cob of corn is fun also!).

ACTIVITY: Mono Prints
Cut to size acetate sheet, either add Chromacryl Gel to paint or spread over the sheet, (this prevents the paper sticking to the paint).  Paint, or roller onto the acetate.  If design is not satisfactory, redo on the sheet.  Apply print paper to the acetate and rub with the back of hand.  Scratch back.  Pen on the back of the paper will also work well.

ACTIVITY: Silk Screen Prints
Cut out a design and lay it on top of paper.  Place screen on top and squeegee paint over the design.  Lift off.  Print should be made and the design stuck to the screen for re-print.

ACTIVITY: Lino Prints - Relief Printing
Cut to required size.  Carve into lino the design required.  Where the carving is done, the paint will not go in, leaving white areas on the paper - this being the design.  Roll paint over surface of lino.  It should not be too thickly applied.  Place paper over the block and with the back of the hand gently rub.  (HINT: If time is available to you, varnish the lino.  This seals the surface and gives a better print.)

ACTIVITY: Collagraph - Relief Printing
Use box board as a base, cut to required size.
Two methods:  1.Carve into the cardboard if it is heavy enough.  This result will be similar to a lino print.
2. Glue down found objects (leaves, feathers, soft materials) with P.V.A.  After this has dried,
mix P.V.A. with water and brush over the base.  Roller over the base and print.

REMEMBER:  CHILDREN NEED TO DEVELOP A CONCEPT OF PRINT.
PRINTING IS NOT SCRIBBLING
PRINTING IS A REPETITION OF A SHAPE
PRINTING IS PATTERN MAKING