Sculpture Lesson Plan (Feb 1)

The lesson plan we had today was for sculpture lesson plan which was lead by Brenda. The activity she had for us was to make monsters from different materials. In general, I think this was a very fun assignment. I also believe that this is appropriate for the age group that we are working with because its fun, allows the learners to use their imagination and learn the limitations of different materials. Also, because this is a sculpture project which works with three dimensional structures, there are opportunities to learn different structures and requirements needed in order for a structure to support itself..

Also, although this lesson plan does have craft elements, the project works with the concept of creating a monster which allows it to be still be art. What I found interesting with this project was how Brenda decided to provoke the imagination of the learner using a mystery item. The learner had to feel the mystery item and incorporate something from that item into the monster they create. I think this part of her lesson plan is a vital part of her project because it is the base for the concept of the creating the monster.

I think an interesting part that she could have with the students would be to let them watch the movie Monsters Inc. because they can look at the different types of monsters and the types of textures they could create. The learners can also gain an understanding about, how things are not what they always seem. I think incorporating this into her lesson plan would be very enjoyable for the children. I would’ve like to know the resources that Brenda used to make this lesson plan.. I think they would’ve been an interesting read. She vaguely mentioned the developmental issues she was dealing with and did not reference her sources during her lesson, nor mention when asked.

The first monster I created, I tried to include the smoothness of the object and stiff net structure of the object. I used the play dough as the base of the body, used some wire for the spines, shells to add to the net like texture, and modelling clay for the feet. I learned that the play dough was way too soft to be used for the base, and in general for the objects I attached to it. This made this particular monster heavy and unstable.

The next monster I made was mostly made with pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks and play dough. I tried to work with a different structure from my first monster and this time incorporate more of the net like structure. To try to accomplish this, I used the pipe cleaners to wrap around two popsicle sticks in a kind of weave for stability. I believe that out of the two monsters, this one was definitely more successful in terms of incorporating structure and texture of the mystery item, which was a birdie used for badminton.