Pairing a sculpture project with our annual food donation program.
Our school does an annual food and toy drive for the holiday seasons. I find that food is always a motivating subject for students. So we paired these two ideas together to create an art display that also helped remind students to make donations and to understand that hunger is a real issue even in our community.
We began this unit with a little research. Students find hunger facts; World Hunger, US Hunger, or Local Hunger facts. Each student had to find a unique fact that would be used later on the edge of their tray. (You can find my previous version of this lesson here)
Next, we explore continuous line drawings of the foods we like best. I encourage the meals to be balanced with all food groups but require enough for it to feel like a complete meal that includes a beverage and utensils appropriate to the food.
We began by exploring wire with pliers. I got some 20 gauge annealed wire from Nasco in 5 lb. spools, but any soft wire will do. I had examples for students to make on their own. Their name in cursive that could fit on a Post-it note. A cube, sphere, spring, and a block letter if they were able. Once these were done they created some continuous line drawings of food. These become the basis for our wire sculptures.
I had students save some lunch trays from our cafeteria so they could be recycled into our projects. Students filled their tray with their wire food items, and those who finished early were asked to make bonus table-top items like a butter dish, salt and pepper shakers, or flowers for a vace I had. This kept early finishers busy.
To my eye, the wire food is like a "ghost" of the food that should be there. It allows you to read the facts but also enhances the visual message. We displayed these in a common area of our building along with signage to remind students to bring in food items and gently used toys for our area soup kitchen. It was a big hit, and donations were plentiful.
We began this unit with a little research. Students find hunger facts; World Hunger, US Hunger, or Local Hunger facts. Each student had to find a unique fact that would be used later on the edge of their tray. (You can find my previous version of this lesson here)
Next, we explore continuous line drawings of the foods we like best. I encourage the meals to be balanced with all food groups but require enough for it to feel like a complete meal that includes a beverage and utensils appropriate to the food.
We began by exploring wire with pliers. I got some 20 gauge annealed wire from Nasco in 5 lb. spools, but any soft wire will do. I had examples for students to make on their own. Their name in cursive that could fit on a Post-it note. A cube, sphere, spring, and a block letter if they were able. Once these were done they created some continuous line drawings of food. These become the basis for our wire sculptures.
I had students save some lunch trays from our cafeteria so they could be recycled into our projects. Students filled their tray with their wire food items, and those who finished early were asked to make bonus table-top items like a butter dish, salt and pepper shakers, or flowers for a vace I had. This kept early finishers busy.
To my eye, the wire food is like a "ghost" of the food that should be there. It allows you to read the facts but also enhances the visual message. We displayed these in a common area of our building along with signage to remind students to bring in food items and gently used toys for our area soup kitchen. It was a big hit, and donations were plentiful.
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