One Man's Trash... a lesson on Found Object

My third graders are to learn about found object sculpture this 9 weeks.  Not an easy concept to begin with, and so rather than make free standing sculptures, we made relief sculptures.  Buttons, straws, bottle tops, etc were glued together to create a sun face.  This goes with the enduring theme of "Artists and Nature", as we looked at various representations of the sun. What fun to break the long standing "no smiley sun" rule.  During one session, students assembled their sun, working on the idea that color didn't matter, but size and shape do.  During today's session, they covered their suns with plaster, building up areas as needed.  Next session, we'll paint.  They are dying to have them spray painted, but I am hoping to push them in the direction of painting them with brushes, so that details can be enhanced.  We'll see who wins this.