Box Wall Mural

Nashville is trying a really cool thing- to create a giant "Box Wall Mural" which will be displayed at The Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson) for their fall festival in early October.  It is a community art project- people from all over the community, all walks of life and interests are creating boxes to contribute. It has caught the attention of the Guinness Book of World Records!  Because of the cost involved ($5 a box) it was initially something I felt was prohibitive for my elementary school, but, we got a donor!  So, 32 boxes and an after school art day with 30 (yes, 30) 3rd graders, here's the start.  We are to design the front and back, so tomorrow, we go at it again, only with the 4th graders.  I painted in the design, and then broke it back apart for the kids to paint- I also gave them a "map" by putting colored x's on the parts- so that even though there are slight differences in color and application, the general design is coherent.  Can you tell that we are the Hermitage Lions?  Tomorrow AM, I will sneak in early, and trim up the black lines again, but all in all, they did a great job.  And I am writing this with my feet up in my jammies- I love my kiddos, and I want them to have a variety of art opportunities but MAN, it makes for a looong day.

Paper Marbling with Shaving Cream

OK- I love the idea of this project.  And in an effort to boost the behavior of my 3rd graders, I held an after school art, to which I invited my best behaved to join in the shaving cream fun.  My thought was that the word would spread, and the other kiddos would shape it up in an effort to get an invitation.  It turned out ok, but not as well as I saw from other examples online.  Did I not use enough shaving cream? Did I give them too much space to draw the marble on?  Should I have limited their designs? Is this how it is supposed to look?  2 kids got perfect marbles, and the rest got mush.  I just wonder if I did something wrong, or if this is just the success ratio typical for a project like this. Or, am I just being picky? Thoughts? Also, any other messy type projects that would be a good incentive?  I'm leaning towards clay for the next time.