Have I mentioned before that I adore my first grade artists?  Check out their stunning self portraits and beautiful clay pendants!

The project began with the creation of our clay pendants – my first grader’s  very first clay project!  After some time rolling and smooshing the clay, we smashed it into a nice clay cookie and added texture with bottle caps and sticks.  After oohing and aahing at their finished glazed pendants, they spent lots of time lining up their beads in different patterns before stringing them.

  

Next came the portraits – we viewed self-portraits by famous artists, and there was lots of giggling as we looked in our mirrors and drew our faces.  First graders smiled into their mirrors and noticed how lines showed up around their mouths, noticed that their eyebrows were made up of little hairs, and that their ears were in line with their eyes.

Their finished portraits are so cute – and many of them captured a good likeness of themselves!

 

    

This project was inspired by a Summer 2010 article from Arts And Activities Magazine – “Jewelry Portraits” by Aimee Fresia.