The kids LOVE this project.  This is the second year I've taught it (though last year we did birds) and the students have a blast making them and the results are colorful and exciting.

This project definitely takes a couple hours of prep work by me but is totally worth it.  Before beginning this project, I cut coardboard into a ton of different shapes such as ovals, triangles, diamonds, circles, etc.  I make sure I have a bunch of large body shapes (they are between like 8" to 14") and a bunch of smaller pieces for fins, tails and eyes.  If I have 30 students, I make like 35 of each so that they each have a choice.  Even with box cutters this is pretty time consuming, but that's ok with me.

The first day of this project, students each go to different piles of the cardboard pieces and play with the pieces arranging them until they have a fish shape they like.  I tell each student that they must have a tail and at least two fins.  Once they come up with a design they like, they use Elmer's glue all to attach the pieces.  

The second class, we begin painting.  The tail is one color, the fins are each one color and the body is painted with large stripes.  The stripes can go horizontal, vertical or diagonal, whichever they prefer.  Some students even do squiggly stripes.  

The third class, they use other colors to paint patterns over the stripes.  Also, they paint and attach the eye(s).

This is a super quick, super successful project and I will probably do something like this every year (maybe robots next year?)...

I love birds!  Very much, which is why I was so happy about finding this blog post on pinterest one day!

I decided to do the project with my energetic 2nd graders and just as I imagined, they loved it!

Before the students arrived for class, I cut up a bunch of different sized and shaped pieces of cardboard.  There were pieces as big as 18 inches and some as small as 4 inches.  I cut out a bunch of organic shapes and a few circles/ovals for eyes.

To begin the project, I showed students a slideshow of some local Asheville folk artists who paint birds and we talked about how the artists simplify the birds into shapes.

After the slideshow, students rummaged through the cardboard pieces and layered them together to create a simplified bird image.  Once they came up with a design they were pleased with, they used Elmer's glue-all to attach the pieces.

The next class, after the glue had dried, students began by painting the head one color, the wings one color, the beak one color, the tail one color, etc.  The body was painted in thick stripes of color.

To finish this project, students used other colors to paint patterns over the bird.  

This project was short and sweet, it only took three classes.  The students had a blast and the birds turned out SO cool!