Animaplates village

Not long ago, the Science and Technology Museum asked me if I could give workshops on the theme "architecture". Of course I said yes, and the ideas came flowing into my head right away.  Sometimes I wonder where these ideas come from. People around me were also intrigued: they know I make animals and puppets; they find a chess set a stretch; but houses made with paper plates, that was too much.

Well, it wasn't too much. Of course, going from the spark of an idea to a finished project takes some work but that's a part I find very exciting. To show the houses in context, I even made a scale model of a village complete with roads, pond, bridge and playground.

The workshops will be one hour each, so the projects could not be too complex. In order to make them netvertheless interesting and to allow the children to express their creativity, I am proposing several variants of round houses, of different heights and made with different colours of cardboard. The kids will design and cut their own windows and doors and put cellophane behind the windows if they want (I used to love that as a child).

If you live in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, take your kids to the museum and let them have fun with Animaplates on February 26 and 27 as well as March 5, 6, 12, 13 and 15 to 19. If you are elsewhere, you'll soon be able to organize your own workshop with your kids or with your students because I will be publishing these projects on the Animaplates website.

Children speak through their puppets - the puppets give them a voice

Yesterday I gave a puppet-making workshop in a grade 6 class. The kids loved it.

For teachers, puppets are a marvelous vehicle for combining several teachings in a series of activities that the students don't experience as a lesson. For starters, visual arts and especially three-dimensional constructions involve the brain in a way that is beneficial for other subject matters such as math, science etc. Then, once the puppets are made, the students can write sketches to act out with their puppets. Alternatively, existing stories or fables can be used as a starting point. This approach is in fact an excellent exercise in written and spoken language. I have seen shy students shine as actors in a play because they could speak through their puppet.
You can take this one fun step further and let the students organize a puppet show for the younger classes. This empowers them and it promotes a team spirit in the school.
In another school where I have done a puppet workshop, we filmed the show.  You can see some excerpts (in French) on YouTube.

Paper plate crafts offer endless possibilities

And that's what this blog will be about.
You're going to be surprised. Puppets, piggy banks, birds and all kinds of animals, Christmas ornaments, Easter decorations, even a complete chess set.  Have a look at my website.