August 17, 2015

Genius...or Wacky?


So I've had this "wacky" idea for a couple years now....but never followed through with it.  Last fall I found Wacky Noodles for .30 cents a piece at Dollar General...bought them, but did nothing with them.  UNTIL NOW!  Today I cut the Wacky Noodles in half, temporarily secured the brushes in place with painters tape, and then hot glued them in permanently(the noodle does "melt" a little from the hot glue).  I used the cheap brushes that come with Crayola's watercolor sets....in case you were wondering. 

WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THEY FOR?!?!?!

My thought is to have the kids do paintings where they are not able to "control" their brush like they would a regular brush(I also think this would be a great exercise to do with our teachers on a PD day!!!!).  I would ask them to paint something that would seem to require a steady hand, but because they were using the Wacky Noodle...they'd have to adapt how they rendered the image.   Most likely, the paper and paint would be on the ground...and they'd have to work straight armed.  

In my mind...this is going to be fun...different...and a wonderful learning experience!  I'm not sure when I'm going to test them out, but stay tuned...I'll share it with you when I do!! 

7 comments:

  1. It could be fun to do portraits! With students you can talk about letting go of ideas of perfection -- in art and in how we view ourselves. With adults you can talk about the same thing but go a little deeper with it. This is a great tool for abstraction!

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  2. Oh I like this. Kids always get so caught up in the details they never get the big picture. I've had the kids use big graphite sticks and big chalk to draw with so this would be a good way to paint with out worrying about detail.

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  3. Love it! I have attached charcoal, pencils, markers etc to dowel rods and had students draw before... Frustration-freeing-fun in transition much like the photos of Matisse painting.

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  4. Love it! We did pendulum painting the first day of school.

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  5. Love the idea! Allowing the teachers to try their hand at it is a wonderful experience! Go for it!

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  6. I think it sounds like fun E! I can't wait to see how the kids respond... my guess, lot's of laughter!

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  7. What fun but why bother with the brushes even... I think the pool noodle itself would be fun. It's great experimenting with "non" brushes....sticks and rocks... are my favs. the marks can be so much more intriguing.

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