Thanksgiving Indian Corn

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!
Here’s a cute project our “Little Picasso’s” made (age 4-6)…

I purchased some Indian Corn at a pumpkin patch last month wanting to tie it into a class. I love the colors of the kernels & had originally wanted to do a drawing/watercolor project with the Beginning Art  kids, BUT as usual, I changed my mind

*This* was an opportunity for a sculpture project with the 4-6 year olds!

 

Real Indian Corn

First we built the armature. (1) Crunch up newspaper into a long oval shape. (2) Wrap w/ 1 more pc of newspaper burrito-style & add a few pieces of tape to help hold together.

After you have your newspaper form ready, wrap it in a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil (sorry, not shown). Once wrapped, start to sculpt  the corn shape. Pinch in one side to make it smaller than the other. This is also a good time to let the kids feel the real corn, so they can make their armature feel similar.

Next, paper mache the armature with brown paper. We used torn up recycled paper & faded old construction paper. Torn up paper bags would also work. *Let dry.

 

Paint the kernels with a cotton swab or the end of a pencil. Provide a variety of Fall colors and also talk to the students about patterns.

 

For the final finishing touch, hot glue a small bunch of dried corn husk to the large end. I've had a bit of corn husk lying around for a while & finally got to use it up! Tie together beforehand with a natural piece of twine or raffia. It makes gluing quicker & adds extra cuteness.

 

This is a 2-day project. If you plan properly, the kids can bring home a lovely handmade decoration for Thanksgiving.

One last note… I was happily surprised that the painting kept the attention of the students for about 30 mins. Sometimes tedious, repetitive tasks can bore this age group so you may want to break things up with a Thanksgiving story.

 

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