We wish all our followers and inspirational teachers out there a very merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010!

Here at Colorific Educational, we are hard at work over the break thinking up new and exciting ideas to help you make your classroom a vibrant and creative space.

We love feedback and new ideas, so if you want to check out the Colorific Educational range of products, click through and see what we have to offer. The generic products like stems, popstixs & glitter are supplemented with some fun products like our healthy people silhouettes & family tree kit.

Check out our new range of Teaching Tactics, designed to provide you with a week of activities, spelling words, creative sparks and art activities to help make planning your week just that little bit easier!

See you in January!

It is very nearly time to break for Christmas holidays and the end of the year. Many of us are preoccupied with decorations and gifts for inside the house, but what about our outside friends? In Scandinavian countries, a sheaf of wheat is always hung out for the birds and in Finland many people will not eat their supper until the birds have eaten theirs.

So a great gift to nature this Christmas is to make a bird feeder and the pretty birds will decorate your garden for you.

Use 4 brightly coloured popsticks to create a criss cross shape secured in place around the middle with a stem. Use 8 coloured popsticks to create a second, more dense criss cross to form the base of the feeder.

Cut a length of Green Honeycomb Mesh long enough to wrap around the perimeter of the popstick shapes to make a tube ~ you may wish to use 2 tubes of mesh stuck together or sewn with twine or a few stems to make it larger. Fill with seeds, you can mix them with honey or peanut butter before filling the feeder.

Add stems or string to hang from an outdoor tree and wait for it to be discovered!

Today we have a downloadable instruction sheet to make a fun nativity scene from stems, polystyrene and cardboard tubes.

The materials required are Polystyrene egg (for head), Cardboard Roll (for body), coloured moving eyes, stems.  Other than PVA glue and some fun embellishments like glitter and sequins – this can be as time consuming or as straight forward as you like.

We have kept this very simple so that everybody uses their imagination to bring the characters to life.  Remember the Colorific Credo: don’t try and achieve realism, use bright colours and have fun!

Click on the link to download the document with step by step instructions:Colorific Art Activity Nativity Scene

Decoration Photo credit: Christian Ferrari

Well the onslaught has started, the shopping centres have begun the push to Christmas consumerism, and catalogues fill our letterboxes to overflow.  But what does this mean for you in the classroom?

Children are aware (here in Australia anyway) that our big summer holiday is on the way – that brings an air of excitement! It is report writing time; the weather is changing (either into a snowy winter or hot summer); celebration plans are underway whether it be for thanksgiving, St Nicholas’ Day, Christmas Eve, New Year…this time of year is rich with customs and celebrations whatever your heritage.

It is a fantastic time to do some research on other cultures around the world.  Wikipedia is as always a rich source of information.   Split the class into groups and have each group explore the end of year traditions on each continent.

Christmas in South America for example is quite different to Christmas in Australia, or the US or England, and   many traditions in Europe pre-date Christianity. Challenge children to find 5 different customs from 5 different countries around the world – your class could then discuss and celebrate a multinational Christmas!

There are some fun characters to research as alternatives to the Santa Claus we associate with, such as Papa Noel, El Niño Dios, Dun Che Lao Ren, Hoteiosha, Babushka, Julenisse, La Befana, Balthazar, Tomte…see if the children can research which countries these characters come from, and discover the traditional foods that are enjoyed and greetings exchanged.

The themes that run throughout celebrations all around the world are coming together with family and friends, giving thanks, vibrant decorations, singing, special feast foods and in many cases traditional gifts with symbolic meaning.

Revisit the Appreciation Chain activity – this is a great idea to decorate the classroom, and reflect on the things to be thankful for in our lives.

Or try to make the fantastic Christmas ‘Palm’ Tree inspired by the countries who celebrate a hot dry Christmas!

However you chose to celebrate the end of the year in your school, make it vibrant and bright and full of fun!

Well the end of the year is on the way, and stocks are running low in the classroom…there are reports to write, tests to mark and everybody is just getting a little frayed!

Ta daa….welcome Colorific’s Lesson in a Box the quick and easy craft activity that comes…well…in a box!

Lesson in a Box

Forget trying to calculate just how many pom pom’s and stems you require, forget running around collecting material for those much needed craft classes! Each lesson in a box contains all the craft bits needed for every student in a class of 25 to complete fun and engaging craft projects!

There are 3 different Lesson in a box activities to choose from:

1. Butterfly lifecycle mobile,
2. Sock puppets
3. Treasure chest.

A full instruction sheet is provided to guide you step by step, guaranteed to be a stress free lesson for you too.

Order all 3 and keep them on hand for those times when you need a filler activity – or plan them as part of your weekly art activity and build extension activities around them.

For example, exploring in detail the butterfly lifecycle, researching types of butterflies and habitats, as well as perhaps how to attract more butterflies to our gardens after making the lifecyle mobiles.

The Treasure chest could be combined with some great creative writing…who left the treasure, what is the treasure – it could lead into discussions about treasure and what is important and why.

The possibilities are endless with these handy little box kits…how will you extend your Lesson in a Box kit?

Over the coming weeks, we will be helping you get ready for the end of year celebrations, whatever they may be.

Our suggestion to start off is with an appreciation chain – this can be as complex or simple as you would like it to be. Regardless of students’ religious persuasion, the end of the year is generally a time to reflect back and be grateful for your achievements, your health, your family etc.

Students can work on poems or acrostics using their name, and perhaps those of their parents for extra length. This will take a lesson or two to plan, draft and finalise. Once done you can cut some Colorific Bright Sheets into strips and write a line of the poem on each strip and link them together to make a gratitude chain. These can be used to decorate the classroom and will make a nice decoration for the tree or around the home once the school year is over.

Rather than just write on the chains and link them, how about adding in some angels, or candy cane shaped links. Maybe the children can use them as a personal countdown to the end of term…tear off a link each day and read the appreciation message of other students.  What a nice way to celebrate as a group.

Maybe even some drawings to illustrate the poem links can be added in. The poem can be written out in full and framed with decorated Colorific White Card Frames or turned into a laminated gratitude placemat as an end of year gift to the family.

Don’t the kids just love it when you bring out these fluffy little balls of softness? Grabbing handfuls and squishing them and feeling them is part of the tactile benefits of creative arts (an especially important part for younger students, and learning impaired students).

Colorific Pom Poms

So how can we use them? Well, pom poms just make everything more silly and fun! You can do ANYTHING with a pom pom and some glue!

1. The first thing to remember is that they can be quite hard to glue in place, the very best way is with a big blob of PVA glue using a popstick to get a nice firm blob in the centre, then push onto the page and hold for a count of 5 before slowly releasing. That should dry quite firmly. No PVA? Glue sticks will work but students need to put a good thick smear on the page and let it get a bit tacky before applying; clag really just doesn’t cut it, sorry!
2. Make aliens! Combine with cardboard rolls,  stems and moving eyes to create creatures from outer space. Glue pom poms onto one end of the stem and then sticky tape to the cardboard roll – these make great antennas, arms, legs, creepy attachments…you could glue moving eyes to the pom poms and have creepy eyes on stems. [NOTE: just as an aside…aliens make the best art projects because they really have no right or wrong answer therefore students cannot prejudge their skills in the same way they can when drawing a horse for instance, if it doesn’t look like a horse they have ‘failed’ but an alien…well who knows! So it becomes about use of materials and less about any sense of ‘reality’.]
3. Fun pom pom Olympic games – use them as nought and crosses markers, basketball (make the hoops out of stems and plasticine), soccer (fingers as players legs, or use a straw and blow, goals out of stems), shotput (sit pom pom on your thumb and flick as far as you can with your first finger), pom pom bingo with colours and sizes, can your students think of any other games?
4. Use them to customise pens and pencils – perhaps as a prelude to earning a pen license? Using the alien method above, stick a large pom pom to the top of a pen and use stems and feathers and moving eyes to spook it up and make an original that kids will want to write with!

Pom poms also make good:

a. Leaves (encourage lateral thinking and vibrancy, not green boring accuracy!)
b. Noses
c. Eyes
d. Ground cover
e. Flowers
f. Berries
g. Bug bodies
h. Fish
i. Hair
j. Feet & hands
k. Wheels
l. Pom pom pets (use several sizes for bodies, heads legs etc)
m. Jewels in jewellery
n. Paint ‘brushes’ & stampers
o. Easter chickens
p. Christmas tree decorations
q. Balls
r. Food (in collages or dioramas) i.e.: peas, corn, nuts, apples, tomato etc.
s. Planets (use different sizes to represent or make your own solar system!)
t. Furry fridge magnets
u. Card embellishments
v. Book mark critters (glue on to a stem or popstick or cardboard – pom pom sticks out the top)
w. Vibrant mobiles & garlands
x. Clown cone hats with paper and pom pom embellishments (think DeBono’s 6 thinking hats colours)
y. Mice (give them a yarn tail and they could be book mice)
z. Reward critters (have students make a batch and give them out over the term as random rewards)

Phew…that should get the class creative juices flowing!

Here at Colorific, we love the idea of encouraging students to use bright colours that do not necessarily reflect true life colours – this adds an element of fun and individuality to artwork and allows students to appreciate their own work without being bound by trying to achieve realism.

That said, we want to create a fabulously colourful Christmas palm tree – lets face it, whilst the northern hemisphere enjoys snowy cold Christmases, there are those of us who swelter away in the middle of summer and this fab palm tree is a tribute to us!

Suitable For: Grades 1 through to 6 (or children 5 years old and up).
Time Estimate: 20-30 minutes.
Activity Overview: Students create and display three dimensional vibrant trees.
Learning Objectives: Cut and arrange attractive looking leaves.
To encourage students to let go of conventional colour schemes and enjoy using vibrant coloured materials.
Materials (per student):
5 x Bright Tag sheets
2 x Cardboard Rolls
handful of coloured shred for decoration.
6 x Cotton Stems
6 x Glitter Pom Poms
6 x Tinsel Stems
Sequins for decoration
PVA glue & cellotape
Preparation: There really is nothing that you need to do to prepare for this activity!

Procedure:
Use cellotape to join two cardboard rolls together to form the trunk.  Make sure they are nice and secure.

Take 5 sheets of coloured paper and fold them in half lengthwise.  Draw a leaf shape on the outer paper and then cut all layers in the same shape.
Reinforce at least 6 of the leaves by using cellotape to stick a stem to the middle of the leaf, this provides some support and a means to shape the leaf.
Snip into the leaves around the edges, stopping well short of the middle. Then scrunch and curl them up to separate and make them look like palm fronds.
Tape the leaves inside the top of the trunk with the stem side down.  Move progressively around the inside of the tube adding leaves.

Once you have taped them all in, stand the tree up and position the leaves using those supported by stems to give the tree some shape.

Add shred and sequins for decoration. Use PVA to glue some glitter pom poms to the ends of glitter stems and twist around into a spring shape bouncing out of the tree.

Variations:

• Turn these into a forest of vibrantly colored mango or banana trees – create a fantastic diorama for the classroom to enjoy.
• Paper mache the trunk of the tree or glue paper strips around it to decorate and strengthen it.  Attach it to a base for extra stability.
• Add some bright flowers, or create some ornaments to add to the trees.
• Make some tiny paper chains to hang around the tree – that would require quite a bit of manual dexterity for the students (and would take some time and patience too!)
• Fold coloured paper and make a paper chain of people to dance around the tree – give them some brightly decorated clothes and happy smiling faces.

Calling all Australian teachers and their students!

Have your students ever imagined inventing their own mad monster? Do you see them as amazing inventors?

Now’s your chance to make their wildest dreams come true with Colorific’s Mutant Monsters!

Who are the Mutant Monsters? They are cool cardboard monsters teaching kids about the magic of crystals! By simply adding the secret solution to a Mutant Monster, its fur start growing and growing…!

Mutant Monsters

By entering this competition, you have 2 chances to win and reward your students!
1) the winner will see their design of the next coolest Mutant Monster come to life and be sold on shelves all around Australia and get at the same time $400 worth of Colorific toys.
2) the best entry as a group/class (10 drawings minimum) will also be rewarded with $300 worth Colorific Educational craft products.

How to enter?
Simply ask your students to put their design skills on a piece of A4 paper, along with their name and the name of their Mutant Monster and send them all to the Colorifc headquarters for your chance to win.

The competition ends on the 30th of November 2009.

Send your students’ entry to:
Colorific
Mutant Monsters school competition
Gate 2, Clayton Business Park
Rayhur Street
Clayton VIC 3168
including your name, school name, the grade you are teaching, school address, daytime phone number and the name of each student on each Mutant Monster drawing.

Any questions? Leave us a comment!

For further information about Mutant Monsters and terms and conditions, visit http://www.colorific.com.au/mutantmonsters.

This is an excerpt from a poem called The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Visit the web site at The Rime of the Ancient Mariner for a great run down of the poem if you think your students can handle it (it is a bit gruesome) or talk about that in context of the sailor surrounded by salty water but none that he can drink.

This is quite relevant to us today with our current water crisis in many parts of the country and would be a great time to look at what is in the newspapers about water, the dam levels, lead a discussion into weather patterns (science, water cycle) and rainfall (maths and graphs perhaps?).

All the water we need comes from rain. Water is essential for life! You could discuss how important water is for our bodies to function (biology). Try Colorific Water Linkers  and the great book Weird & Wacky Things You Can Do With A Tornado Tube book (128564) in the Colorific Educational range for some water fun.