Yesterday was day #2 of my 3D art elective class.  Since many students in the class had not taken art for a year, I wanted to do a quick project to get them back into a creative mindset.  This soda can art project was something I had seen on Pinterest and it ended up being the perfect one day intro activity! 
The vocab word of the day was "transformation."  We talked about how a sculptor must transform materials into something new each time they create a three dimensional peice of work.  For example, a mound of clay is transformed into a mug.  Then I had each student pick out a clean soda can.  I asked them to transform the can into a new piece of art by changing the form as well as embellishing it with acrylic paints, Sharpie makers and duct tape.
It was great to see the surprised look on the kids faces when I asked them to stomp on their cans. They had so much fun with this activity! And while this project is actually much harder than I imagined it would be, the results were fantastic! I was very impressed with their creativity and ability to come up with unique ideas.

What did we do on the first day of 3D art elective class for 8th graders yesterday? We played Jenga!  As a first day activity it really worked well on so many levels.  First of all it was a great team building activity for students to get to know one another at their tables.  There was a lot of conversation and smiling going on which was fantastic!  After we played for about 20 minutes I asked them how the game related to the sculpture class they were just starting.  Boy did they have some great responses!
-Sometimes in art it's great to have a strategy before starting, but other times it's good to just wing it and go with what seems to be working.
-Sculptures need to be balanced.  When you move one piece, it means going back to look at the whole structure to see where the next thing should go.
-Sometimes things fall apart when creating art.  It's ok to fail and try a new approach next time.
-Making art is fun!

After playing the game and having a conversation about the connection to art, I asked each table to build an interesting sculpture with their blocks. One of my favorites was a kinetic sculpture that moved like dominos!