This week’s activity

Making papier-mache bowls

This week the children have had fun getting messy and creative with papier-mache. First of all, they tore the newspaper into strips, they then added a mixture of PVA glue and water into the bowl, squishing it through their fingers and seeing what happened as it began to clump together. Before it could set hard, the teacher gave them small blown-up balloons to mould their papier-mache around. The aim of this, the teacher explained, was to make the shape of a bowl. They moulded the damp paper around the balloon, leaving a gap at the top to make the opening of the bowl. They then were told that they need to allow the papier-mache to become hard and dry before they pop the balloon on a different day. This activity was due to continue with the children painting the bowls that they had created. However, as with many things, not everything went to plan, some of the bowls didn’t work. Whilst this is not the outcome we were hoping for, this in itself is a learning opportunity. Discussing with the children what went wrong, how we could try something different next time, having their own ideas and problem solving, are all things children need to think about and learn from.

There are photos on our website and Facebook page.

Thank you.