CIRCUS FUN Elementary.

To begin this project, I gave each student a styrofoam tray and a small piece of paper to write their names on. I asked them to put their names face down in the tray.

Next I placed a marble in each child's tray and asked them not to play with it. I was astounded at how well they controlled themselves.

I walked around the room with two bottles of paint, placing several drops at random on the students' small white papers in their trays. Then the fun began! I showed the children how to gently roll their marble to keep it in the tray by slowly lifting the end of the tray just a little on one end and then again on another edge.

As the marbles rolled through the paint, the colors mixed on their paper making designs. When their designs were finished, they took them out of the trays. Each student made four designs.

Next, I gave students an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper and a 4 x 7" piece of paper. The students taped the back of the 4 x 7" sheet on to the center of the 8 1/2 x 11" piece. I gave each child two colored markers and showed them how to create a frame on their paper. First, place your marker on the smaller paper's edge, and then flick it off onto the larger paper. Continue in this way all around the four sides. Then repeat the process with your second colored marker going right over the lines you just drew. Carefully remove the center paper for a perfect border frame.

I handed back their designs along with stencils of circus animals. They traced the animals onto their marble papers and then cut them out. Then they glued the animals to their border paper.

A project that could have been a three ring circus turned out as a big hit! Children cooperated and followed directions to create truly wonderful art.

ClipCard submitted by Joanne Smith Bodnar, an art teacher at St. Michael's School in Cranford, New Jersey.