Grimm Houses

No our houses are not sad and depressing, or at least most of them are not.  However, Art 1 read Grimm Fairy tales and designed clay houses for the characters.

I started this assignment with giving all of my students a list of Grimm fairy tales that they could find on the internet.  I even included the websites so that I knew we would all be on the same page.  I then gave them one day to read and pick 5 stories that they could think of something to create for.  Then we drew names out of a hat and each student had a chance to come up and sign up for the story that they were going to use as inspiration.  I did this because I didn't want 32 cinderella castles.  I wanted some variety from different stories and different characters.

Some of the students researched other stories that were not on my list and as long as I was okay with the story we added them to our list.

They then had to sketch a plan of what type of house they wanted to create and for which character.  They were told to think what types of homes they would find some of these characters living in.  I also let them be creative with the interpretation of the stories.  For instance, I told them that if they had Little Red Riding Hood they could use the basket she carries to Grandma's house and make that into a house.

Once I approved their plans then they could use clay to build their houses.  The only condition I had is that is had to be bigger then 6 inches and smaller than 12 inches.  I think next year I will go even smaller then that.  Some of these kids used a ton of clay.

After they created them and then added details, I fired them in the kiln and then were allowed to either glaze them or paint them with acrylic paints.

Carter H. - The Turnip

Mikayla R. - The owl

Karima H. - Cinderella

Malary M. and Adan M. - the Frog King

Close Up of Malary M.

Will S. and Eli H. - The Elves

Bree H.  - Rumpelstitskin

Riley H. and Alasia J. - Hansel adn Gretel

Yeva S. - Snow White

Sam S. and Aleah B. - Rapunzel

Bella J. - The Fisherman and his wife

I also need to thank Mrs. Hobart and her aids in the library for finding books that go with some of our stories.