This project went along with our Ancient Egyptian unit. The fourth graders looked at canopic jars and discussed the uses and the reason behind the animal heads on each jar. Then students brainstormed ideas for their very own canpoic jar. The next several classes were spent building up the form around a yogurt cup with newspaper, masking tape and paper mache paste. This part really stretches some students thinking, having to transfer a 2D drawing to a 3D sculpture.
After weeks of building their creations it was finally time to paint. My students simply used tempera paint which they then covered with a paint on clear acrylic sealer to prevent the paint from chipping off.
Since wrapping up Ancient Egypt we have zoomed forward thousands of years to look at astronauts and outer space with our next art with science unit.
