Day of the Dead inspired bird assemblages

I have discovered that kids love creating any type of assemblage art.

In the Birds of a Feather camp, I thought the kids would think it was fun to create a bird skeleton assemblage box inspired by creations I had shared with them of shadow boxes created for the Day of the Dead holiday in Mexico.

They were quite fascinated by them and quickly honed in on the bane of every art teacher and the highlight of every student......glitter.

So with some oven baked clay, each child created a skeleton sculpture. When it was harden, they used permanent black marker to create their skeleton. I had put out reference, but most children decided to just work from their imaginations.

To be truthful, we had lots of birds start out from their imaginations with this project.

Then they painted the inside of their boxes and the outside rim.

For those that wanted, and the majority did, I had glitter for them to add to the inside of the box.

Let me just say that for some reason it seemed each child had come to camp that day after being served at least two bowls of sugary breakfast cereal and for some insane reason I felt adding glitter to the mix was a good idea. I'll just leave the aftermath to your imagination....

By the time they had finished painting their boxes and adding glitter the camp day came to an end.

Which was perfect as it gave the boxes time to dry and me the day to clean up the glitter extravaganza left behind on the tables, the floors, and every other crevice in the studio. The floor is still sparkling like a disco ball two weeks later in just the right light if I'm truthful.

But what's important is the kids had fun and if you can't use glitter at an art studio, where can you use it?

When the kids arrived the next day, there were rhinestones, feathers and whatever else I could find on the tables for them to finish up the boxes.

They were all so pleased with their finished creations. Aren't they fun?

I especially love this little girl who highlighted her family's cat that ran away. When explaining the holiday to the kids, I had told them this wasn't a sad or scary day but a day where their loved ones were celebrated and that by remembering them, the relatives continued to live on. She took this to heart and wanted to create her shadow box to remember their cat so it would continue to live on in their lives, even if it was not physically present.

Pretty sweet.

Once again the kids proved that creating assemblage boxes is a popular project. They truly enjoyed themselves and were so excited with each and every decision they made during the process.

They could not wait to share them with their parents and I think of all the projects they took home that Friday, this is the one the kids will be most excited to give a place of honor in their homes.