My kids are still buzzing with excitement over creating their insect and reptile museum. One boy was particularly interested in a wasps nest he found in a library book recently. He studied it carefully, showed a few of his friends then decided to make one of his own to go into our museum. "But how will we make it?" he asked me puzzled. He went on to say that boxes weren't the right shape... maybe paper? I suggested he (and a few others who had been drawn into this discussion) draw it first to get a really good idea of what it looked like.
They chatted about what they noticed in the photograph of the wasps nest...
C- "It's kind of an oval shape like this (demonstrated with hands)"
E-"I see ... those black lines make it into sections"
W- "There's lots of holes for the wasps to sleep in"
C- "Yeah they are sort of in lines aren't they?" (the holes)
W- "What 's all that stuff around the outside? See all those lines?"
C- "I don't know but it looks like newspaper!"
C had noticed the large slab of clay, recently delivered to our classroom and suggested that this would be a good material to make the nest out of.
Using their drawings as a guide, they pushed, pulled and punched the rectangular piece of clay into the shape they needed. Then used clay tools to help them achieve the necessary details...
Their wasps nest is currently being displayed in our museum. I realised I don't have a photo of the finished product to show you (I will post one soon) but it's all about the process right?
