Peas in a Pod : Third Grade

We do a lot of portraits and character drawing in Art. I like to get the students out of their "face"box. In other words, I like to challenge the students to notice facial details and expressions. Create faces in a new and fresh way. Expression gives their art feeling. We studied pictures of people with various expressions. I had them really notice eyes, eyebrows, and mouths. They made 12 circles in their sketchbooks and tried to draw 12 different emotions, or facial expressions. I did not tell them what we were going to do with these. The next week we had lumps of clay. The students split the clay in half. First they formed a longish pinch pot like a canoe. That became the pod. Next students rolled balls ( at least 3) and formed faces on each. Each face had to show a different expression. They pushed foreheads up and down to create eye brows, and drew various mouths. We all laughed and had a great time. The heads were placed into the pods and lightly pinched around them. They are rather thick, so they will be drying for a few weeks until I can give them a bisque firing. I just think they are fantastic!