GUM BALL MACHINES

Here is a project for Kindergarten and 1st Grade that covers lines. To start things off, Mr. Mueller announced to the class that they would be making gum ball machines for the next few days. He showed them pictures of Wayne Thiebaud's gum ball machine prints to give them a professional example with lots of line variation.

Then the class was given a sheet of colored paper, a plastic cup, and a marker, and Mr. Mueller demonstrated how to use the materials to trace circles for gum balls. Next, the class cut out the circles. For the sake of time, it's advised to help the kids by cutting out a ton of extra circles as their hands do get tired. Once there is a plethora of circles, Mr. Mueller divided them among the class evenly so every kid had a variety of colors. Then they practiced drawing lines in their sketchbooks as Mr. Mueller demonstrated a long compilation of lines on the board.

Then the class drew all different kinds of lines on the cut out circles with different colored crayons. Once they finished the gum balls, they glued them down to a large white piece of construction paper with a big circle pre-drawn on it for the glass bowl that holds the gum balls. Once all glued down, the kids cut out the circle, cutting through any overhanging gum balls. The last steps were to glue and decorate the black base with white crayons. Mr. Mueller concluded the unit of study by revisiting the Thiebaud images and allowing the kids to present their finished machines.