Tag: RoylcoBlog9-6

A teacher’s job is no easy assignment. Day after day, you’re tasked with educating and inspiring children, so that they have the tools they need to become intelligent and motivated adults. Whoa… We hear you! And we like to think we have some valuable tools to help you do your job to the best of your abilities! We’ve compiled a list of 10 items that have proven to be winners in the classroom, not only for their academic attributes, but for being just, plain fun! As a new school year approaches, we’re ready to work along your side to get kids inspired about creativity and learning! Let’s get started…

 

Color Diffusing Paper

If this is not already your favorite painting craft, it probably will be soon! Kids and adults alike can create unbelievable patterns and images using this woven paper. The material is highly absorbent, which allows amazing things to happen when you drip, spray or splash liquid paints onto the surface. You can even mask out pictures using a wax crayon or some glue before you put down your water colors. Really easy. Parents are going to want to frame this stuff. Use our tools, like Paint Bellows or Paint Pipettes, to create even cooler effects, like tie-dyes! 

 

We All Fit Together Giant Puzzle Pieces 

When kids come to school, they get a chance to see lots of different faces from lots of different backgrounds. This product gives you a chance to create a fun project that can help kids visualize that diversity. Have your students take one of these puzzle pieces and make it their own. Encourage them to fill it up with colors and imagery using any medium they prefer: markers, paints, crayons, pastels, charcoal, collage, etc. Maybe they’ll want to create a self-portrait, or maybe they’ll want to use colors to represent their family heritage. When everyone has had a chance to finish their puzzle piece, begin connecting them all together. Fill up a bulletin board to create a one-of-a-kind classroom display that everyone can be proud of. Or, if you have the time to get really creative, you can connect the different pieces to create a larger picture that represents a theme. Or, connect them to spell out words or phrases, like “DIVERSITY”, or “CLASS OF 2019”.

 

 

True to Life Human X-Rays

Biology is the perfect subject for visual aids — especially for young children. Whether your discussions are focused on technology or anatomy, adding these authentic X-rays of the human skeletal system will help bring your lessons to life! They work perfectly with our Educational Light Cube, or you can hold them up to a light source in your classroom to see X-rays of a real human skeleton! All the bones are represented, and you can even place them beside one another to form the whole skeleton.

 

Plastic Lacing Needles

Craft time with kids is more than just a chance to make awesome stuff. It’s an opportunity to put new skills to work. With our Plastic Lacing Needles, kids can practice manual dexterity as they lace string in loops through Paper Mesh or construction paper cutouts. When they’re finished, not only will they have a neat spider web decoration, basket, shoe lace ornament — or, whatever you come up with to guide them — but they will also have a just a little bit more control of their fingers. In these important early years, every little bit helps. Plus, these Plastic Lacing Needles are designed with kids in mind. They have lots of fun, bright colors, rounded edges, and great, big eyes for easy threading.

 

Goo Spreaders

We love making tools that help kids learn why tools work. These Goo Spreaders are a good example of that. They come in handy for spreading sticky glue on paper or fabric, mixing thick paints and stirring up slimy concoctions. They have a safely chiseled edge for smooth spreading, and a flat guard that keeps gummy goo where it belongs while keeping the tool from rolling on flat surfaces.

 

Double Color Card Stock

Every great paper craft starts with a great idea. After that, proceed to this Double Color Card Stock. This sturdy, colorful cardstock is double-sided with assorted colors to make sure that whichever side is facing your audience, it’s going to be beautiful. This is also an excellent base for three-dimensional paper sculptures because the paper is thick enough, yet pliable enough, to crease and bend, and stack up and out. Cut it into strips or shapes. Roll it into tubes and tape it shut. Kids can glue buttons, macaroni or colorful rice onto the structures they’ve made, and it will keep its shape. This bright, sturdy paper is also collage and presentation friendly, making it a must-have classroom staple.

 

Leaf Rubbing Plates

Back to school means back to autumn. Which means it’s that time of year when rich, warm, beautiful colors cover EVERYTHING! Okay, our love for fall is showing, but it’s true that it’s a great time for crafts. What better way to celebrate this crafty time of year than with leaves? We have a tool here that you can run with and make your own. Leaf Rubbing Plates. There’s so many ways you can use this product that by the time you’ve finished, your craft it will be something that no one else has, anywhere. Start with paper. What kind of paper? Already you’re in control. Handmade papers, woven papers, textured papers, soft papers… What medium? Pencil, pastel, charcoal, crayon… You get the point. Also, you don’t just have to make rubbings. The surface of these plates makes an excellent mold. Fill it with glue, dish soap and food coloring to make a window cling! Fill it with water and freeze it. Let your ideas lead the way. By October, your classroom will be an autumn Arcadia!

 

Wipe Clean Worksheet Cover

Time to get down to business. We have a great tool for the classroom that is going to save you time and money. Our Wipe Clean Worksheet Covers work for you. That means, you can use them year after year to suit your lesson plans. If you need to print out worksheets, wrap your printouts in these colorful, side-loading, transparent covers. Now kids can use dry erase markers to practice writing letters, perform calculations, fill in the hands of a clock face, match words to pictures — whatever you have a need for. When they’re done, just wipe the cover clean and reuse the work sheets! If you like, we have some useful, and FREE, worksheets available for download from our website.

 

Bright Buttons

Kids love buttons. …they just do. Especially big, bright, soft, textured, colorful buttons with fun shapes! Keep these handy in your classroom craft supplies for adding color and textures to collages, decorations and impromptu fashion statements. They have big holes for threading thick yarns with our Plastic Lacing Needles, which makes them great for exercising manual dexterity. Plus, the colors, shapes and textures make them a valuable multi-purpose tool for counting and sorting activities, as well as sensory explorations.

 

 

 

What’s Inside Me Doll

Human beings are made of complicated systems. Explaining how these systems function in a way that kids can understand can be difficult, but we’re here to help! We’ve taken some of the body’s major organs (brain, heart, lungs, intestines and more), and turned them into simple, soft and squishable toys that kids can relate to. Better yet, we’ve added sounds to some of them to complete the sensory experience! The sleepy, kid-friendly doll is ready for surgical procedures. Kids inspired by science and technology can pretend to be surgeons as they open up the doll’s belly to find the organs inside. Open the flap on the back of the head to find the brain. Velcro strips make opening and closing the doll a cinch. It’s the ultimate visual aid for early biology lessons. Kids who are just learning about the inside of the body will be amazed at how our What’s Inside Me Doll reveals what’s inside them! Pediatricians and guidance counselors may also find this doll useful as a tool for helping to explain complicated medical procedures. When a child, or a child’s family member, needs medical care, our What’s Inside Me Doll can help to comfort them by explaining what’s happening in a way that they can understand.

We hope this list of cool and useful products gets you inspired, and ready to make new success stories throughout the coming months. If you have any questions or ideas for us, if there’s anything we can do to help you in your valuable work, please contact us. We love to hear from you. We’re looking forward to another excellent school year!

 

Yes, teachers, it’s time to shake the sand out of the beach towels and head back to the classroom once again. Another exciting school year with new faces and new opportunities awaits! To help provide you with the tools you need to keep your classroom creative, we’ve compiled a list of 5 essential products that should come in handy.

Educational Light Cube

As many teachers know, if you want to get the attention of your students, turn out the lights! Our Educational Light Cube can make changing the atmosphere of the room fun AND beneficial. We’ve taken the time to ensure that this convenient technology will function as a tool, rather than just an ambient decoration. The bright LED lights shine better through paper and dark transparencies, giving you more flexibility to customize your lessons. We’ve designed tons of activities for this 6-sided light source, from mathematical counting and sorting components, to scientific X-rays, to Dry Erase Worksheets and more — but let your imagination lead the way. The bold, colorful lights and remote-control features will work for organizing group activities, or for adding another dimension to story time. Why not use the strobe feature for a dance party?! With a fully charged battery, you can place the light cube anywhere you need it.

Classroom Bowls

Who doesn’t need bowls? These are designed with classroom use in mind. Stackable, rugged and ready for anything. Fill them with paint, glue, liquid watercolors, beads, buttons, crayons, sand, glitter (if you dare), whatever you have a use for. Plus, they’re washable — even dishwasher safe. They come in 6 different colors to help with sorting and organizing, giving you more options to fit your lesson plans.

Laminated Speech Bubbles

POW! WOW! Circle the vowel! These dry-erase, comic book styled word balloons can help enhance language and literacy lessons. 6 large designs help to make them visible from across the classroom. The various shapes for exclamations/surprise, whispers/thinking, statements/questions, can be used for teaching punctuation or syntax, or even as an aid for character education and emotional recognition.

Body Poetry Yoga Cards

Giving kids an opportunity to be active in the classroom — as part of the curriculum — can be a valuable method for helping to overcome stress and to sharpen attention. More and more, yoga is seen as an excellent outlet for this kind of activity, because it requires bodily motion, but is safer for the classroom. These 8.5” x 11” (22x28cm) cards are easily visible from across the room, with illustrations, photography and step-by-step instructions to make the various poses easy to understand. Rainy day? No problem! This is a great way to activate the body while teaching mindfulness and improving concentration.

Highlight Reading Strips

After years of reading, we can sometimes forget that what seems obvious to us can be kind of difficult for new readers. These clever Highlight Strips can help assist kids who are graduating from picture books to beginning reader books. The transparent yellow, blue and pink strips help to illuminate the necessary sentences while the eyes train to read paragraphs of text line by line. They also make great bookmarks!

We think you have one of the most important jobs around, and we’re always in search of better ways to help you do your best work. Feel free to reach out to us if there’s anything we can do to make your vision a reality. Now, it’s time to get those academic gears turning…

Here’s to an excellent school year!

Age: 6+

Duration: 1 hour (plus drying time)

Learning Outcomes:

We’re going to get creative. We’re going to work on our dexterity. We’re going to learn about mixed media art. We’re going to study nature and focus on ocean life.

Here’s what you need:

Crafty Strips (R15702)

Color Diffusing Paper 9×12 (R15213)

Ocean art silhouettes (PDF available for download)

Liquid Watercolor and Misting Bottles

Construction or Bristol Paper

Scissors, or craft knife

Glue

Well, the earth has tilted toward the sun once again, which can only mean one thing. Summer!

This is the perfect time to take our creativity to the salty beaches. You know what the great thing is about having our BIG imaginations? We can explore beautiful blue oceans from the art table!

With this craft, we want to create different pieces of art using different mediums (medium sometimes means, “middle”, but it can also mean a material used for making art), and we want to bring those different pieces together in one picture. In the art world, this is called “mixed media”. To follow along with these steps, we’re going to be using our Crafty Strips and our Color Diffusing Paper. This is going to give us a lot of color and a lot of texture, in not a lot of time!

If you really want a big adventure, put on some flip flops and take an excursion to your local library. Look for books about ocean animals, beaches, saltwater plant life, colorful crustaceans or coral reefs. There’s so much to explore! Think about ocean colors and textures. How might you apply these sensory elements to your ocean life art? Once you’ve gathered up your supplies and reference materials, head on back to the art table. It’s time to dive in!

 

Here’s how you do it:

Step 1: Create an ocean background

Let’s begin by creating our background. It’s good to start with this step because the art will take a little time to dry. We’re going to use our Color Diffusing Paper and liquid watercolors. First, grab a couple of paper towels and lay them on your your art table. Place the Diffusing paper on top of that. Now, using your liquid watercolors in a misting bottle, spray the diffusing paper with colors that remind you of ocean water. Think about how the colors of ocean water can seem to change, depending on the light, the depth, the composition of the sand. Sometimes the water is bright blue. Sometimes it appears pink, or yellow or green. Way down deep in the ocean, the water is solid black and fish glow in the dark.

To create beautiful blended effects, spray the paper with clean water on top of your colors.

Once you have the colors you like, set aside the paper to dry. If you can find a good place to hang the paper, it will probably dry faster.

Step 2: Create ocean life silhouettes

Now is the time to decide which ocean life image you’re going to create. You have a LOT to choose from. The oceans of our world are full of life — sharks, jellyfish, crabs, seahorses. The list goes on. But, if you get stumped, don’t worry. We have some images to help get you started. Just click on the link to download the Roylco-Ocean Life Silhouettes.

Once you have your image, let’s move on to our Crafty Strips. We’re going to use these colorful strips of paper to create silhouettes of our ocean life images.

To create the shapes, first, cover a sheet of construction paper, or Bristol paper, with your Crafty Strips. There are lots of colors and patterns to choose from. Pick the ones you like the best. Then spread some glue on one side and lay them down right next to each other, until you’ve covered the surface. Make sure your image is going to fit on your sheet of Crafty Strips.

Once the glue is dry, lay your ocean life silhouette image on top of your Crafty Strips base.

It might be a good idea to attach the image to the base with a little tape to keep it from moving around. Now you’ll want to use some scissors to cut out the outline of your shape. Make sure an adult is with you as you cut. Because your shape might have lots of curves or waves, or claws, or fins, this will be a good chance to exercise those fingers. Just remember to take your time. This isn’t a race. (For more precision cutting, adults may choose to use a craft knife. Not recommended for the kids.)

And that’s it. Now you should have a fun looking ocean life cut-out shape.

 

(Image: BP-Ocean-Life-Crafty-Cut-Outs.jpg)

Step 3: Mix the media

Once your diffusing paper background is dry, you’re ready to combine your art. Now is a good time to think about how you want to display your image. If you’d like to frame it, you’ll need to make sure to cut the diffusing paper base to fit your frame.

(Image: BP-Ocean-Life-Ocean-Base.jpg)

You could use all sorts of stuff for a frame. You could purchase one, or you could make one from straws, or seashells, or sand sprinkled over popsicle sticks covered with glue. Whatever works best for your image.

When your ocean background is sized to your liking, it’s time to attach your ocean life cut-out. Simply glue it into place and you’re ready. For a special effect, consider attaching small squares of cardboard or foam core with glue to the back of your ocean life cut-out. This will create a neat shadow effect behind your cut-out and will add to the layers of color and texture you have.

(Image: BP-Ocean-Life-Shadow-Effect.jpg)

Step 4: Hang it up

You did it! Now hang your beautiful artwork in your bedroom to admire all summer long!

(Image: BP-Ocean-Life-Finished-Art.jpg)

 

Consider This:

When you went to the library to search for books, did you find a new favorite story?

How did the photos and artwork from the references you looked through inspire the art that you created?

What is one fact you learned about the ocean that you didn’t know before your research?

(Insert Blog Sketch Art Graphic)