Sunrise Learning Lab: Marine Maker Fair Project #1: Decorative Tape Sea Life Art & Poetry Extension

***This post is the first in a series of posts that will highlight various marine themed activities.***
In case you decide that your homeschool or school would want to do a Marine Maker Fair, here is one of the Marine Maker Fair Crafts that we suggested at the National Association for Gifted Children's Annual Convention & Expo: Creativity Night. #nagc14 #gifted

Decorative Tape Sea Life Art Project
For this craft, you need the following:
Several rolls of decorative tape (We used Tapeffeti)
Sharpie Markers, in both very fine and fine point
Reynolds Wrappers Foil Sheets
Card stock Paper
Scotch Self-Seal Laminating Pouches
Scissors
Optional: Melissa & Doug Textured Stencils - Sea Life
Marine Life books (be sure to have a variety of genres that include both fiction and non-fiction)
Poetry about sea life
Art depicting sea life
(Full Disclosure: Melissa & Doug supplied the Textured Stencils - Sea Life packs for all participants at the convention. The other products that we provided for participants were not sponsors, but their products worked very well for the purpose of this art and poetry project.)
Directions:
1. Have all craft items organized on a table that makes it easy for children to access.
2. Suggest that children create their own sea life by using the supplies on the table.
3. Ask them if they have an idea for a particular sea animal that they would like to create.
4. If they do not have an idea for what type of marine animal they want to create, have books with photos and artwork showing sea life that they can refer to in order to get an idea of what they wish to create.
5. Discuss that it may be easier to color the foil and then, add the decorative tape if they wish to have a pattern on their artwork.
5. Some children may wish to use one of the Melissa & Doug Sea Life Textured Stencils for this project. These stencils really work nicely, provided that you use markers that are thin enough to properly fit into the grooves of the stencils.
One thing that we found is that the original pack of Sharpie Markers we had purchased were too thick to fit into the grooves of the templates. That made it so that the stencils could not be used as tracers. They still worked well as a guide for the patterns on the sea animals.
Once we switched to thinner Sharpies, they fit well into the grooves and the Melissa & Doug Textured Stencils - Sea Life worked great!
6. After the child draws his or her sea animal using Sharpie Markers, it is then a good time for them to add patterns to their sea life animal with decorative tape.
7. After the child adds decorative tape decorations, if he or she so chooses to add them, it is then a good time to encourage the child to cut out their foil sea life creation.
8. Once children cut out their foil animals, it works best if they attach their creation onto the sticky portion of a Scotch Self-Seal Laminating Pouch.
9. After children attach their foil creation to the Scotch Self-Seal Pouch, have the child keep the sticky side faced up and then, have them place a piece of card stock paper on top. They can then smooth the paper and then, flip it over and voila! A lovely piece of art!
There may be a need to have the child trim the edges slightly if their card stock paper is smaller than the Scotch Self Seal Pouch.
While at the #nagc14 convention, we had all of the art supplies, including the Melissa & Doug Textured Stencils - Sea Life Packs out for Creativity Night participants to try. A big thanks to Melissa & Doug, as everyone loved that they were able to take home the Textured Stencils - Sea Life, as well as the Scratch Art - Sea Life packs.

Higher-Order Thinking Extension - Decorative Sea Life Art Project & Poetry Extension
An extension that can be done with this decorative tape sea life art project that ties in higher-order thinking is to then encourage children to write a poem about their sea life creation right onto the Scotch Self-Seal Pouch.