A Special Place

crayola supplies

Markers
Model Magic®
No-Run School Glue
Pointed Tip Scissors

household supplies

toothpicks - wooden
rolling pin
plastic coffee stirrers
oak tag
plastic dinnerware
recycled gift wrap or paper towel roll

Why?

Study homes and habitats from the past then move into the future to construct innovative new living spaces.

Steps

1. Use electronic and library resources to research the homes of various cultures and the habitats of various animals.
2. Participate in a group brainstorm of alternative ways to use the limited space available in the future. Consider how living spaces might change if humans/animals reside in atypical locations (i.e., sky, underwater). List criteria to consider as you design a "special place" for the future, including needs, special features, entrances, building materials and power sources.
3. Select a specific environment for your future living space. Use Crayola® Model Magic® to construct buildings, water storage facilities, and other structures.
4. Experiment with mixing white and colored Crayola Model Magic modeling compound.
Blend two primary colors (red, yellow, blue) together well to make a secondary hue (orange, green, violet).
Blend colored compound with white to create tints and with black to make shades.

Create marbled effects by incompletely blending various colors together.

5. Shape mixed compound with hands or a rolling pin to make thick flat pieces or slabs for a floor. Use a plastic picnic knife to cut out geometric wall and floor shapes.
6. Glue the floor shape to a base of oak tag board. Assemble and press walls and floor together.
7. Cut out additional slabs and shape these into towers, roof and other components. Build long, thin or delicate forms around plastic straws, gift wrap tubes or toothpicks secured in basic structure.
8. Model fine details and add texture with modeling tools, plastic dinnerware or toothpicks. Let forms dry.
9. Use Crayola Washable Markers to suggest place's setting on the oak tag board base. Draw and texture paper shapes (i.e., trees, fences, rocks) with washable markers to represent other setting qualities. Use Crayola Scissors to cut out shapes, adding a tab to the bottom of each. Fold the tab back and glue it to the base to make shapes stand erect.
10. Name your special place, then explain its location, design and special features in writing. What did you add to indicate it belongs to you or a particular creature?

adaptations

Develop new homes and habitats for ancient cultures, imagining the new innovations each culture would have developed had the society survived.

Use Model Magic to build tools that might be found inside of the homes and used by people in the future. Display with future spaces, writing details about tools on index cards with markers.

benefits

Students research distinctive homes and habitats of the past and present.

Students design innovative new homes and habitats for the future, synthesizing information learned from research.

grades

Grades 1 to 3
Grades 4 to 6

subjects

Science
Social Studies
Visual Arts

time

Multiple Sessions

curriculum standards links

US: Research U.S. Standards
UK: Research UK Standards
Canada: Research Canada Standards

safety guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Modeling Tools—Use the least dangerous point or edge sufficient to do the job. For example, craft sticks, plastic knives and forks, and cookie cutters can cut or carve modeling materials.

Recycled Cardboard Tubes—Use paper towel tubes, gift-wrap tubes, or long cardboard tubes that can be cut to any length. Health professionals caution against using recycled toilet paper tubes for arts & crafts projects because of the potential fecal contamination.

Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.

Wood—By its nature, wood is rough and may contain splinters or sharp points