Toothpaste Batik - this year's batch

I've blogged about this insane process before, here and here and here. As a matter of fact, the first link is my most popular blog post of all time, by a landslide, and also one of my first posts on this blog! Go figure...

This year I gave the kids the challenge of coming up with an image based (loosely) on the theme "Fantasy". The results included dragons (yeah!), castles, mermaids, unicorns, wizards, a phoenix, and more. If the kids hadn't just finished those Laurel Burch papier-mache cats, I think I would have used her work as our motivating theme. Oh well. Last year the batiks were based on Matisse, and the previous year's inspiration was architectural images.

As always with this project, it is a delight walking into my classroom each morning, as it smells delightful - and minty fresh, as our batik resist is a mixture of toothpaste and Aloe Vera lotion. Not everyone is done, but here's a sampling of the work:

Three Little Kittens - a morning surprise!

Today started with sweet 2nd grader Vivi coming to my room to show me her creations.

Let me back up. When Vivi came to kindergarten, from Mexico, dressed like a little princess in homemade dresses with lace and bows, she didn't speak a word of English. As a matter of fact, she didn't speak a WORD her whole kindergarten year in art class. I was worried, but she always drew beautiful pictures so I knew there was a child inside the beautiful exterior.

Beautiful, shy, artistic Vivi seems to enjoy art class, but even now, she is still soft-spoken, and rarely initiates any conversation with me. So today's visit was a surprise. My morning began first with a phone call from her teacher, telling me Vivi was on her way to my room to show me kittens she had made from boxes. He called me in case she couldn't/wouldn't actually verbalize why she had come to see me.

Simple and cute, these kittens were made from tiny boxes. I asked her questions, and SHE ANSWERED!! She said that she made them herself and nobody showed her how! Don't you love the little paw sticking up on the kitty on the right?

Below is momma kitty.

And here's the kicker: the two kittens fit INSIDE of momma kitty!

Vivi told me she had two more boxes, pink and purple, and she was going to make a kitty for ME! Her visit got my day off to the best kind of start!