Animaplates

This Blog has moved

2012-03-02T21:25:00.000-05:00

Make your own puppets

2011-06-12T15:36:00.001-04:00

Do you want to stage a puppet show with your class? Are you looking for a great project for a youth group in summer camp?
Animaplates puppets are fun to make, easy to manipulate and they allow kids to fully express their creativity.
If the children write their own texts, your puppet project will combine several learning subjects: visual arts, written language, media language and drama. And imagine how motivated they will be to present a show to the other classes of the school or to their parents!

School subscriptions are here!

2011-05-29T19:05:00.000-04:00

Animaplates School Subscriptions are now available to all those who want to make Animaplates in their school, day care centre, scouts group, etc.
A School Subscription can be shared by the staff of the institution. Like the Personal Subscription, it gives access to 24 projects per year, but a school subscription has no monthly limit. That means that you can print the projects whenever you want (up to a maximum of 24 per year). No need to coordinate the use of the subscription between the various classes or groups. And if, for example, you want to make a chess set, you can print all 6 project guides at once.
Also, we are working on teaching resources that will be available exclusively to members with a School Subscription.
All these advantages are available for a very reasonable price. Subscribe today!

Animaplates in school

2011-04-10T17:27:00.000-04:00

Last week, I presented Animaplates to the staff of a daycare centre associated with a school in Quebec. The educators were delighted to see all the possibilities. They had already started using their Animaplates subscription to build fish with the kids.
That school is now testing our new school subscription, which will soon be available to all schools and daycare centres that would like it. If you are interested, contact us using the application form on our web site.
Next week, I am giving puppet making workshops at two schools in the Ottawa area. I am looking forward to see the kids create their puppets and then use them in a sketch.

Budding builders

2011-03-22T15:57:00.002-04:00

Wow! Two hectic weeks are behind me now, during which almost a thousand kids and their families built their "dream house" in my workshops at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The kids loved painting the roof and making the windows and most of all they loved decorating their house with flowers, butterflies and other punched-out shapes.

I am always delighted to see the creativity that an activity like this brings out in children.
A big thank you to my volunteer helpers who did a great job ensuring everything went smoothly!

Here is a small selection from the comments left by the children and their parents. I think this shows that they had as much fun as I did:
(March 12) That was the funnest thing in the building.
(March 13) Highlight of the visit. Thank you! Very well organized and friendly helpers
(March 15) Great idea. My girls had sooo much fun doing their homes. Attie Family
(March 16) Wonderful organization. Clear instructions and great help! Thank you. Our finished houses look great! ! Carolyn, Colin, Erin and Kira
This was a great craft, easy and fun. Thanks. Bert and Emma

(March 17) A fun activity – even for my three year old! Thanks!
(March 18) I loved doing this awesome craft! It was superb! Thanks! Juliana
(March 19) I like making the house. This place is awesome! Justin

Animaplates village

2011-02-24T22:52:00.000-05:00

Not long ago, the Science and Technology Museum asked me if I could give workshops on the theme "architecture". Of course I said yes, and the ideas came flowing into my head right away. Sometimes I wonder where these ideas come from. People around me were also intrigued: they know I make animals and puppets; they find a chess set a stretch; but houses made with paper plates, that was too much.

Well, it wasn't too much. Of course, going from the spark of an idea to a finished project takes some work but that's a part I find very exciting. To show the houses in context, I even made a scale model of a village complete with roads, pond, bridge and playground.

The workshops will be one hour each, so the projects could not be too complex. In order to make them netvertheless interesting and to allow the children to express their creativity, I am proposing several variants of round houses, of different heights and made with different colours of cardboard. The kids will design and cut their own windows and doors and put cellophane behind the windows if they want (I used to love that as a child).

If you live in the Ottawa-Gatineau area, take your kids to the museum and let them have fun with Animaplates on February 26 and 27 as well as March 5, 6, 12, 13 and 15 to 19. If you are elsewhere, you'll soon be able to organize your own workshop with your kids or with your students because I will be publishing these projects on the Animaplates website.

Children speak through their puppets - the puppets give them a voice

2011-02-19T09:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I gave a puppet-making workshop in a grade 6 class. The kids loved it.

For teachers, puppets are a marvelous vehicle for combining several teachings in a series of activities that the students don't experience as a lesson. For starters, visual arts and especially three-dimensional constructions involve the brain in a way that is beneficial for other subject matters such as math, science etc. Then, once the puppets are made, the students can write sketches to act out with their puppets. Alternatively, existing stories or fables can be used as a starting point. This approach is in fact an excellent exercise in written and spoken language. I have seen shy students shine as actors in a play because they could speak through their puppet.
You can take this one fun step further and let the students organize a puppet show for the younger classes. This empowers them and it promotes a team spirit in the school.
In another school where I have done a puppet workshop, we filmed the show. You can see some excerpts (in French) on YouTube.

A Christmas tree with paper plates?

2011-02-13T21:18:00.002-05:00

Yes, it sounds weird, but that's the challenge I took on last November. Mind you, it wasn't the first time because in 2006 I had also competed in the "Trees of Hope" competition that takes place every year to benefit the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. This time there was an additional challenge: in the category I had chosen (purity) all the ornaments had to be white; only a few touches of red or gold were permitted.
Since I love bright colours (as you can see in my Animaplates projects), this rule was going to push me to create things I had never done before. And I rather liked that idea, wouldn't you? I ended up creating five different angels, ducks, sheep, a bunny, snowmen, a merry-go-round complete with horses and even Santa's sleigh pulled by paper plate reindeer.
I will publish some of these projects as the year unfolds, starting with the reindeer because they can be used as a way to approach many themes other than Christmas. Have a look at the website, become a member, print the project guide and you'll know all about it!

P.S. The Animaplates tree shared the first prize in its category and we also won the People's Choice Award.

Paper plate crafts offer endless possibilities

2011-02-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

And that's what this blog will be about.
You're going to be surprised. Puppets, piggy banks, birds and all kinds of animals, Christmas ornaments, Easter decorations, even a complete chess set. Have a look at my website.