Arpilleras, Part 3

And so, the people and animals are made. Though the kids will eventually get to take them home, first I safety pin them to a large arpillera background I made several years ago. When it's full, it's really a sight!
This is the kind of project to call the local newspaper about...great PR for your program!

Arpilleras, Part 2

The backgrounds finished, it is time to make little people and animals to populate it. I found head beads in Oriental Trading Company several years ago and they work really well for this part of the project. (You will need to go to their website; the head beads never show up in their catalog) I make the bodies out of pipe cleaners, put the head on the bodies, and use sheep wool and alpaca fur for the hair. I would have the kids make the bodies, but it would take too much time and frankly, many of them don't have the fine motor to be able to do it without loads of assistance. Needless to say, it is a lot of prep for me, but well worth it.


We use pieces of fabric to dress the people and half a pipe cleaner for the belt.
The animals are wrapped with yarn to give them some 'fur' - super easy and super cute!

Arpilleras, Part 1

Every March my first graders learn about Peruvian arpilleras- I like how concrete an example they are of cultural perspective. Though I do not go into the origins of the arpilleras (orginally from Chile, made to preserve and record life in rural areas as a political statement), they are so powerful visually in their representations of ordinary life that I think they convey a lot of information all on their own.
One of my standards is to have my kids participate in cultural activities- often this takes the form of authentic games and songs. I have had to modify the making of arpilleras to make them more accessible and practical for my classroom. Part one is the creation of the background.Using construction paper and a collage technique, kids made scenes inspired by the arpilleras I have and pictures I showed them of rural life in the Andes Mountains of Perú. In addition, I cut out tree shapes from fabric which kids used to make trees and shrubs. We brainstormed ideas before we started- what did we see in the arpilleras I showed them- houses, mountains, trees, gardens, streams, fruits, grass, etc. I specifically told them not to include people and animals, as that will be Part 2. Stay tuned!

An easy piñata

I love bringing piñatas into class, but frankly, I just can't afford to buy piñatas for all of my classes- it isn't in my budget. So, I go the less expensive route- I make paper bag piñatas. Besides, in a twenty minute class, there is no way (unless there is a very lucky hit) that we can break a piñata in that time. Sometimes we barely get the paper bag broken before I have to return my kiddos to their gen ed classrooms.
Paper bag piñatas are easy to make:
-buy a gift bag at your local store (Walmart sells them for a dollar)
-decorate with streamers, pictures, stickers, whatever
-stuff with candy

Tip: Instead of just putting a bunch of candy in the bag, use snack bags to create one for each student. I put their names on the bags and make sure each bag has the same amount of candy. When the piñata is broken, there are no hogs and no kiddos with nothing. (Thanks to Stephanie, one of our 2nd grade teachers for this idea!)

Play a little fiesta music (Dále, dále, dále) and you are good to go! ¡Viva la piñata!