Renaissance Fountains

The fourth graders tried out a brand new project before winter break!  We had extra time and extra clay, so  we were able to fit in a lesson about fountains of the Renaissance.  I'll be honest that their research led them to several inspirational fountains that were built after the Renaissance, but sometimes it's fun to let the lesson take a new direction.  

After learning about how fountains were first purely functional as sources of water, they began by researching famous fountains that were built to be decorative and functional.  I had them work in groups with chrome books, and I created a worksheet to guide them.  They found interesting facts and did sketches of their fountain before presenting it to the class.  These fountains included the Trevi Fountain, Triton Fountain, Bernini Fountain, Fontana della Pina, and others.  

They used basic clay techniques and air dry clay.  I gave them a choice of replicating a famous fountain or inventing a new design.  They started by making pinch pots and shapes to join together, and I had them begin with the largest pinch pot as a base.  They used a wooden skewer as an armature and slid the other shapes right on top.  They had practice with scoring and slipping clay together, forming various shapes, and balancing tall structures.  

To add water to the fountains, we mixed clear glue and liquid watercolors together and poured it into the basins.  Some kids added "spouts" of water with blue lanyard strands.  I brought in craft "moss" to add.  They painted them with acrylics and I helped with the glue gun to add the moss.