2nd grade Magazine Sculptures

My second graders are in the process of finishing up their magazine sculptures. This project always seems to get their minds working a bit like engineers. We spent one day making the tubes as a class (I called the kids my tube making factory) and the next day was for building. On tube making day, I tear out lots of magazine pages and then cut them in half width-wise. I show the kids how to start rolling the tubes from one corner using an unsharpened pencil, add a dot of glue and then press down and hold for a count of 10. The goal was to make at least 10 tubes.

Tubes, glue and a piece of construction paper was all that was needed on building day. I made sure to have some extra magazine pages out in case anyone wanted to make more tubes. Some students focused on balancing and placement which left them with an abstract design, while others went about the process with more concrete or realistic images in mind. I even had two little guys working in tandem, sketching out their ideas before they began building. They told me that their structures worked together! It was a super learning experience!