Paper Sculpture: Playhouse and Playground

Overview

You will make a playhouse or playground from different materials around your home.

Grade Level

K-3

Media

Construction

Theme/ Big Idea

We can change paper in different ways to create 3D forms.

Essential Questions

How can we create a playhouse or playground from imagination? How can we make 3D forms with thick and thin papers?

Slide Deck

Materials and Tools

Thick and thin strips of paper
Cardboard base
Scissors (optional)
Pencil or marker (optional)

Activities

Step 1

Collect and prepare strips of thin and thick paper. =

Step 2

Find a large sturdy cardboard for a base. (Cut a piece from a box or use a folder.)

Step 3

Roll a piece of paper. Look at your form. Imagine what it could be.

Fold a paper. Look at it, flip it over. Imagine what it could be. A tent? A roof? Walls?

Fold a zig zag and look at it. Imagine what it could be. Stairs? Flowing water?

Step 4

Stack the forms, look at them and imagine what it could be.

What do you want in your playhouse or playground?

Step 5

Use your base and imagine it as ground.

Arrange your folded and curled forms. Stack and balance them.

Try standing a form and leaning it against another form.
it against another form.

How can you make a wall?
How can you make more floors?
How can you make a tunnel?
How can you make a see saw?
How can you make stairs?
How can you make a bridge?

Step 6

Take a photo of your finished artwork and share it on!

Pieces can also go around or inside.

Reflection

What parts did you make for your playhouse/playground?

How did you make them? (zig zag, curved, flat strip of paper, twisted, etc.)

I made a _________ see saw _________ with _________ a zigzag form on top of a curved tunnel form.

I made a _________ with _______________.

Resources

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi, Playscapes, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA, 1976.

Isamu Noguchi, Playground equipment for Ala Moana Park, Hawaii, 1940.

Video

Credits

Paper Sculpture: Playhouse and Playground
Written by Cynthia Chen, Artist Instructor

Studio in a School NYC Team
Andrea Burgay, Associate Director
Julie Applebaum, Senior Director
Hasna Muhammad, Ed.D., Chair, Board of Directors, Studio in a School Association
Alison Scott-Williams, President, Studio in a School NYC