My name is Ashlyn and I am an assistant teacher at the Fishtown Recreation Center and Samuels Playground for ASI’s summer programs. Our lesson plan at Fishtown this week was to make our own version of stained glass windows!
We gave our students pieces of aluminum foil, construction paper, and mixed media to experiment with. The mixed media included washable markers, permanent markers, highlighters, glitter glue, and stickers! We showed these students photographs of stained glass windows for inspiration. Some of our students took a more traditional approach while creating bold, geometric designs on their pieces of foil. We discovered that some materials were brighter than others. I would say that highlighters and glitter glue were most favorable.
Other students took a more progressive approach and drew elements such as cats, superheroes and pizza on their windows. All of the finished products looked great!
One student accidentally drew on the backside of the foil, not realizing her drawing would show through. She was nervous at first, but we discovered that drawing on the backside created an embossing effect, which looked awesome! After this discovery, a few others followed her lead.
Students started collaborating and sharing ideas with one another. They began to open up and talk a little bit about their personal lives and what inspired them to design what they chose. When they were finished, we mounted the stained glass windows on pieces of construction paper, which they designed as well.
