Add an experiment to practice using all the muscles in your hand vs. using just the tips of your fingers! These work best when done one after the other so that kids can feel the difference in how they are using their muscles. This is highly recommended for kindergarten classes or classes in schools where students don’t work with art supplies regularly.
We recommend adding these experiments after the ripping and before the layering experiment if you have time. Another good option is to use them when you do this lesson a second time!
Experiment with using force/ whole hand (example script- 2 min)
- Set up- Choose a big piece of paper
- Explore- What will happen if we use ALL of the muscles in our hand to crush this paper (crushing sound effects encouraged). Now, let’s open our hands and see what we have made!
- Imagine & Describe- What does your crushed paper remind you of? What have you made? Yes! Your (crumpled, crushed, smooshed, bumpy, 3-D) paper looks like (a)___________!
- Discoveries spark ideas- Does your crushed paper give you any ideas for making puppets or places or stories?
Experiment with being gentle/ just fingertips (example script- 3 min)
- Set up- Choose another piece of paper
- Explore- What will happen if we just use our fingertips to make a tiny rip. Try not to rip it all the way! Then make another tiny rip! See if you can make tiny rips all along the edge of this paper.
- Imagine & Describe- What does this remind you of? What have you made? Yes! Your (fringed, fluffy, bumpy) paper looks like (a) ___________!
- Discoveries spark ideas- Does This give you any ideas for making puppets or places or stories?
Downloadable scripts for additional experiments can be found on page 3 and 4 of Steps Explore & Describe Torn Paper Collage