Color Glue, Lily Stalks and Glitter

glue and food coloring

Almost Unschoolers gave us the idea to color our glue.
Mastering the skill of bottle squeezing with the right amount of pressure to get the desired gluey line, or puddle, takes practice. Adding color to glue is a subtle change to a familiar material and helps to provoke further explorations of glue’s temperament.

making glue lines and puddles

Little K especially enjoys this project. My theory is that he loves the glue because he can do it all by himself, the lines he makes are bold and he can stick stuff to it. He uses glitter after watching Friend H use glue and glitter.

glue and glitter by Little K

We use an idea from my former studio days. The kids and I pull some lily stalks from the fall gardens and work on snipping them into small pieces.

pulling lily stalks

Snipping lily stalks presents more of a challenge to a child who has mastered cutting paper. The pieces go flying, so use appropriate safety precautions. Before snipping, I tell the boys about the hazard and they are mindful.

snipped lily stalks

The boys talk about crosses, “X” marks the spot and fences as they arrange their stalk snippings on their colorful glue lines.

gluing stalk clippings

These are some of our finished work using glue and stalk.