Machine Made Turkeys

Usually we use die-cut shapes (thank you Ellison machine makers) Ellison Machine Info to make relief drawings, but today we also used the leftover paper which has a "window" shape inside.  First, we created turkeys plus letters of the students' first names to make Thanksgiving pictures.  Instead of using construction paper we die-cut the shapes out of coarse sandpaper, which made the relief pictures nice and speckley.  Older students promised not to peek while they felt the letters in their hands and guessed what letter they were touching. 

The components of this activity have been used with these students for several weeks now and they are definitely showing more "umph" (AKA hand strength) when they use the crayons sideways to draw a relief picture.  They are also using their helper hands more frequently to stabilize the paper, since they know the end result will be better looking if they prevent the paper from shifting around.

Weeks ago the students had to be cajoled into using more than one color to draw their picture.  Now they eagerly reach for more colors after coloring with the first crayon.

Yes, you're right--there's a little hyperextension of the DIP going on.