Firstly, please note that my skills with a camera are apparently in need of help...as is the quality of my camera! OK, now on to my post...
This year, for our Grade 6 Astronomy unit, I decided to make these moon phase peg people. Some like to consider peg people who have gnome-like hats to be called "gnomes". Fair enough.
I started out by mixing various shades of blue, purple and black to create a unique blend of color on each of my gnomes. I knew that I wanted my new moon gnome to be pretty much completely black, and that I wanted my full moon gnome to be mostly dark purple. The others (as noted) were random shades of a mixture of colors. I guess I didn't want them to be too "samey-samey", and I think the result speaks for itself in that each one looks a bit unique, while also clearly belonging to the group.
While they were undergoing the drying of their first coat, I set to work on the block that is sitting beneath them. It is a left-over piece I had from a length of (I think?) 1 inch by 1 inch diameter by 3 feet long dowel I found at either Michael's or (believe it or not) Home Depot. The other bits I cut off from this length of dowel became part of a perpetual calendar (which I've never really finished, and am planning to locate the pieces for to do just that soon!).
Anyway, so about this length of rectangular dowel....I plopped some black paint onto my palette and then some royal blue plopped right next to it. I mixed some of the two colors together and then dipped my brush in all 3 parts to create a swirling effect that reminded me of the night sky. I then went back through with just some blue to add a few swirls here and there (while the other paint was still wet) and then let the whole thing dry like that. Once dry, I took the pointy handle end of a thin paintbrush and dipped it into white paint to then put dots of "stars" randomly all around the dowel...and voila!
Once the peg dolls were dry, the moon phases were added with white (non-toxic acrylic) paint. I tried with watercolor paint, but it just was not opaque enough or thick enough and so it would spread out and run all over the place. Once the moon phases were on, I cut out triangular gnome hats from a piece of purple felt and hot glued them into a hat shape. I then hot glued them onto my gnomes' heads for good measure, since my kids like to play with peg people and have been known to lose hats and capes if they are not permanently affixed.
I then took the pointy handle end of my paintbrush once more to put some black dots for the eyes.
I think they came out pretty well, and really were a fairly easy project to do. I completed them in about 2.5 hours from start to finish, including all drying time in between coats of paint.
These dolls will be used to mark the current moon phase this school year, as well as to be kept in easy access during our Astronomy unit, when we'll talk about (among other things) the phases of the moon as well as drawing them into our Main Lesson Books.
As many homeschooling families do, we will combine both children for several of these activities and lessons, but I'll keep the more in-depth lessons and write-ups for my 6th grader.
Go ahead, get creative when you're gearing up for some of your bigger units! As mentioned, this only took me about 2.5 hours, which I did while watching episodes of Killjoys tonight.
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