DIY Guitar
SCHOOL PROGRAM LESSON PLAN–Grades 4 to 6
DIY Guitar
Final Project Description:
A cardboard guitar.
Description:
Working with recycled materials, students will construct their own guitar according to directions from an online blog and personalize it using collage and painting.
Curriculum Connections:
Visual Arts
· create images using a range of materials, technologies, and processes
· demonstrate safe and environmentally responsible use of materials, technologies, and processes
English Language Arts
· select and use strategies when expressing and presenting ideas, information, and feelings
Music
· participate in music activities from a variety of historical, cultural, and social contexts
Workshop Duration: 70 minutes
In Gallery: 10 minutes after the tour for discussion
In Studio: 10 minutes for instructions, 45 minutes to construct their guitar, 5 minutes for clean up and discussion and look at other’s work.
Prep:
· Put out the name tags and markers on an atrium table
· Set up a demo station in the center of the room with all steps of project
· Set up each student’s seating area with the dry materials
· Set up the painting materials on the far counter top to distribute as students are ready for them (last step)
Materials:
Cardboard guitar pieces – three full + 2 half per student
Large elastic bands – 4 per student
Paper clips – 1 small + 1 big per student
Dowels – 1 big (2 ¾”) + 1 small (1 ½”) per student
Ruler
Pencil
Awl
Hot glue
Scissors
Small piece of regular masking tape + marker for name label
Acrylic paint (regular & glitter)
Palettes
Small paintbrushes
Before students begin, have them write their name on a piece of masking tape to attach to their completed project.
10:50 – 11:00: Discussion
Conclude your gallery tour with Long Beach Led Zep (if it is a day that it is playing, consult schedule) Otherwise, sit on the floor among the NWP works and discuss the concept of the commons.
Explore the idea of “the commons” with the students. Do they know what this is?
The “commons” are the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately.
Through his work, Schmidt draws our attention to these cultural and natural resources held in common in our society – often looking about both the cultural and natural in the same work.
Talk to the students about what they think the common elements in this exhibition are. What do they think about the idea of the commons? Which are cultural commons (DIY projects) and which are natural commons (beach, forest, ocean, etc.)?
Lead them back to the studios, where they will make their own guitar, using plans found online.
11:00 – 11:55
1. Have students take their seats and walk them through the steps of the project using your demo station. Enlist parent and teacher help as necessary.
STEP 1
Have the students take turns using the hot glue (with assistance as needed) to glue two of the three large cardboard pieces together.
STEP 2
Make the bridge.
1. Draw a 2 3/4 inch line that is 1 inch below the circle opening on the front side of the 2 guitar pieces that you just glued together. Then draw 4 dots below the line that are about a 1/2 inch apart and about a 1/3 inch below the line.
2. Enlist the help of the teachers and parents to use a utility knife to make a shallow cut into the cardboard, right along that line.
3. Then use your finger to push a dent down along that line, to create a little divot for the pencil bridge to lay. Then hot glue the bigger pencil piece right down into the dented crease, securing the bottom bridge in place.
4. Enlist the help of the parents and teachers again to use the awl to drill some holes through the 2 layers of cardboard, right where your 4 marks are. Make holes large enough for elastic.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the neck bridge: make a 1 1/2 inch long line right below where the neck curves out at the top, make 4 dots about a 1/2 inch above the line, about a 1/3 inch apart. Make a shallow cut along the line, dent it in with your finger, and then hot glue the smaller pencil piece right into the crease.
STEP 3
String your guitar.
1. Cut the four elastic bands open to make four long strings.
2. Then, tie one end of each of the rubber bands along the long edge of the small paper clip. Tie two knots, pull TIGHT!
3. From the back side of the guitar, thread each of the other ends of the rubber bands through the 4 holes at the top of the guitar neck. Pull them all the way through until the paper clip is flush with the backside of the guitar.
4. Then, one rubber band at a time, pull them along the front of the guitar and through the drilled holes towards the bottom of the guitar. Tie the other end of each rubber band to the big paper clip on the back side of the guitar.
5. Trim off each rubber band but don’t cut it too close to the paper clip. Then place a bit of glue on the other long edge of the paper clip, just to secure it down. Don’t let the hot glue touch the rubber band or it will melt it and break it.
STEP 4
Complete the guitar body
1. Place a good amount of hot glue along the backside of the guitar with the strings (but don’t get any glue on the rubber bands) and then place the 3rd full size guitar piece onto the back, covering everything up.
2. Then glue the 2 smaller guitar pieces to the very back of the guitar, giving the guitar more thickness and durability and the body of the guitar that fullness like a real one has.
3. Press the layers together firmly.
STEP 5 (optional, if running short on time, have the teacher do this back at school)
Ask for the teachers and parents to distribute the paints, palettes, brushes, water and napkins while you talk to the kids about how they can now decorate the outside of their guitars to make them more personal.
11:55 – 12:00
1. As students complete their guitars, have them put the completed artworks on a clean table by the white wall (make sure their names are attached to the bottom with tape) and ask them to clean up their stations and wash their hands.
2. Once everyone is finished and cleaned up, rock out. Draw them into conversation: what was fun, hard, frustrating, exciting? What do they like about each other’s work?
3. They’re adorable! Get a picture of them with their guitars.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS:
Guitar instructions: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/03/mister-make-it-and-love-it-series.html