Aztec "Sun Stones" with Kindergarten

I have "Sun Stones" in quotes for a pretty good reason. These don't look anything like Sun Stones but they sure had fun making them!

I stumbled across this post via Pinterest on Art Project Girl. I fell in love with the way they looked but never found a follow up on them so I had to imagine what came next!

I Can Statements:
I Can make a unique sun and face.
I Can learn about the Aztecs.

Day 1: Started with an online globe up on the screen when they came in the room. The Kindergarteners had just finished talking about earth and what globes and maps were so it was perfect timing. I asked them to tell me when they saw the United States and then when I spun it a second time, to tell me when they saw Mexico. They totally loved it. We started talking about Mexico, how far away it was, and how long it would take to get there if we walked. Too bad Kindergarteners don't really have a sense of time, it would have been more dramatic!

Then we started talking the Aztecs. Without getting into too many details about Gods and sacrifice, I showed them a picture of the Sun Stone and talked about how big it is and a little more history. I taped a line on the floor of the diameter of the stone and had them all stand on it to really impact them with how big the sucker is! After that, we started talking about our project and how we were going to make a sun that looked different than any picture of a sun they had ever seen. We practiced drawing suns in different ways with different lines and shapes and then I did a demo of painting them. They watched a little double dipping mixing fun and they were hooked!

Day 2: We continued our chat about things looking different than how we would normally draw them for the face on our suns. I had some kiddos come up to my document camera and draw smiley faces in different ways to help inspire and I did a few of my own. They each got their Sun back and a sharpie and drew a face. Then I blew their minds again by telling them we were going to be painting with cardboard and marker caps instead of brushes. I did a demo of creating patterns with both tools to make the rings around the face like the Sun Stone. A few got carried away with the cardboard and totally over did it but man did they have fun in the process.

These make me so happy!