GAA Art for Infants in September

"Hiya Claire, sorry I hope you don't mind me mailing you like this. First of all thanks so much for such a super blog! I'm not the most artistic or creative so a page like this is very inspiring :) I was just wondering if you could help me out with something...might even make an interesting blog post! Basically my school is near the Galway/Mayo border so we have two big GAA matches coming up. Im just wondering if there's anything you could recommend to do using this theme with junior and senior infants that's nice and easy as this will be their first art lesson."

Here are some ideas I've just thought of from the top of my head. Other people may be able to add some more. I've tried to keep in mind that you want straight forward, easy lessons. The first week back is busy and infants need time to learn all routines, let alone the art one!

Hopefully these are easy to implement, but effective pieces to celebrate the GAA!

Flags:

The first easy lesson on this would be simply making the flags. There a lot of skill involved here for infants- you could discuss what 'half' is- great for maths integration. Even folding the page in half would be very tricky. 

Colouring them in with oil pastels will look more vibrant than crayons, and less messy than paint (for the first lesson).

You could always stick lollipop sticks on the back to make it more of a flag.

Sam Maguire Cup:

Many children will know the cup- especially from these counties! While templates aren't always recommended, they are practical- especially when you need a product, and there are other processes you can experiment using them.

A simple template of the cup could be decorated using the mosaic technique. The children rip paper into small pieces and stick on the trophy to make their own Sam Maguire. Ripping paper is great for fine motor and a good beginning point before cutting techniques are introduced to junior infants.

You could integrate materials in science and discuss the materials they might find that would look best. I've never used tin foil with infants, if that was too tricky to use maybe some silver paper would be best.

Hats:

Cut out the middle of a paper plate- leave a small bit attached (about 10cm). The round edge will go around the child's head and the middle can stand up. They can decorate this in their team colours.

These ones have been cut into shapes, but you could leave them round also. 

They could paint before they are cut out. If you get a craft blade it will be much quicker for you to zip around and cut them out. 

Jerseys:

My nephew was in 3rd Class last year and loved this:

Using a jersey template, the children coloured the jersey in their favourite team colour. The senior infants may even be able to add some of the logos etc. 

Maybe they could get creative and design a new jersey? 

Handprints:

Handprints are a popular infant art lesson- they grow so quick! 

Why not do them in their team colours? 

I hope this is of some help! :)