Glue on your hands, glue on the table, glue on the floor? I hate it when glue gets in places where it just shouldn't be. If students are not taught how to use their glue correctly or in some kind of manner, it will typically end with a razor blade scraping it off the table. Here's how I solved this problem.
My students use these steps for gluing.
1. Open the glue by making the tongue disappear. (We also stick out our tongues and stick em back in)
2. With the top up, squeeze gently to make sure it's breathing. If air comes out we're good to go.
3. If no air comes out then we have to open close, open close and pick out the glue boogers!!!
4. Then we flip over and gently squeeze one "Baby Dot" onto our finger.
I have them do this exercise in grades K-2 every time we use glue to make it sink in in the upper grades.
A "Baby Dot" fits in the center of your finger. If they learn this early with their tiny hands, the dots stay small and it seems to stick with them in the later grades.
We also compare it to a Momma Dot and a Daddy Dot.
"What will happen if we use a Momma or a Daddy Dot?"
"It will go smooosh!"
If a smooosh does happen we leave it to dry clear. If we leave it and kids don't like it they are sure to try not to do it again.
5. To get the glue off our finger we rub our hands together and "Turn it to DUST!"
Kids love this and it's great because we don't always have time to wash everyone's hands.
Below are some pictures of the first activity I do with Kinders in the Fall to teach them this technique.
We are making a mosaic with many pre-cut shapes. The shapes are small which makes it great to teach why we use Baby Dots and not Daddy Dots. This activity is definitely more about the process than the product.
Trays of shapes.
Great Baby Dots
It doesn't matter to me whether the students put the dot onto to back of the piece they are gluing down or directly on the paper. I really feel like it depends on the project as to which way is best.
How do you glue?
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12 comments:
Love It!!! Thanks for the great narrative!
I usually have the kids use a small amount of glue in a portion cup with a sandwich pick for scooping the dots of glue I like them to use. It works, but it also adds to the preparation. So much easier to just put out the glue bottles. SOOOOoooo, in a rush last week I decided to let a 5th grade class use the glue bottles for a quick bit of gluing that was necessary. "After all, they are older, surely they know how to use a glue bottle by now," I thought. WRONG!! What a mess!!! The next day I went back to my glue cups and sticks. I like your idea a lot -- think I'll try it with the younger ones and see if I can make an impression. Thanks for sharing.
I've done so many approaches on the glue situation. As of right now I'm primarily using glue sticks, which are expensive, and are a pain to manage. I can't even tell you how many I've thrown out this year because the caps have mysteriously disappeared.
I also do a small piece of scrap paper with a glob of glue in the center that they put one finger in. I'm surprised at how often the children react in a negative way to this. Some really hate the tactile feel of glue on their fingers.
I love this post. Can't wait to share with our art teacher.
Tammy
primaryparadise.blogspot
Love the terminology you're using with your kids about glue! I may adopt some of those phrases myself! One thing I do say when I talk about gluing is a little rhyme: "Dot, dot, not a lot. Just a teeny tiny drop!" And I make them say it with me and we say the "teeny tiny" part all high-pitched and squeaky. :)
Great ideas. I know how the kids hate getting glue on their fingers, so I encourage "dot, dot, not a lot...", but there are still those who believe in using half a bottle of glue. One thing that I do for my kindergarten students, is, I buy the "tiny" 1oz. bottles of school glue, which are perfect for their little hands. Their classroom teachers ask them to bring 8oz. bottles and I think they make such a mess because they can't handle the bottles.
Also, I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who says "glue boogers" for the dried glue in the lid. The kids think it's gross, but it gets the point across. Cynthia
Some great tips here for younger students. Glue has always been the bane of my existence in Art class. For some reason, even my high schoolers will come up to me with their clogged glue and say 'it's not working'. And then I say "Well, what should you do?" (duh! lol)
I am sooo tired of having to unclog everyone's glue!! I keep a bunch of opened up paper clips in the glue box so they can pick out the globs.
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educational art supplies
I teach my kids the part about breathing and I love the 'tongue' idea! To prevent clogs, I get a student to close all the bottles and wipe down the orange tips with a wet cloth. It helps a lot!
I give my k/1's a "glue master" test! We go over how to open, close, dot and spread it around, yada yada...Then I line up 5 kids at a time and they take the test. If they pass they recieve a paper bracelet that says "glue master" on it. If they fail, they can't use the glue until they pass. They really want a bracelet but I dont give them out until I feel they really have it down! It might be less time consuming to just have them demonstrate their "mad glue skills" w a simple project to recieve a bracelet instead of testing them 5 at a time. Anytime we glue for the rest of the year, they take pride in their glue master status!
I love the baby Dots. I loved them so much I made up a song to the tune of Baby Shark to use with my Kindergarteners. I wrote about it and you in a blog post. I hope that is okay. I linked back to your post to give you credit. You have such great ideas! Thanks for sharing.
Terri Izatt
KinderKapers
Terri! Thank you so much for the links and comments.
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