Working with kids and glass

[joby560]

I teach Kindergarten in Seattle.  I have slowly introduced glass fusing to my classes over the last three years.  The first project we did I cut glass squares and they stacked them up.  Then I fully fused them and put magnets on the back.  I did all of the cutting.  Each square was progressivly smaller.

Then I got brave and smashed a bunch of scrap glass, gave each child a clear base.  They used tweezers to pick up the glass and move it to the clear base.  I put a clear slide on top and high fire wire between the two clear pieces so when fused it would be a sun catcher.

I cut all kinds of different small shapes.  Each child picked a different color base that was about 3 inches by 5 inches.  Then they used the small scrap pieces to add eyes, a mouth, hair, a nose, etc. They made a bunch of faces.

This year I plan to do the above and have them make keychains.

Kids LOVE glass fusing.  It is magical.  The biggest hurdle for me was that I needed to have all the glass cut and cleaned before I introduce it to the kids.  They use tweezers to pick up the glass pieces.  That took care of the fingerprints and made it safer for them.