Hey y'all! I'm about to start my Model Magic lessons with my K-5 elementary art students, so I wanted to share some tips and tricks.
I've learned a lot about Model Magic over the years thanks to lots of amazing art teachers on IG, buying it for my kids and building things with them, and just experimenting with my students.
1.) Did you know that you can dye model magic using washable markers or washable ink daubers/bingo daubers [dot markers]? I like to flatten the model magic into a pancake before coloring or dotting the color onto the surface. After that, I fold the pancake in half [into a taco] and then I have my students squish the model magic to mix in the color. Doing the pancake/taco method helps cut down on the ink staining student hands.
2.) If you don't want to dye the model magic, you can also paint it using tempera or acrylic. I have also painted model magic while it's still wet [right after building] and it actually dried just fine.
3.) If you're nervous about breakage [which can happen when it's very thin and dries out too quickly] you can try sticking your sculpture to a paper. Whether it's to create a background or name tag, this usually either prevents the cracking, or makes it a non-issue [because the sculpture is attached to something that keeps it from coming apart].
4.) I prefer model magic to clay as far as budgeting goes because of shipping, ease of use, and mess. Model Magic is very light, so the shipping cost for the weight is not as high. You do lose out on teaching the clay vocabulary like scoring, slipping, kiln, etc. but you can still teach slab and coil methods.
* AIR DRY CLAY TIP* These are air dry clay donuts. We added some PVA glue to help prevent breakage in the humid NC classroom environment. Also, we sprayed them with gloss spray to give them that glazed look.
