3 Art Projects to Display Permanently at Your School

Wind Chimes

Have your students try this fun lesson in which they create their own themed wind chimes in a pentatonic musical scale! I love it because students learn a bit about music theory, physics, and art history as they create their own versions of this classic.

Plus, these things are super durable. I have tested the exact one you see here to the right by having it outdoors for years, through storms/hail/you-name-it. It still looks amazing!

So, if you have some beautiful trees at your school that could use some art, hang student wind chimes as a permanent display. If you create these chimes without the inner striker (as shown on the right) they also won’t be very noisy or loud, which is nice for certain settings.

Grab the lesson here and let me know how it goes!

Paper Mache Plants

I’ve posted about these amazing plant sculptures already (linked here). But, I feel like I can’t say enough about how well they go for my classes! Our librarians in particular love this project and we often place a plant or two for permanent display in the library. These look great anywhere and are perfect for permanent display in front offices, classrooms, and libraries! There’s just something about a plant that’s timeless and goes with everything.

Get the full lesson here and let me know how it goes with your class!

Hanging bells

This project is easy to squeeze in because it took my students a week to sculpt the clay, and a few days to paint them once they were fired. Plus, my classes really enjoyed it and loved hearing the sweet jingle they make! Again, like the chimes, they’re not super noisy because the bells weigh them down—you’ll only really hear them in a heavy wind or movement.

I had students choose designs from a particular cultural region, and use those designs as inspiration for their bells. They did a simple pinch pot technique to create the bells themselves, and rolled balls to use as beads.

They used a skewer to put holes through the beads and bells, and that was it! Once they were fired, they painted them in acrylic, leaving areas of the clay to show through, and strung them together with a long piece of hemp. Again, a great project to permanently display outdoors on a hanger or tree branch. So easy and fun!