It wasn’t meant to go as far as it went. I needed a quick activity to leave for a substitute teacher when I was off-site at a workshop. Most art subs are not trained in art, so I try to leave simple yet engaging plans. Little did I know the activity would take on a life of its own!

Someone donated a big bag of pink sponges a while back. We used them once before to make mobiles, but there were still a lot left. After seeing “Despicable Me II” with my granddaughters over the summer, the sponges suddenly looked like Minions to me.

The lesson:

I did this with one set of classes before the sub did it the next day. They LOVED it. And they also loved it with the sub. We stockpiled the sponges Minions  in boxes until I had time to prepare them for display. Not a day passed without a student asking, “How is my Pink Minion?”

Here is the display:

Along with art making and creativity, you can see we did some writing here. Students entered their “What will your Pink Minion do?” response to a poll I posted on PollEverywhere:

Here are some of the drawings that were completed in sketchbooks:

Parents: please stop by and visit the Pink minions while in the building for conferences this week. Art teachers: There are more pink sponge where these came from….let me know if you want some…