Shaded Christmas balls - grade 5/6

This is a project that was born out of necessity. The Friday before Christmas break ended up being.. wait for it.. another snow day! If you're keeping track, that makes THREE snow days in a period of two weeks. Sometimes when attendance is low, we'll pool classes together to give teachers extra planning time. My colleague offered to take the classes to the gym, after which I would take the classes for an art lesson. While they were in the gym, I desperately searched for a quick, Christmas-y related project that I could do with the supplies I already had, in about 40 minutes.  I unfortunately don't even remember where I came across this idea - it was basically a similar picture and I just copied what I thought was going on! If this idea belongs to you, please let me know so I can credit you!

Anyway, this project was as simple as it seems - students drew branches using chalk pastels onto black paper. Then, they drew Christmas balls on white construction paper using oil pastels. They cut out the Christmas balls and glued them to the black paper. The last step was to use gold Sharpie to draw little hooks. A very quick, very satisfying 40 minute project for a group of snowed-in students!

(Before you get to the photos, I'll add - they don't do this art justice! I had to take quick pictures with my iPhone, as the kids were taking these home for Christmas break.)