I thought it would be fun to sculpt in the context of making a game, so I had my 7th grade students create chess pieces and boards as part of a sculpture unit. Most students worked with a partner for this assignment as each game needed 2 kings, 2 queens, 4 rooks, 4 bishops, 3 knights, and 16 pawns. We discussed how to play chess, which only a handful of students knew, as well as what typical chess pieces look like. Each group had to have a theme for their chess pieces, some of which include: fruit, the beach, old technology vs. new technology, tennis, music, people, animals, candy/Halloween, Christmas, buildings, and Harry Potter.
The biggest challenge in this project was making the pieces large enough to be understood and small enough to fit on a board. It was also challenging to make multiple sculptures of the same thing. Some groups created an assembly line, while others sculpted each individual piece. The boards required focus and care as well since there needed to be a color scheme and careful application of color. We will all play chess the last day of art class and test out the pieces.
