The classic wooden train has been a longtime fixture of the playground at Hampstead Academy, but by 2023 it had definitely seen better days. The paint was peeling, some of the boards were rotted, and it wasn’t even clear if the well-worn structure could be salvaged. Beloved by the students who had grown up with it, they petitioned administrators to allow them to help restore the equipment for future generations to enjoy.

Assessing a project like this and determining what is and is not possible was a real-world task that students would be faced with time and again in both their personal and professional lives. To work on something they were all personally connected with seemed to be a great opportunity to experience this lesson firsthand, so Art teacher Julie Faro set the wheels in motion to help the students with what she hoped would be a successful and satisfying restoration project.

Hands-on, Practical Skills Meet Academics
The schoolwide project started off with the students meeting with the school’s Facilities Manager, Jay Orzechowski, to budget and plan for supplies needed for the restoration. He not only helped them understand what tools would be needed for the job, but also taught them about workplace safety and how to use each tool properly.

Each student was outfitted with their own “project kit” complete with scrapers, safety glasses, and gloves. One class period was allocated for students to experience scraping the train free of paint, another for learning now to replace rotted and broken boards and countersinking nails. With Jay and Julie’s supervision, older students learned about and tried sanding the surface smooth with an electric sander.

“This was a great opportunity for the students to learn and practice practical, hands-on skills, plus they were able to put academic skills such as basic math and geometry to work as they did everything from budgeting and planning to measuring and cutting wood,” says Faro.

Bringing Individual Expression to an Artistic Restoration
When it came time to bring color to the project, Faro developed a curriculum around this interactive art project to study and test different artistic styles from famous artists. During the cooler spring months, the students started researching different artists and works of art to showcase on each train car.

“Rather than assign each student an artist or specific piece of art, I let them choose their own,” comments Faro. “This gave them a more personal connection to the process and project.”

Each student created a slide deck based and persuasive essay about their chosen artist and piece, explaining why a particular style should be used on one of the train cars. They also recreated a sample piece for display which was later featured in an art showcase. Faro wanted them to have a chance to see the process of what it takes to complete each piece of art and acquire a deeper understanding of the technique the artist used.

“Sometimes you look at a piece of art and think ‘oh, this will be easy to recreate’, like with the Jackson Pollack piece that our third and fourth-grade classroom decided to use for its train car,” explains Faro. “The kids thought it would simply be splashing some paint on the car, but when they got into it, they realized there was a real technique to what Pollack created, it wasn’t just throwing paint at a canvas.”

This turned out to be a very valuable part of the process in choosing pieces for the train.

Balancing Individual Expression with Practical Considerations
“In their persuasive essays, I expected every student to make a case for their piece to be chosen for the train, but that did not happen,” says Faro. “Because of their hands-on experiences recreating the pieces, there were a few students who made the argument for their pieces NOT to be used because they would be too difficult or time-consuming compared to the other options available. It was great to see the students consider the real-world factors at play that went well beyond what would simply look good or what they liked the most. There was a lot they took into consideration and some thoughtful choices were definitely made.”

The art show also gave all the students an opportunity to show off their hard work, regardless of whether their pieces would be used on the train.

Because of the rainier-than-usual Spring, the students didn’t get as much time to work on the train as they originally hoped. That meant adjusting their schedule and final choices of artwork to complete the train in time for Family Fun Day.

“While the weather was challenging to our project timeline, the students learned great time management skills and how to adjust expectations to reality,” says Faro. “All in all, the project turned out great and everyone is very proud of the final result.”