Spaceship by Bryan, grade 2

Boat by Danya, kindergarten

Lots of sculpture

The students are loving the sculpture/collage center and have been building some very interesting sculptures. There are lots of boats, space ships and tanks being created. Often times, one student will see a particular sculpture being stored on a shelf for the art show or it will be work in progress and then they will want to make the same thing. I used to struggle with this....should I let them "copy" someone else's idea or encourage them to make something else of their own. I tell them to try to change it somewhat to make it more personal. Usually it will come out looking very different!
Here is a boat made by Eduardo (gr.2).