Beginner class - successful start!

I think that a successful start to any beginner class begins with a project that uses only a knife.  And that the first exercise uses but a few knife cuts.  The stop cut, push cut, and the pull cut.  The first project must be fun to do, not real difficult, but still challenging for the beginner.  It should also have a great chance of being completed during the first hour and a half of instruction.

I choose this small dog, whittled in simplified flat plane style.

The class of beginners were very successful, as this example clearly shows.  The colored example on the left was shown as an example of the finished project.  The example on the right is one of the beginner results.

I present this beginner stylized flat plane learning exercise in a step - by - step sequence.

This next photo is a second learning exercise, done in the same style and step sequence as the first little dog.

These two examples have proven quite successful as a way to introduce beginners to whittling.